Black and grey realism tattoo of a compass rose with a ribbon banner and an open pocket watch on chain, on the inner forearm.

Compass and pocket watch on a forearm

Realism · Forearm · Black and grey · Photo

A compass rose with a letter N at the top sits above a shaded ribbon banner that wraps across the design. A pocket watch hangs from a chain below the ribbon, with its lid open and Roman numerals on the dial. The work is in black and grey with fine linework, soft shading and strong contrast across the metal and ribbon.

Realism Forearm Compass Pocket watch Ribbon Chain Roman numeral Compass rose

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

The rain had been coming down on Hollins Row market since before light, and by eleven the awning above my stall sagged like a wet sail. I was pricing a tray of brass sextants when Walter Pike ducked under the edge of the tarpaulin, shaking his cap, a pocket watch cupped in his palm as though it might fly off.

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"It stopped," he said. "Twenty past four. I don't want it mended. I want it gone." I opened the lid. The Roman numerals had worn to ghosts, and a hairline crack ran across the glass like a river on an old map. Tucked behind the movement was a square of folded paper, soft as cloth, with a pencilled arrow and the letters N and W. "My father's," he said. "He navigated the Humber ferry in fog for thirty years. Never trusted the watch. Only the needle."

I offered him eight pounds, which was an insult, and he laughed, which was worse. We settled on forty for the watch and nothing for the paper, which he unfolded on my counter and smoothed flat with the side of his hand. The ink had bled into the creases, but the arrow still pointed past the wall of the covered market, toward the river and the place the ferry used to tie up.

When he left, the rain had thinned to a fine drizzle. I pinned the paper under a jar of compass screws and did not put it up for sale. Sometimes, between customers, I caught myself glancing at that arrow, as if the whole room might have shifted while my back was turned.