A Boy and His Clock

The hardest thing about creating a website or blog is what to write as your first post. That first post should typify what your blog is about. Or maybe not. Maybe you write a post explaining the purpose of your blog and the kind of articles you'll be writing. Or maybe not.

This is the clock the boy was smiling at. 

I decided to write about something I saw because I was moved by it.

I was in the watch and clock section of Yodobashi, a large electronics store in Tokyo. I saw a boy, about 15 years old. It was hard to tell his age because he was developmentally disabled, possibly with Down Syndrome.

He had his camera out and was videoing a Mickey Mouse clock that was about to chime on the hour. He timed his visit to begin just a few minutes before 1 PM. I could see him smiling behind his camera.

Taking videos isn't allowed at Yodobashi. But there this boy stood, in the middle of the aisle, videoing, holding his camera so very steady, and smiling. Nobody stopped him. The store's staff and everyone there could see how special this moment was to him. Although he stood silently, I felt as if I could hear his thoughts. I've never seen a clock make somebody as happy as this clock did for that boy. Watching him, I knew that he'd enjoy the video over and over again, and that it would become his favorite movie. I felt happy, too.

I went back to Yodobashi several weeks later to take a quick snapshot of the clock that this kid was so happy to see.

This story is what A Better Wrist is about. It's about why watches (and in this boy's case, a clock) make us happy. A Better Wrist is about the smiles that time machines bring to all of us. A Better Wrist is about enjoying life and the watches in it.