Ordinary Watches in Fiction: Timex, Seiko and Casio
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For his fourteenth birthday, Dale Cooper receives a Timex from his parents. He submerges it in the bathtub for fifteen minutes and records that it still ticks. Scott Frost gives this tiny experiment to the young narrator of The Autobiography of F.B.I. Special Agent Dale Cooper, a book presented as transcripts of his tapes. A present becomes something to investigate almost as soon as he gets it. (Excerpt transcribed in IMWDb’s catalog record; Pocket Books, 1991 scan catalog.)
The description supplies no model or depth rating. Cooper’s bath test tells us more about the young investigator than the Timex specification.
A smaller version of his father’s
In Anne Marie Duquette’s Fleet Hospital, Michael checks a black Seiko that glows in the dark. It is described as a smaller version of his father’s watch. He checks it again and groans. (Excerpt transcribed in IMWDb’s catalog record; Harlequin, 2002 scan catalog.)
The Casio that goes with Kafka
Haruki Murakami puts an explicit choice in front of the runaway in Kafka on the Shore. Kafka considers his father’s Rolex Sea-Dweller, then returns it to the drawer because it would draw attention. His own inexpensive plastic Casio has an alarm and stopwatch, and he expects it to be more useful. The publisher’s English excerpt identifies the features but no Casio model. (Penguin Random House, Philip Gabriel translation, opening excerpt)
Kafka is packing to leave home. The Sea-Dweller would make him conspicuous; the plastic Casio suits a journey on which he wants to pass unnoticed.
A cheap watch on a substantial band
A Timex in Tony Hillerman’s Listening Woman is described as costing $12.95, held on the wearer’s left wrist by a heavy sand-cast silver band. The amount belongs to the novel; it is not a present-day valuation. (Excerpt transcribed in IMWDb’s catalog record; Avon Books, 1979 scan catalog.)
The watch and its band receive different kinds of attention: one a precise price, the other weight, material and workmanship.
Browse the catalog: Watches in books.
Sources
- Scott Frost, The Autobiography of F.B.I. Special Agent Dale Cooper: excerpt transcribed in IMWDb’s catalog record; Pocket Books, 1991 scan catalog.
- Anne Marie Duquette, Fleet Hospital: excerpt transcribed in IMWDb’s catalog record; Harlequin, 2002 scan catalog.
- Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore, translated by Philip Gabriel: Penguin Random House opening excerpt.
- Tony Hillerman, Listening Woman: excerpt transcribed in IMWDb’s catalog record; Avon Books, 1979 scan catalog.