Black and grey realism tattoo of an ornate pocket watch with Roman numerals and visible gears on a forearm.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Pocket watch on a forearm

Realism · Forearm · Black and grey · Photo

An ornate pocket watch with a decorative bow and engraved case, showing Roman numerals around the dial. The dial is open to reveal the mechanism and gears, with smooth shading and strong contrast that gives the metal a polished look. The watch fills most of the frame against a dark background.

Realism Forearm Pocket watch Clock Roman numeral Gear

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Nell,

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The watch stopped again on Tuesday, somewhere between the rhubarb and the potting shed, and I stood there with the case open in my palm like a fool waiting for it to tell me the time. You'll say I should have taken it to Mr Abernethy in the High Street. He's dead, Nell. Did no one write to you? The shop has a card in the window now that says Clocks Repaired by Appointment, and the appointment is with a man from Leeds who can't tell Father's escapement from a bicycle chain.

So I have been doing it myself, at the kitchen table, under the lamp you bought for your reading. The balance wheel was fine. It was the escape wheel, with one tooth bent like an old man's knuckle, that had been stopping the whole works. I straightened it with a darning needle and held my breath so long I went dizzy. Now the hands are moving again, very slowly, and the Roman numerals look up at me as though they're pleased with themselves.

The roses along the back wall are out. Mother's Albertines have climbed the trellis and crept onto the fence, and the bees have found the pear tree at last. Come up on the weekend. Bring the case if you still have it, the one with the scrolled lid, and we'll set the thing to the right minute together, the way he used to let us do on the back step with our heads bent close.

Your loving brother, Tom