And the answer is…

by donalee Moulton

I’ve been doing readings from the two books in my Lotus Detective Agency series, Bind and Melt. I’ve discovered one of the fun things about book readings is drawing participants into the subject matter—with a quiz. The quiz for Bind has 10 questions that focus on two of the book’s main topics: watches and theft. Below are the questions about watches. They’re timely.

Scroll down for the answers. Next month I’ll share the questions about theft.

QUESTIONS:

#1: When were the first portable timekeeping devices — in other words, the world’s first watches — first invented?

A. 16^th century (the Early Modern Age)
B. 18^th century (the Age of Enlightenment)
C. 20^th century (the Age when Bind’s characters were born)

#2: Who were wristwatches originally designed for?

A. Men, because men get everything first
B. Women, because they are the smarter sex
C. Police officers, because they carry guns

#3: When did wristwatches gain popularity among men?

A. During the Roaring Twenties
B. During the Industrial Revolution
C. During World War 1

#4: Which old Hollywood movie star’s watch shattered records when it sold at auction in 2017?

A. Clark Gable, The King of Hollywood
B. Archibald Alexander Leach (you probably know him as Cary Grant)
C. Paul Newman aka Cool Hand Luke

#5: From 2021 to 2022, luxury watch thefts rose by 65% in London. What happened as a result?

A. A petition to ban the sale of machetes
B. An ordinance prohibiting anyone wearing a luxury watch in public
C. A law forbidding anyone to take a photo of the Crown’s wristwatch

#6: If not for a Rolex watch, Albert Johnson Walker might not have served 26 years in prison. Where was he incarcerated?

A. England
B. Canada
C. St. Pierre

ANSWERS:

Question #1: The answer is A. German clockmaker Peter Henlein is credited with inventing the first watch around 1510. Because of its size (about 3 inches), it was best suited to be worn on a pendant or attached to a belt.  

Question #2: The answer is B. Wristwatches were originally created for women. They were seen as both elegant pieces of jewelry and functional timepieces. According to the Guinness World Records, Swiss watchmaker Patek Philippe made the first wristwatch in 1868 for a Hungarian Countess. Men preferred pocket watches at that time.

Question #3: The answer is C. During World War I, wristwatches became a necessity because soldiers needed to tell time quickly and easily. This translated to civilian life after the war. By the 1930s, wristwatch sales had surpassed pocket watch sales.

Question #4: The answer is C. Movie star and race car driver Paul Newman’s Rolex Daytona sold at auction for $17.8 million in 2017. The watch had been a gift from his wife actress Joanne Woodward—engraved with the words “Drive Carefully, Me.”

Question #5: The answer is A. A London councillor launched a petition to ban the sale of machetes after having his watch stolen by a machete-wielding thief in 2022. The petition got almost 140,000 signatures.

Question #6: The answer is both A & B. In 1996, British police used a Rolex watch to identify a body found in the English Channel. When they visited the home of Ronald Platt, they discovered his business partner, Canadian-born Albert Johnson Walker, pretending to be him.  In 1998, Walker was convicted of first-degree murder and incarcerated in England. In 2005, he was allowed to transfer to a Canadian prison where he was further convicted of embezzling millions from his Canadian clients. In 2024, he was still in prison in B.C.

I hope you were challenged by the questions and intrigued by the answers. Let me know how you did.