Realism style black and grey thigh tattoo showing a pocket watch, a top hat, a key and a framed portrait of a woman, surrounded by ornate lace patterns.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Pocket watch and portrait thigh piece

Realism · Thigh · Black and grey · Photo

A large thigh tattoo shows a pocket watch with a detailed clock face at its centre, surrounded by ornamental lace and mandala-like patterns. Below, a top hat and a framed portrait of a woman with dark hair sit within the design, with a key and scissors also visible. The piece is worked in black and grey shading with soft tonal gradients, and the design runs down the outer thigh of a woman standing by a pool.

Realism Thigh Pocket watch Clock Key Top hat Scissors Lace Mandala Portrait Woman

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Mr Harrow,

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The rain has been at the market since Tuesday, and the awnings sag like wet sails over the fish stalls on Gallowgate. I have your watch on my bench. It is the one with the cracked crystal and the lace of scratches around the winding stem, the one your father called his conscience because it never ran fast. I have spent three evenings coaxing the balance wheel back into step. It ticks now, a little sulky, but true.

You asked me to tell you what I found inside the case. There was a folded paper no bigger than a stamp, and on it, in a hand I did not know, the words Keep her time, she keeps yours. Beneath it sat a key so small it could open nothing but a jewellery box. I have put the key in an envelope with this letter. The scissors you left with your coat are on the windowsill, and I will post them when the rain lets up.

Mrs Calloway came in this morning with the hat box she keeps for her wedding things. She wanted the portrait in the locket re-glazed, the one of her sister in the blue dress, and she stood by the counter for an hour telling me about the cake. I did not mind. Most people who come to a watchmaker want time back, or want it measured out kindly, and few want to talk about either. I told her the glass would hold until spring. She said spring was a long way off, and laughed, and the rain laughed with her on the skylight.

Come and collect the watch on Saturday, before the stalls pack up. I will have the kettle on and the key ready to hand back.

Yours in patience, Edwin Pryce