Micky Mouse and Watchgang Six-Blackwell

 Mickey Mouse and Watchgang 6

From August 1983

My mother bought me my first Mickey Mouse watch for my 20th birthday in 1983. A friend of hers worked for Disney, and this was supposed to be a watch that was only available to employees. I don't know if that's true, but I liked it and used it for my dress watch for the next few years. It's a Bradley, a company that specialized in character watches, and it's Swiss made but only seven jewels. It still runs and keeps reasonably good time, and I pull it out regularly. I had always wanted a Mickey Mouse watch, but when I was little, I picked the Harlem Globetrotter watch, and in high school I was 'too cool' for a Mickey Mouse watch.

 

My Swatch was my daily watch, and I saved this for special occasions. But the battery died, and before Amazon, it was difficult to get Swatch batteries. I needed a watch for a delivery job I had, so I started using this daily, quickly causing the thin gold plating to wear away.

The next Micky Mouse watch I received was the one on the left of this group of four. It was a gift from about 1988, a quartz Lorus watch that does the job and has Micky Mouse on the face.

The Goofy watch is fun-it runs backwards! I bought it in the late 80's, and interestingly, if I wore it for more than two days straight, I started to read all analog clocks backward. It made for some mental confusion. It's a Pedre, a brand that still exists, though I don't know if it's the same Pedre. I remember that Lorus also made a backwards running Goofy, but I bought this one because it looked much nicer and it was supposed to be a limited edition. It's not running at the moment, and I don't know if it's broken or just needs a battery. Something to check into tomorrow.

Next to it is a very cheap Christmas Mickey that my Mom bought me, and next to that is a fancier looking square Mickey that also isn't running at the moment.

The last Mickey that I bought was this orange one that I like a lot, especially after I changed the band to this one. I think it's from around five or six years ago.

 Watchgang Six

 

This is a hefty and serious looking black box. The Blackwell is off to a good start. Inside the box, you get a bag:

But you don't wear either the box or the bag. Now, what does the watch look like? Well, it looks like this:

I'm not sure that I like it, but I'm not sure that I don't. I does have a very definite look. I like the rice grain band, and though I couldn't photograph it, it has a domed crystal that give it an interesting view from the side. According to the Blackwell website, this is a Guggen Mesh Light, listed at $250. The dial has a spider web design, and the back has the Guggenheim engraved.

At 44mm, it's a big watch and does have heft on the wrist. At this size, the domed crystal could be a liability-I could see myself banging it up pretty good. 

Interestingly, it's not a chronograph, but a dual time watch. The small dial on the face on the left is for a different time zone. Since the origin story for the brand is New York City, I set it for New York. The small dial on the right is a 24 hour dial, but I figured that out from looking at the watch right now (it's almost 6 PM) and realizing that I took the pictures at 3 PM-it isn't mentioned in the online manual. Both dials are really too small to be practical, but they do add to the look. 

I'm going to give this one a wear this weekend, and finish this up next week.

Two Weeks Later

I've worn it a few times, and was surprised that it was comfortable on my wrist. I thought that the size would cause me to bang it into things, but I apparently did not. As they day progressed, I liked the look. This one is a keeper.

July 29, 2022 Update

When I wrote this, I forgot that I do have a Donald Duck watch-two actually, though one is broken beyond repair. This one I bought at Disneyland in the mid 90s. It's a limited edition Ingersoll. Three are currently up on eBay for between $130-$595. 

There's also a Pedre that looks very similar, but has a fancy band. I remember that both were at Disneyland when I bought this, but the Pedre cost a little more and the things on the band looked like the would get in the way. 

I didn't wear this much when I got it-I usually went with the Goofy when I felt the need for a character watch, so it's in surprisingly good shape. I've busted it out a few times this summer. 

The one broken beyond repair my daughter had bought me for Father's Day. It was at Big 5, and it was very cheap watch in both cost and quality, and was broken with light wear rather quickly.