WATCH LOVE STORIES: The Rolex that is part of the family

All that changed when, aged 35, I inherited a Rolex Datejust from my grandmother.

I didn't know this particular watch existed. But its gold and steel finish, gold dial and Jubilee bracelet were instantly familiar. My parents wore the same Rolex Datejusts, which two decades before they had bought as a pair to mark their 20th wedding anniversary. But, unbeknownst to me, they'd also purchased a third one for my grandmother. This was the watch I'd later inherit.

In 1993, when my parents first bought matching watches, I have to admit that the concept was somewhat lost on me. As a spotty, petulant teenager growing up in Taipei, I certainly couldn't relate to the achievement of a long marriage, and I just about got the sense that buying a Rolex was a big deal. In the ensuing years, however, those bi-metal Datejusts became a part of my daily life: they were my parents' 'everyday' watches, in every sense of the word - worn 24/7, in the shower, when sleeping, doing chores around the house, going out in the evenings. Images of them wearing the watches are still engrained in my mind; most indelible, of all things, is how loosely they wore them (and still do today): slipped slightly off centre, on the wrist's outer edge, just hugging the pisiform bone. And because they were matching, two watches worn in sync, my Rolex today has become a kind of signifier: for unity, stability, even normalcy.

The watch was my grandmother's but, with its backstory of sibling watches, it's ultimately a timepiece linked to my parents' bond. I haven't seen my mother and father for nearly two years because of the pandemic (as is the case for so many). I wore my Rolex a lot during lockdown. It reminds me of them, obviously - there's something very comforting about looking down at my wrist knowing that, somewhere across the world, my mum and dad are wearing pretty much the same exact watch. But it's also extremely wearable. As any Rolex owner will tell you, these are incomparably bulletproof, versatile tool watches. No wonder my parents wore them every day.

My grandmother's Datejust also marks a turning point in my relationship to horology. As mentioned before, watches had only ever been functional: Swatches featured regularly in my youth and later they played the role of fashion statement. There was a bracelet-style Gucci 19001 that was very minimalist 1990s, and a link-style Hermes Heure H that I bought on a trip to Paris. I wore a light blue Casio Baby-G for years, most memorably as a faithful companion on a belated gap year in South America.

But the Rolex was my first grown-up watch. I've had a family of my own since the watch joined my collection, and it's influenced every subsequent horological purchase. When I was pregnant with my first child, I picked up a vintage Patek Philippe at Christie's New York, and later a Jaeger-Lecoultre Reverso marked his birth. All recent watch purchases have also pretty much been unisex, with the intention of eventually passing them down to my sons.

My grandmother died last February and, for whatever reason, I never asked her why she was given a watch linked to my parents' 20th wedding anniversary. Was it a token of thanks - ie perhaps she helped my parents out when they first married? And was my grandfather gifted a matching watch too? I must ask mum and dad when we're finally, finally reunited.