The Seeking Sword (1977)

Jaan Kangilaski's novel, published by Ballantine Books in 1977, follows George Quinterus, a writer working with the New York lawyer Harry Bradley on a string of killings whose killers speak of a sword and of someone called Seppiyeh, among them John Lambert, committed to an Ohio state hospital after the death of a teenager, Larry Jacoby, and defended by the attorney Joseph Wright Carnett. Quinterus traces the killings back through legend, and in his own apartment the sword begins to speak to him in the voice of Seppius, a shaman who poured his vengeful soul into the blade four thousand years ago. (Open Library)

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Bulova (unidentified model): Carnett has suggested half past four for a visit from the New York lawyer Harry Bradley and his associate George Quinterus about the Lambert case, and he has spent a tiring day in court and waiting on word of a job with the space agency. When Quinterus finally arrives alone, apologising that talking to people in Culberton took longer than he expected, Carnett glances at his gold Bulova wristwatch and remarks that it is late, then settles him on the leather sofa and reaches for his briar pipe. The maker is named; the model is not.

Source text: “It’s late,” said Carnett, glancing at his gold Bulova wristwatch. (Jaan Kangilaski, The Seeking Sword, scan cataloged as Ballantine Books, 1977, p. 31, where a stray OCR mark is dropped; the 4:30 appointment is set on p. 28; Internet Archive scan OCR)