Jar of Junk

I like figuring out how to use items in different ways (especially if they’re items that might be considered junk). I picked up this jar at a vintage shop; it was sort of a “grab bag” in that the jar was pre-filled with stuff. It was taped at the top so I didn’t open it, but I could see that there were keys and watch faces inside. While I didn’t need any of it, I still couldn’t resist getting it; I thought that I could use what was inside in some way (though I wasn’t exactly sure how yet).

When I got home I opened the jar to take inventory of all the stuff I had purchased: ten keys, four watch faces, random foreign coins (as well as a Chucky Cheese coin and my favorite item: a Portland Vancouver toll bridge coin) and some little odds and ends (some of which I have no idea what they are).

I knew I wanted to take apart the watches and use the parts somehow. I’d never opened a watch before, but I thought I’d try and see what happened. I inelegantly pried opened three of my watches with random objects I had on hand, however, I quickly realized that I would have trouble taking apart the insides of the watches. The screws inside were so tiny that I felt like a giant (and suddenly had great sympathy for giants whose size makes them feel clumsy in a too small world). I tried fruitlessly to unscrew the screws and eventually broke down and got a super cheap watch repair kit.

The bar was set low for my watch repair kit, and yet somehow still not met. [Sigh.] I really just wanted tiny screwdrivers so I could unscrew the various screws inside the watches, but I swear I got the same sized screwdriver three times (which was utterly useless to me as they were too large to actually use on any of the screws). This irritated me greatly. So instead of using the fat screwdriver, I used a blade from the kit to unscrew my screws (but I probably could have just used a normal knife instead). I did use the tweezers that came with it that had a sharp point, as well as the case wrench to unscrew the last watch back I had to open. [Pause.] So I guess it wasn’t a total waste (just mostly a waste).

It took some doing, but I managed to take apart my watches. Everything was so tiny and I couldn’t help to be impressed at all the pieces it takes to create a working watch. With my watch parts in hand, I could now create something new with them.