Passing it on

Last week, I had the privilege to restore an 1880s good pocket watch. It was a special timepiece featuring two important functions: a quarter chime ‘repeater’ mechanism which, when activated, would tell the hour and quarter by striking on two gongs. The second feature is a 60-second stopwatch. Even to an untrained eye, this precision instrument sends a clear message: respect the sophistication. Engineered to impress and show the owner’s social status and importance, but also to serve a purpose: a doctors watch used daily to measure the patient’s pulse. Respect!

Yet there is something else that makes this watch even more special: miraculously, it was passed on from generation to generation as a family heirloom, currently guarded by its fourth guardian. Not an owner – merely a keeper whose role and responsibility is to preserve it, then hand it over to the next guardian, who will, one day, add his name below the names of ancestors. And proudly so.

Today, in front of me is a small pile of 315 QSL cards. A unique, sophisticated collection, yet to be completed. Today, those cards remind me of contacts with countries and islands, some being the most remote places on the planet, my joy and pride. But the question I often ask myself is this: in a few decades, or a century, will my children and their children value my precious collection and find it worth preserving – or will the cards be simply trashed in the rubbish bin? The answer is simple: it depends, and only time will tell. I can not make them like what I’ve liked, nor expect, or demand, that the excitement is passed on. The only thing I can do is to place a simple, handwritten note on the pile of cards: “this was important to me”. If they are smart, they’ll know what to do.

Memento mori, CQ DX.