I have lately had two pieces of good fortune in connection with watches I own – miracle mends you might call them, in both cases.

The first relates to the old wind-up gold watch pictured below. Ten years ago – I can be precise about the date – its mechanism ceased to work. Winding was to no avail; the hands declined to move.

I took it to various shops in Oxford. None was able to help.

At John Gowing, in the Covered Market, I was told the watch needed to be sent away.

This happened but, alas, it came back unmended. I still have the plastic bag it was returned in, with a receipt dated 22/10/2005. A note observes: “Parts obsolete. Movement worn.” Twice written are the gnomic initials “R.U.D”.

Into a drawer went the watch, bag and all. There it remained until a couple of months ago when I unearthed it during a clear-out.

I decided to give it a wind. The watch immediately sprang into action and it has remained working ever since. There is nothing wrong with it, except for a tendency to gain a minute or two every 24 hours.

My next stroke of luck occurred with my Raymond Weil electric watch, now nearly 30 years old.

During a night of bodily discomfort in the Greek islands, I knocked it from the bed beside me, causing it to land with a loud crack on the marble floor. The watch stopped and could not be restarted.

Packing up the house the next day, I asked Rosemarie to put the watch in one of the suitcases, but she thought it would be safer to wear it. This is how it was on my wrist when I let go the lid of a trunk, causing a sharp blow to the timepiece. Half an hour later, I realised the watch was working again. It is still going today.