Black and grey pencil drawing of a sleeve tattoo design with a pocket clock, a banner reading timeless, roses and leaves, shown as a design rather than on skin.

Clock, roses and banner sleeve design

Neo-trad · Black and grey · Flash

The drawing shows a pocket clock with Roman numerals and a ticking mechanism, set against fading clock faces with scattered numerals. A ribbon banner reading timeless wraps across the centre, with two roses and leaves below and vine detail at the base. The pencil linework is detailed, with soft shading and strong contrast on the clock and roses, and the design is arranged in a tall vertical column.

Neo-trad Clock Banner Rose Number Leaves Vine Pocket watch Script

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Take it to an artist as a reference. A good artist will make it yours rather than copy someone else's tattoo.

A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Mum, I know you said not to write until the train was past Carlisle, but the signal has been dead since Penrith and I have nothing else to do with my hands. The customs officer at the crossing wanted to know what was in the tin, and I told him it was my grandfather's pocket watch, which is true, though I did not mention the roses wrapped around it in brown paper. He turned the watch over three times and held it to his ear. It was still going. He handed it back and said nobody he'd ever searched had been carrying something that ticked so loudly.

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The man who sold me the watch in Leeds swore it had stopped at twenty to four the day his wife left, and that he had wound it every morning since out of spite. I paid him what he asked because the second hand was sweeping so steadily it looked like it was trying to get somewhere. Every shop window on the high street was showing a different hour, and the clock in the station said twelve minutes past nine, which I have decided to trust.

I have put the banner in the front pocket of my bag, the one with the word timeless stitched in cursive. I will not tell you what I plan to do with it. Ask Auntie Joan to keep the tea warm on Thursday. If the watch stops before I reach the platform, I will know I have arrived in the right place.

Love, Ruth