Fracas at the Smithsonian… Watch Me!

Fracas loves watches. Fracas owns many watches… from the days before she had three children and loved to spend her money on herself. Fashion watches they were called, and like shoes, the more… the merrier! So it was to my dismay that I read about how wrist watches are dying a slow death.

TKWP (The Thousand Watch Project) is the brainchild of Keith Moskow of Boston Architecture and Design firm Moskow Linn, and has been called “One of the most interesting forays into art and sociology we’ve seen in a while.”

The idea behind this project is to collect 1000 watches (via donation) and have each donor write an epitaph. It is Moskow’s assertion that “With the advent of cell phones, wrist watches are dying a slow death. But it is difficult (if not impossible) to throw out your old wrist watch even if it is broken. Is that because when it was worn it was almost an integral part of the body? Does it represent an important moment in one’s life?”.

Once the project has received 1000 watches, the entire collection will be donated to the Smithsonian Gallery in Washington DC, as “An Illustrative display of this moment in time.”

So far about 350 watches have been donated, so there is still time to send yours in. They do not need to be functioning, or even complete, to be featured in the collection. Each featured watch will be tagged with the epitaph included by the donor, and will be available to view online, and eventually in person at the Smithsonian Gallery.

How can this be? Do people not understand the accessorization value of a really funky watch? Do they not realize that watches are like shoes… always there to make you feel great, never make you look fat and yet… they provide a useful function! Try wearing your cellphone on your wrist and see if anyone ‘oohs’ and ‘aaahhhs’ over it. Chances are, they’ll ask you if you need help back to the home.

But… giving up a watch or two to their cause isn’t necessarily a bad thing. After all, it gives me an excuse to buy myself a new watch.

Heck… I see no reason why it shouldn’t even be an excuse to buy myself a new pair of shoes too!

So I’ve decided that fracas should definitely have a place at the Smithsonian and will be donating a watch.

While that article was written a few months ago and at that time there were approximately 350 watches donated, a check of the project’s  current status showed a little more than 500 was where it sat as of today, so there’s still time for you and I to take part. 

I’ll be sending my watches off forthwith. You can too.

To donate your watch to The Thousand Watch Project, please send it to:

Moskow Linn Architects
88 Broad Street
Boston, MA 02110

Be sure to include your own ten word epitaph and email address if you would like to be contacted when the item is available to view.

And while you’re busy sending off that package to Boston, why not take a moment and drop fracas a line too. If you send me a postcard… it might even make the blog!