By DAVID ROSEN
Waltham Times Contributing Writer
I recently reorganized my bedroom dresser and found a vintage 1930s men’s Waltham Watch I hadn’t seen or worn for decades. Finding it brought back fond memories.
My maternal grandparents, Israel and Fanny Leavitt, gave me the watch in 1958 after my bar mitzvah at Temple Emanuel in Newton. The service marked my transition from childhood to adulthood in accordance with Jewish law and tradition. The watch helps me reconnect with my beloved grandparents and my faith.
I lived in Newton back in 1958. I remember going to Moody Street in Waltham with my mother to shop at Grover Cronin and grab a quick bite at the famous Woolworth’s lunch counter. The two venerable stores were both closed by the late 1990s.
Over the years I’ve lived in many cities in several states, but Waltham has been my home for 24 years.
So finding the watch now takes on new significance. I live in the city that gave its name to my bar mitzvah gift: the Waltham Watch, America’s first watch brand and inventor of a manufacturing system that revolutionized the global watch industry.
Does the watch still work?
I wound it up and to my surprise the watch keeps perfect time. No battery required.
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