Black and grey realism tattoo of an eye, cracked pocket watches with Roman numerals and gears, covering the forearm.

Realistic eye and cracked clock sleeve on a forearm

Realism · Forearm · Black and grey · Photo

A forearm sleeve shows a realistic eye at the top, with branching cracks running beneath it. Below, cracked pocket watch faces with Roman numerals and small visible gears are rendered with smooth shading and fine detail. The piece is entirely black and grey, and the design fills the length of the forearm from elbow to wrist.

Realism Forearm Eye Clock Pocket watch Roman numeral Gear Crack

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Nell,

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I have stopped every clock in Harrow Street, the way you asked, though the ones in the Palais have not stopped, and I think that is the trouble. Mr Okafor's big regulator in the back room still ticks, and Mrs Pryce swears the minute hand on the hall clock has gone backwards twice since Tuesday. I have taken the cracked pocket watch from the drawer, the one with the split glass and the gears showing through, and I cannot make it keep time at all.

You will laugh, but I watched it from the stairs last night. The band was playing a waltz nobody has asked for since the war, and the floor filled with couples who had no business dancing together. Every face I could see was turned the same way, towards the big clock above the stage, as if it might say something. It never did. Its Roman numerals just sat there, grey as the sky over the docks, while the hands crept on regardless.

I have decided to stop trying to fix it. Tomorrow I will carry the watch down to the river and let the tide have it, and then I will come to the dance hall and ask you properly, on my own feet, which is the only clock I trust. Save me the second waltz. If the hands go backwards on the way, I will simply walk faster.

Yours, always, Tom