# 13 Are you superstitious?

I bought my first G-Shock on June 5th 2000. Amazed by the variety of models, I started interested in other G-Shock’s. Within a few months my collection was growing. I discovered on-line auctions. In the Netherlands you had iBazar.nl, which later was taken over by eBay.nl. I bought new models in the shops, but also looked at used Gs on iBazar.

At the end of March 2001 I had 12 G-Shocks.

1: DW-004, Maroon, Solid Server

2: DW-003, Maroon, G-Lide

3: DW-003 Toughlabel with BPM Counter

4: AW-571, Gaussman, f200.- (€90.-, a lot of money that days for me) bought in a Sale on a dark rainy day. Bram was a 4 months old. I took him with me in his Maxi Cosy, after I picked him up at my parents.

5: DW-003, Green, 21^st Century Boys, Tommy Guerero version

6: GT-004, Steel, G-Cool.

7: DW-003, White, light blue, G-Lide, bought from Charlotte Coppola

8: DW-6900H, yellow, Taxidriver, bought from Charlotte Coppola

9: DW-5600, red with black protector

10: DW-004, yellow, Crusher

11: GT-008, G-Cool, White

12: Dark blue, DW-9005, Heavenly High

There was a funny auction on iBazar at the end of March 2001. There was a poor picture of a DW-6600 posted (digital photography was not a very common thing at that time). The description was a bit like this:

Used watch looks for a new owner. It has been well used and has a lot of scars. Although the watch does not look well, it is still good working and a nice watch for doing the dishes.

Well, I work on a school laboratory and I could use such a watch. The auctions on iBazar were often for a month (thank God for eBay with a maximum length of 10 days, and most shorter than a week). I was the only bidder and I got the watch very cheap. I received the watch on April 3, 2001. It was exactly the way it was described.

When I woke up the next day, I made my lunch and took a shower. I dressed myself and took the DW-6600. I strapped it on. It was 8:20. I was in a hurry. I had an experiment on the 1st hour on 8:45. I drunk my tea and put on my Jacket. On 8:23 I stepped out the door and took my bike from the shed and rode to the city center. Of course I had all traffic lights against me. When I was at the last traffic light, about 8:32, I sprinted away. My bike computer showed me I was riding 25 km/h passing the supermarket. I was still accelerating, I must have been riding over 30 km/h. I passed the ticket box for the tourist boats. This ticket box actually blocked the view of the road and bridge behind it.

Then everything happened like in slow motion. 8:33. I ride up the crossing to the bridge. I see a car, a VW Golf. It was riding fast. No time to brake. The car tries to brake. Luckily I have done a lot of martial arts sports. In a reflex I jump up and throw my underarms before my face, to hold of the window shield. I hear my good old TREK (in cold ice plum) cracking and flying away. My hands stick on the broken window, my body moves on. Too fast, I can’t pull my arms up to protect me. I get launched from the roof. Head first. Bang!!!! My nose hit the street stones, TOCK! My front teeth smash trough my upper lip on the street. Then the rest of my body follows. My face is towards the street. I can’t see. It’s dark. I hear people. I’m still there. A voice is talking to me. I’m still conscious. My bag is removed from my back. I feel a lot of pain in my left shoulder. It had gotten a severe blow. I try to move my toes. I’m relieved. My spinal cord seems OK. An ambulance arrives. My bike is found back behind the ticket box. It was complete ruined. In hospital they found out I had not broken anything. My nose was glued together. Finally I reached Eva. I looked like this when I got home from the hospital.

The women who drove the car was a kindergarten teacher. She had forgot her reading glasses and was returning home in a hurry to get them. She was driving about 50km/h. My DW-6600 was still working like nothing happened. It means it survived a direct hit of about 75km/h on the window shield!

I actually realized later that this was my 13^th watch and that the accident happened in the 13^th minute I was wearing it. I am normally not a superstitious person, but it gets you thinking… I never wore this watch again. I gave the watch to Eva when the battery was dead. She took it to Vlissingen for battery change. Maybe G-Shock #13 was the watch that made me superstitious.