My wooden watch is a timepiece constructed of wood, glass, metals, a strap, and some batteries working to keep time. It has a brown, leather strap that is loose fitting and comfortable, and as you can see, it has clearly been worn many times. At its core, it is just a small, wearable timepiece. However, it means much more to me.
This was my “object that gives me joy” for the first class session. It is difficult to explain completely why it gives me so much joy, though I’ve often referred to it as the greatest gift I’d ever gotten. Perhaps it’s just the romantic in me, but I seem to have this grand appreciation for anything my girlfriend gives me. The watch is brown, a color I hate, and it doesn’t have any numbers, which would normally be a horrible feature for me (I often will make a mistake and say that the watch reads 7:22 as opposed to 7:27 in the picture above). However, the watch seems to goes well with just about everything and I don’t seem to mind the lack of numbers. So why does a silly timepiece, less functional and harder to read than my cell phone, mean so much?
Perhaps it is what it means. The watch obviously is what it is, but it serves as a symbol, as the date in which we started dating is engraved on the underside of the face. Maybe it’s because I never imagined wanting it, I’m really not sure. What I do know, is that I love the watch, it means more to me than what a normal watch does, and yes, it does serve as a nice accessory. It gives me a tremendous amount of joy, and of course to me, it’s far more aesthetically pleasing looking at it in the picture above, than I really think.
The Materials of History, Thought, and Art 
I remember looking at your watch on the first day of class and thinking “wow, that’s an interesting watch.” Your watch undeniably stands out and I think part of it is because it is made out of wood, and the other because it does not have any numbers on it, as you mention in your post. It almost seems counter intuitive to have a watch that does not show any numbers because why have a watch that does not do its job of telling time efficiently? Again, as you mention, the watch means so much more to you than its function. I think this is where things start getting interesting in terms of how we come to cherish objects and your post clearly shows this. Here you have a watch that you love but cannot express why, and this is something many of us have mentioned in class. We all have objects we love but once we’re asked what they mean to us we can’t even put our thoughts and emotions into words. In that regard, I absolutely understand where you’re coming from.