Found in a Drawer, Solved at Last
April 20, 2026
Source: Reddit
I really enjoy finding old items that don’t seem to fit at first. This item was the perfect example of an item that didn’t make sense when first found. When I first saw it, I thought it resembled nothing more than a broken pocket watch with a very unusual hand-drawn face. When you turn the crown and allow it to be wound up, the hand will spin and will tick for awhile and stop at some arbitrary point. This is a rather odd occurrence. However, after taking another look at the face, the answer was quite evident.
It’s a broken pocket watch which was most probably a useless piece of junk. However, it had been repurposed by someone to become a completely random choice maker for a football pool. Football pools are essentially betting pools where participants predict results.
A Broken Timekeeper Finds a New Calling
As you can see from the pictures, the pocket watch appears to have failed much like any other. The internal mechanism for maintaining tension no longer works. Therefore, when you turn the crown and wind it up, the hands spin wildly and randomly instead of keeping track of time. It is no longer useful as a time keeper. However, it is ideal as a spinning device.
The person who created this also clearly utilized it in such manner.
The hand drawn dial reflects the repeating sequence of 1, X, and 2. If you’re familiar with football pools; those sequences should immediately make sense.
1 = The Home Team Wins
X = Draw
2 = The Away Team Wins
The numbers surrounding the edges were probably corresponding to the numbers listed next to the matches on a standard football pool coupon. Instead of having to pick each individual result manually, the user simply wound the clock and allowed chance to determine their selections.
Honestly, that’s a pretty neat creative reuse.
Why I Enjoy It
I think what I find most appealing about the broken pocket watch football pool spinner is how it feels totally homemade. The creator of this item merely took a broken and cheap watch and replaced the dial. Additionally, they created a new use out of an otherwise discarded object.
In many ways, that tells us a lot about yesteryear. In years past, we used to reuse items. We used to improvise. We often chose not to discard something purely because it no longer functioned in its original capacity.
Although this object will never hold value as a timekeeper (that aspect is now long gone), it does possess a certain amount of charm as a family heirloom. Perhaps most importantly, it contains a small historical account of football, frugality, and practical resourcefulness that was common in years past. This seemed to go unmentioned or unnoticed.
A broken pocket watch that ultimately becomes a football pool spinner is far more memorable than a broken pocket watch that sits in your drawer.