zoic's Photos : Travel

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Waving Mao Watch : I found this watch in a tiny stall at the back of a market in Taipei ... I was looking for a souvenir to remind me of my time there ...

It's fully mechanical, needs winding constantly and Mao's arm waves on the escapement ... an oh-so-tacky reminder of the Cultural Revolution. Never failed to get a giggle and an imitative wave out of Taipei taxi drivers, despite the horrors of that era (and the looming tension between PRC and ROC while I was there)

If anyone knows anything about the provenance of this particular model watch, please get in touch! I've found a couple of other ones on the web, but they're not identical:

Mao Fever, featuring a subtly different Waving Mao Watch.
A different version from a photography contest.
Google has really made making lists of links useless though.

These photos were taken by lying the watch face-down on a flatbed scanner ... I'm amazed this works at all! Now I've got a proper camera with a macro lens, I'll have to try and get some better ones. It's also been properly cleaned and adjusted and got a new watchband more like the one at Mao Fever above, all of which cost me a tad more than the original watch ...

I found this watch in a tiny stall at the back of a market in Taipei ... I was looking for a souvenir to remind me of my time there ... It's fully mechanical, needs winding constantly and Mao's arm waves on the escapement ... an oh-so-tacky reminder of the Cultural Revolution. Never failed to get a giggle and an imitative wave out of Tai ...

Updated: Apr 10, 2006 2:26pm PST