Black and grey realism tattoo of two roses, leaves and a pocket watch with Roman numerals on a calf.

Roses and pocket watch on a calf

Realism · Calf · Black and grey · Photo

The tattoo shows two shaded roses, with a pocket watch with Roman numerals and a visible hands face set between them, framed by dark leaves and small hatched accents. The shading is soft and detailed, with smooth grey gradients on the petals and a strong dark outline on the watch case. The design wraps vertically up the calf in black and grey ink against a plain background.

Realism Calf Rose Pocket watch Clock Roman numeral Leaves

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Nell,

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The watch stopped twice in the gale, both times while I was up in the lantern with the wick trimmed and nothing to tell me the hour but the sea. Your grandfather's silver pocket watch has never lost a minute in forty years, so I took it as a sign I should stop keeping it on the chain and start looking at it properly. The Roman numerals have worn so soft the twelve looks like a thumbprint, and the hands have gone black where the paint has chipped.

Mrs Pryce at the chandlery says it is only the cold getting into the mainspring. She has never once been wrong about the cold. She also says the roses you planted by the boathouse wall have come up again in spite of the salt, two of them, red as the light when it burns through fog. I have not been down to see them. I keep meaning to, the way a man means to answer a letter.

Last Tuesday the boat came in late with young Ruaridh and his brother, and I stood at the rail with the glass to my eye, counting seconds on the watch until the lamp could be dimmed. It ran true that night. When I opened the case afterwards the hands had moved on past the hour without a single tick missing, as if the thing had been waiting for the men to get home.

Come at Easter and wind it yourself. Bring the roses in a jar if they will survive the train. I will set the time by your arrival, to the minute.

Love, Dad