Nerds: They Walk Among Us

They're everywhere, if you look hard enough. From the tech founders in the 1970s and 80s who went on to be billionaires that changed the world, to stereotypical geeky types immersed in some obscure pursuits, "nerds" have been a growing part of our societies. Outside of the standard technology sphere, there are nerds in just about every discipline - enthusiasts for otherwise unusual interest, battle re-enactors who love dressing up, obsessive collectors of all kinds of ephemera... you get the idea.

The recounting of this story was prompted by a conversation with an ex-colleague who was flying from Seattle to London on a British Airways flight. I recalled that BA crew had long ago called the BA49/BA48 route "The Nerd Bird", since it so often had Microsoft, Amazon and Nintendo people on board (and others associated with those companies). Turns out the same term has also been used from Seattle-San Francisco, Seattle-Vancouver and others.

People who know me well will probably know that I am a watch nerd. As in, an obsessive collector of wristwatches, mostly dating from the 1960s and 70s though not exclusively so. Facebook friends sometimes comment when we meet; most of the nerdery is reserved for IG.

About 10 years ago, I started getting into old watches - a passing childhood interest had been reawakened and slowly I started reading about them on the internet, talking to people I met, even going to watch collecting events. I had a few watches already and started adding the odd one to what was becoming a "collection".

Some are quite valuable, others are not even worth the money it has already cost to rescue them from the scrap bin. Like many other horology nerds, I think about watches more than any other inanimate objects and have a total of, oh, I dunno, maybe 80? 100? I'd need to look in the spreadsheet (obviously) to be sure.

Here is just one story of a passing encounter with another nerd in a somewhat unlikely place, and at a very safe distance.

I am a watch nerd. I have a collection of maybe 80? 100? I'd need to look in the spreadsheet (obviously) to be sure.

The enforced isolation of COVID-19 was only one of the many downsides, but there were unexpected positives for some. More time at home gave lots of us the chance to invest in a new skill or hobby (or turbocharge an existing one). Watch collecting seemed to take off as more people had more time and more money than usual, since they couldn't spend either doing more interesting things. Interest in - and prices of - vintage watches began to go through the roof.

The golden years?

Timekeeping instruments have been around for centuries, but the wrist-worn watch was only really used by ladies until the First World War, when soldiers realised it was more practical having their watch on their arm instead of in their pocket. Technological progress meant that the intricate mechanisms in watches got more robust and protected from shocks or magnetic interference; "complications" were added, showing the day and/or date, even the phase of the moon, and having more advanced timing functions.

The peak of advancement was during the 1950s-1970s, but when Seiko launched the first battery-powered, quartz regulated watch on Christmas Day 1969, few might have predicted the impact that technology would go on to have. The Astron may have been the price of a decent car, but within a few years you could buy cheap quartz watches that were more reliable and kept much better time than even the best Swiss Chronometers. By the mid 1980s, "the Quartz Crisis" meant a mass wave of consolidation and downsizing had taken place amongst traditional watchmakers and many historic brands had disappeared altogether.

Before the advent of the smartwatch, lots of people had stopped wearing a watch at all, given that "time" is easy to find if you have a computer or a phone. Like other fashions and trends, there have been waves of interest in old stuff, though - so mechanical wristwatches will always have a following, just as retro 80s-style digital LCD watches are now seen as the height of cool by some.

The uniformed nerd

I've shuttled between London and Seattle for over 20 years. When post-COVID travel started up again, Seattle unveiled it's spanking new international terminal in 2022. Arriving from LHR for the first time time shortly thereafter, I was quickly off the 'plane and in the queue for immigration. Well, there was one couple in front of me and the rest of the passport check hall was empty, with a few desks open but patiently waiting for their first customers from the solo inbound flight.

I was standing in something of a daydream, fresh as you would expect having just come off a 9-hour daytime flight, waiting to step forward to the desk in front when the time came.

"Is it real?", came a voice from somewhere. I glanced up and looked around.

"Is it real?", said the immigration officer who was standing next to one of the other desks, chatting to his colleague but now facing me. "Huh?"

He pointed to his wrist (which probably had a Casio G-Shock or something similar on it), and repeated the phrase again. I had to look at my own wrist to double-check what he was asking about.

"Er, yeah, it is", I replied, surprised.

"What year?"

"Ahh... 1972, I think". The timepiece in question was a vintage Seiko dive watch, whose serial number would say it was made in August 1972. He nodded in approval, and turned to his buddy, presumably to explain what the last 30 seconds had all been about.

Seiko first started marketing a watch at divers / swimmers in the early 1960s, then followed up with the Japan's first real dive watch, known as the 62MAS. While not especially rare, these are very collectible and had a very authentic-looking reissue in recent years.

My watch in question had been an evolution of what was Seiko's 2nd proper dive watch, the 6105-8000, adopting a distinctive asymmetric case shape that bulged around the 4-o'clock crown, to give it additional protection. It was that shape which sharp-eyed immigration man must have spotted from easily 50 yards away.

This variant - the 6105-8110 - was produced from 1970 until 1977, and was popular with people who just wanted a robust, waterproof watch even if they had no intention of diving with it. One group which took to it were military personnel, who could often buy goods when stationed abroad - in the case of US forces, in special tax-free stores known as Post Exchanges or PX. Many would go on to buy watches, and with purported water resistance of 150M, these Seikos might have been appealing to servicemen in Vietnam, helping protect against the jungle humidity.

When choosing how to portray the cast in the 1979 epic Apocalypse Now, the key character played by Martin Sheen, Captain Willard, was wearing a somewhat unusually-shaped watch that nerds now know to be a Seiko 6105-811x.

Nerds like giving names to things, and this 6105-811x family of watches is now collectively known as the "Captain Willard" in the character's honour.

Buying one of these 50+ year old watches can be a bit tricky as condition and originality greatly affect values, and they will probably need some degree of servicing and restoration if they haven't been well maintained. Expect to pay $1500+ for a decent one, maybe twice that for a really good one. Or else, plump for one of the reissues that Seiko put out to celebrate the original.

Marlon Brando wore his own Rolex during Apocalypse Now, and that went on to fetch nearly $2M at auction in late 2019. Nobody knows what happened to Sheen's Seiko. Shame.