My grandfather, Alan Gartner, was an amazing man and one of the most compassionate and caring people I have met. The details in my memories of him are vague and far between, but that does not take away from my admiration of him. His passing, after a lengthy battle with Parkinson’s disease, when I was fourteen, devastated my entire family. The impact he had on people can be seen in each of his three children, as they hold him in extremely high regard. My mother and her extended family share countless stories of the mitzvot (a loosely translated Hebrew word for good deeds) that illustrate his prowess in the endeavors he took on. I feel I should point out that my family does not feel this way about many people. In fact, the opposite is true when it comes to folks that we feel do not encapsulate qualities Alan held.  

Alan and his second wife, Dorothy, gifted me the watch he wore throughout his adult life when I became a man in the eyes of the Jewish people. Many gifts are given to someone for his Bar mitzvah, most of which are checks and are forgotten about after the thank-you notes are written. The gorgeous, simple Movado watch was not one of the gifts that were quickly forgotten. I do not wear it often, but wherever I am living, the watch has come and will come, with me.  

All the information I have about the watch is known through oral history, as Alan is no longer alive, and my thirteen-year-old brain did not think to ask about the piece. Fortunately, this watch was prominent in my mother and Dorothy’s lives.  

The watch has a single gold dot where twelve o’clock typically is, an hour hand and a minute hand. The face has no markings other than the dot. The story goes that Alan could glance at his wristwatch and tell time to the minute every time, or so my mother says. Dorothy pointed out he may have been full of it as no one would question his reading, but I like to remember the story as my mother tells it.  

After talking to Dorothy, I was able to gather a bit of information about his relationship with the watch; but like my memories, hers are vague with some gaps. Dorothy recalls a story told to her by Alan in which he went about finding the watch. He loved museums and at the Museum of Modern art, he saw an exhibit where a watch designed by Nathan George Horwitt was displayed. The watch he saw was “The Museum Watch” which had a simple design (the same as the one I have) that he fell in love with. The design was stolen by Movado from Horwitt which was later settled in court. Alan saw the exhibit sometime after 1960; no one is quite sure when he actually bought the watch, but it must have been after 1960. After seeing the unique watch at MoMA, he decided to purchase the “Movado Museum Watch” as it is called. He later bought the exact same watch for Dorothy. She estimated he gifted it to her in the late 1990s but seemed fairly uncertain about the date. He loved the design so much that he wanted her to have the same one and be able to appreciate it as much as he did.   

Growing up, I have vivid memories of Alan wearing the watch. He wore it almost every day of his adult life. It went with him to his job as Director of Research, Office of the Mayor of the City of New York, where he worked closely with Michael Bloomberg. When he gifted it to me at my bar mitzvah, he took it straight off his wrist. The love he had for the watch made the gift far more valuable to me. I do not wear the watch often, but the object is safe for the amazing things it has been through with Alan. The stories I am aware of and the ones I am not aware of are held in the small face of the watch. Whether the hidden stories come to light is up in the air, but time will tell. In the meantime, I have the honor to have this watch that went everywhere with someone I admire immensely. 

Sources  

“Nathan George Horwitt.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 25 Jan. 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_George_Horwitt.