When I was younger, I was obsessed with Salvador Dalí. I spent hours in the museums of different countries. I read his memoirs and studied his works. During one trip to Spain in 2001, I visited a town of Figueres, which had a museum that Dalí created. I spent a day wandering from room to room with famous paintings and sculptures of women with open drawers in their bodies, elephants on thin long legs, and watches. The Dali Soft Watch.

Dali painted the first painting with soft watches in 1931. There are different theories why the clocks are melting, and why there are no people in the paintings with watches. Was it about the passage of time that we are in while dreaming? Disappearing, melting away? Is it related to Albert Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, a groundbreaking idea back in 1930’s? Is it Dali’s own memory of his childhood surroundings?

In 2001 there was a small shop next to the museum where the usual Dalí paraphernalia was sold, including watches. There were several typical melting watches, but one stood out. It was different, much smaller than the others, black dial with silver-coloured case and numerals, and black leather strap that also seemed to melt into a buckle. Quartz and Swiss made, the Dali Soft Watch cost about 200 dollars.

This Dali Soft Watch became my first Swiss made piece. I didn’t know at the time what it meant, and I didn’t look after it. I wore it for many years until the strap disintegrated, I always replaced the battery. They don’t make Dali watches any more. Cartier Crash is the closest in shape, but a different story.

My Dali Soft Watch is old and worn, scratched, with chrome coating missing in parts. It stopped working a while back, so two awesome Sydney watchmakers brought it back to life. I don’t think there are pros and cons to this watch. It’s just a piece that captured my attention almost 20 years ago and sparked my interest in watches.