Great Tales of Crime and Detection (1992)

Peter Haining's anthology, first published in Great Britain by Orion in 1992, collects short stories about famous fictional detectives, each introduced by Haining, from Sherlock Holmes and Craig Kennedy to Perry Mason, Philip Marlowe, Mike Shayne and the Saint. The Charlie Chan entry is "Walk Softly, Strangler" by Robert Hart Davis, which Haining's headnote describes as based on an episode of the 1957 television series and written in the style of Earl Derr Biggers's novels: Chan, in Los Angeles, investigates the murder of Mei T'ang and a trade in imitation treasures. (Open Library)

Watches

Bulova (unidentified model): In "Walk Softly, Strangler", the antique dealer Hei Wei Chinn collects Chan in his cream-coloured Continental and treats him to a nine-course Mandarin dinner in a pagoda-style restaurant near Santa Monica. Only when the last preserved fruits are gone does he lean back in the booth, look at his Bulova wristwatch and announce their real business: an appointment at ten with Hiu Sai, a custom craftsman who may have made the substitute treasures of Mei T'ang. The maker is named; the model is not.

Source text: Leaning back against his side of the booth, he looked at his Bulova wristwatch and said, ‘We have an appointment with Hiu Sai at ten.’ (Peter Haining, ed., Great Tales of Crime and Detection, scan cataloged as Chartwell Books, 1993, reprinting the 1992 Orion first edition, p. 163, in "Walk Softly, Strangler" by Robert Hart Davis, which begins on p. 121; Internet Archive scan OCR)

Bulova (unidentified model): At the climax of the same story, Chan has staged a late-night talk among the suspects at Claudia's apartment and asked the police to be on hand at half past two. Watching from beside a window with the producer Harold Heinemann, he checks the hour against the phosphorescent dial of his own Bulova: the time is past, but not by much, and moments later he disarms Heinemann. The maker is named; the model is not.

Source text: he had asked them to be on hand at two-thirty. That hour was gone, but not by much according to the phosphorescent dial on his Bulova. (Peter Haining, ed., Great Tales of Crime and Detection, scan cataloged as Chartwell Books, 1993, reprinting the 1992 Orion first edition, pp. 178 to 179, a sentence that runs across the page break; Internet Archive scan OCR)