Black and grey realistic tattoo of an open pocket watch with Roman numerals and exposed gears on the upper arm, with lettering tattooed above it.

Realistic pocket watch on upper arm

Realism · Upper arm · Black and grey · Photo

A black and grey realistic pocket watch fills most of the frame, with Roman numerals, a visible movement with cogs and hands, and fine text around the watch face edge. The shading uses soft gradients and high contrast highlights to give the metal a three dimensional, polished look. The design wraps along the arm, with darker smoky shading and partial script lettering at the top of the frame, and a printed colour reference photo sits at the left edge.

Realism Upper arm Pocket watch Clock Roman numeral Gear Lettering

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Take it to an artist as a reference. A good artist will make it yours rather than copy someone else's tattoo.

A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Nell, the tide turned at four this morning and the Marguerite went out past the breakwater with her new mainsail still smelling of the loft. I stood on the quay with the ledger under one arm and watched the brass hands on the bulkhead clock take up the line of the horizon, the way they always do when a ship clears harbour. Mr Ferrier says it is only a cheap Birmingham movement and wants replacing, but I told him it has kept time for her since the fitting out, and a clock that has kept faith with a ship should not be thrown over the side for being plain.

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The cogs behind the glass are the thing I keep looking at. Last night, with the lamp turned low, I took the back off with a screwdriver borrowed from the cook and counted the teeth on the great wheel. Forty-eight, and the escapement pawl still bright where some apprentice had oiled it in a hurry. Someone once wrote small letters around the rim of the face, too fine for me to read without the glass, and I spent an hour with it until my eyes burned, only to find they were the name of the yard and a date I would rather not know.

So I have packed the movement in oiled flannel and sent it up to you by the carrier on Thursday. Hang it in the front room where the light comes in off the water. When you wind it, do it on a Sunday, and mind the crown, because it sticks at the half turn. I have not forgotten the first Sunday in March. I will be back before the hands reach the Roman twelve again.

Your loving husband, Tom