Traditional style tattoo of a red rose, a pocket watch, a rosebud and a string of pearls on the upper arm, outlined in bold black lines.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Traditional rose, clock and pearls on upper arm

Traditional · Upper arm · Colour · Photo

A red rose with teal-green leaves sits at the bottom of the design, with a rosebud, a round dial clock showing Roman numerals and a dark circular pocket watch above it. Strings of pale beads run through the composition and link the motifs together. Bold black outlines and flat solid fills give a classic American traditional look, with the blue-grey clock face shaded lightly against the warm reds and oranges of the rest of the piece.

Traditional Upper arm Rose Clock Pocket watch Rosebud Pearl Leaves

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Tom,

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The fair pulled into Ashford on Tuesday, and I've been meaning to write since. Mr Abernathy has the stall by the dodgems again, the one with the glass case full of watches and a jar of red rosebuds he swears never wilt. He sells loose pearls by the yard, pale as boiled sweets, and tells everyone that a clock keeps whatever hour you tell it.

Last night I took him Mum's old pocket watch. I'd carried it in my coat since the funeral, its face gone cloudy, the hands stuck at ten to four. I held it out across the velvet and asked him to mend it, and he didn't even open the back. He just looked at me over his spectacles and said, "It's not broken, love. It's waiting for someone to tell it what time it is." Then he wrapped a string of pearls round my wrist, cold as rain, and charged me nothing.

I walked the midway until my boots ached, past the rose-painted caravans and the children shrieking on the big wheel. When I got back to the digs I wound the watch, though it was past midnight, and set it to the minute Mum used to call us in for tea. The second hand jerked, then ran.

Come home for Sunday. Bring your pearls if you still have them. I'll show you the rosebud, which has opened a little more since Tuesday, and you can tell me what time you think it is.

Love, Nell