Black and grey traditional tattoo of a pocket watch with Roman numerals and a banner reading I shall not live in vain, on a forearm.

Pocket watch with banner on a forearm

Traditional · Forearm · Black and grey · Photo

A pocket watch with a decorative ornate bow and Roman numerals sits at the centre of the design, with its hands set near the twelve. Two ribbon banners wrap across the watch face, one reading 'I shall not' and the other 'live in vain', in a script lettering. The work uses bold black outlines with soft grey shading on the case and ribbons, and the composition is shown on the inner forearm against a dark background.

Traditional Forearm Pocket watch Clock Roman numeral Banner Ribbon Script text Quote

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Tom,

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The watch came back to the bench on Tuesday with its glass cracked and the hands stopped at four minutes to twelve, just as your father left it. Mr Ashby sent the boy round with it wrapped in a Sheffield Telegraph, and I knew the handwriting on the tag before I unfolded the paper. You always did press too hard with the pen.

I have not opened the case. The movement is his work, not mine, and I did not want to be the one who sets it going again. Mother says that is foolishness, that a clock is only brass and springs, but she has not seen the inside of it the way I have, the little ruby jewel he set by hand the winter the mill closed.

I have set the hands myself, though. Just a touch, so the minute hand sits on the twelve as it did the night you left for France. I told the recruiting sergeant it was a matter of pride. He laughed and said the Kaiser would wait for a boy with a good watch. I did not tell him I had been counting the hours since.

The engraving on the back still reads the words he chose for you: I shall not live in vain. I used to think it was a grand thing for a father to say to a son. Now I think it was a promise he was making to himself, and I mean to keep it for him. Come home and wind it with me. I will hold the bench steady.

Love, Ada