Why You Should Engrave Your Watches

People try to justify watch purchases to themselves with all sorts of wild psychological tricks.

“It’s a great investment!” (Editor’s Note: It will likely rapidly depreciate in value.) “I deserve it!” (Editor’s Note: What did you do, exactly — fix the American healthcare system?!) “My child was just born. I’m buying it for when they come of age.” (Editor’s Note: You’re buying it for yourself, and later, you may consider giving it to your child — once it’s used.)

Wouldn’t it feel better to just buy the damn thing because you want it? But I get it: I’ve used many of these psychological tricks myself. (Well, not the one involving children. But the one involving nieces and nephews? I’ve got two beat-to-hell Rolexes with their names on them.) Moreover, sometimes you really do deserve that new (or vintage) watch, in which case I have a suggestion for you: Engrave the caseback.

I don’t suggest this because doing so may make you question whether you really want to shell out for it, now that it’s going to be that much harder to sell. (Though this is true — nobody wants your personalized nonsense on the back of their Datejust.) I think you should do it because, having owned several watches engraved to me (or by me) that celebrate special occasions or accomplishments, I can tell you with definitive certainty that these watches are no longer mere timepieces — rather, they’re trophies. Time capsules. Totems, even. They’re the type of objects that now surface with semi-regularity in Christopher Nolan films. They mean something.

Bring Back These Vintage Watches, Please

Yes, we need horological innovation and fresh blood. We’d also love to see these old classics return.

Not that an un-engraved watch means nothing. But while such a watch could be anybody’s watch, one with a personalized engraving is, well, personal. It takes some thought, some predetermination to engrave a caseback, or to have one engraved. Such engravings used to be entirely done by hand, which was perhaps the pinnacle of personalization. Nowadays, most engraving is done by computer-controlled laser, some of which looks downright cheap, like a plastic Little League trophy your five-year-old received for mere participation. But some of these look great, depending on the design and the equipment. (I’d still, however, recommend seeking out someone who specializes in hand-engraving and shelling out a bit more for it.)

What should you engrave? It entirely depends upon your taste, the occasion in question — whatever, really. I personally feel that including a specific date makes the watch that much more meaningful. Case in point: My mother presented me with a solid-gold, hand-wound 1947 Longines dress watch the day I graduated college, engraved with the date on the back to mark the occasion. The watch, which had belonged to my grandfather, had been dutifully cleaned and paired to a beautiful new brown lizard strap. Given to me at a family lunch following my graduation, I’ll always cherish this piece — not for its fancy lugs (super cool), gold construction (super luxe) or historical interest (super, well, interesting). But the thought that my mother put into the process, the hard work it took to graduate from the Berklee College of Music — all this is captured in the gesture and in the watch itself.

Two of watch writer Oren Hartov's engraved timepieces: a 1947 Longines [left] and IWC Caliber 89 — The author’s 1947 Longines [left] and the IWC Caliber 89.

Photos: Oren Hartov

There are other engraved watches in my collection that are equally meaningful to me: A Rolex Submariner, ref. 14060, given to me on the occasion of my bar mitzvah by my uncle — and which I wasn’t allowed to even look at until I turned 21. (Who wants their child to act like an entitled prick when he’s barely hit puberty? Much respect to my parents for this.) My uncle had the back engraved simply: the date, and “Love Diane, Steven, and Chad.” This watch is one of the most important objects in my life. I’ve worn it underwater; I’ve worn it on army maneuvers; I’ve worn it on stage. I wear it practically every day, and I’ll have it as long as I’m breathing.

There’s the gold IWC Caliber 89 that I bought slowly, on layaway, while in the military. I had been eyeing it for months in a shop window. My mother, whom I hadn’t seen in a year, came to visit me overseas, and I showed her the watch. (She used to work in jewelry and is largely responsible for my horological fascination.) I had been dilly-dallying about the purchase given the price — she asked the shop owners directly if they would consider some sort of layaway situation, and when they agreed, she put down the first $100. Each time I came to town, I put down more money until the day I finally finished training, earning my red beret in the Paratrooper brigade. Several years later I finally found someone to hand-engrave the watch with the date and the brigade motto, which means “After me,” a symbol of leadership values.

Speaking of mottos, there are plenty of examples of these featuring on engraved casebacks: Super-collector Henry Graves Jr. had a tonneau-shaped Patek Philippe minute repeater engraved with his family crest and motto, “Esse Quam Videri” — “To be, rather than to seem.” (Incidentally also the motto of my alma mater.) Sometimes a pithy directive is most appropriate: Every watch collector worth his or her salt can likely picture the watch which Joanne Woodward had “DRIVE CAREFULLY ME” inscribed before she gifted it to her husband, the actor/driver/philanthropist Paul Newman. After all, it was auctioned for nearly $18 million in 2017.

Then, of course, there’s the very best kind of caseback engraving — namely, a funny one. Filmmaker John Landis gifted a Cartier Tank — the classiest of watches — to one of his producers with the words “FUCK‘EM IF THEY CAN’T TAKE A JOKE” hand-etched into the caseback. Coming from the director of movies such as Animal House and Trading Places, this couldn’t be more appropriate, and the high-brow/low-brow quotient is brilliant.

Whether it’s to commemorate a special occasion, to remember a grand accomplishment, or to honor a friend, an engraving elevates a simple timepiece to something beyond a mere composite of gears and springs and steel. In the best examples of such a practice, one glances down at one’s wrist and remembers the sweat equity that went into earning such a watch — which makes owning such a watch all the more meaningful.