New watch brings University of Maryland basketball fans back to the glory days

Helitra.com

2 days ago

For fans of the University of Maryland’s basketball glory days, pieces of the old Cole Field House could soon be yours, thanks to a watchmaker.

Alan Tsao, sponsor of Maryland Athletics and the founder of the Baltimore Tsao Watch Company, says the idea came from a discussion with the university’s athletic department about how to make a special watch that Terrapin fans would have to have.
(Courtesy Tsao Baltimore)

It took Tsao about a month to come up with the design, which also features the center court logo on the watch face, over top of the wood.
(Courtesy Tsao Baltimore)

And it glows in the dark!
(Courtesy Tsao Baltimore)

These days, the basketball program at the University of Maryland is pretty far removed from the glory days of sellout crowds and regular victories. For fans of a certain age, those glory days bring back memories of basketball games played at the old Cole Field House.

While those fans wait for a return to that atmosphere — no guarantee, mind you — a Baltimore-based watchmaker has come out with another way to refresh those memories. He’s made a watch that has wood from the Cole Fieldhouse floor on the face.

“We are cutting, literally, the top layer of the wood court,” said Alan Tsao, the owner and founder of Tsao Baltimore Watch Company.

“So some pieces you will see more of the laminate piece on the side. You’ll see different marks — every single dial will be different because it’s all utilized differently over the course of the years.”

Tsao is a sponsor of Maryland Athletics, and the idea came from a discussion with the athletic department about how to make a special watch that Terrapin fans would have to have. A member of the department then mentioned there was still a little bit of leftover wood from the floor, which last hosted a game in 2002.

“They only had maybe a very small pile of Cole Field House wood remaining in the basement,” Tsao said. “We were able to get that wood and use it for … the faces of the watch.”

It took Tsao about a month to come up with the design, which also features the center court logo on the watch face, over top of the wood. Since he only had a little bit of wood to work with, he’s only making 500 of the special edition watches.

“We’re not only creating a unique timepiece, we’re creating something that holds UMD’s history,” Tsao said. “It’s more than just a watch. It’s really a cool conversation piece. It’s a piece of UMD.”

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