If you graduated from college with an English major and now spend your days writing technical manuals for industrial machinery, you may find the following inspirational. Or proof there is no justice. Your call.

Jason Heaton reviews watches. This is a job, to some people's surprise, and it's a good one. How the heck did that happen?

"I got an English lit degree at the U of M; then when I got out of school, what do you do with that? I dabbled with poetry and fiction while roasting coffee at Dunn Brothers, then I got a job writing manuals for the maintenance and installation machines that package juice and milk."

And then he sold J.J. Abrams a script about a watch that turns its owner into a superhero?

No. He responded to an online tech site's request for articles — no pay, of course; this is the Internet — and started to review timepieces.

"I always had an interest in watches, always had one on my wrist, and I'm also an avid scuba diver. I got interested in dive watches — great gadgets, with this James Bond feel."

Writing pieces on the side while working at a boring writing job — English majors everywhere are nodding their heads. But: "I started getting invited on lavish press events in exotic locations."

Cue the old-style record scratch. Lavish exotic watch-related events? Yes. On one such junket, he met an editor of Revolution, a Singapore-based watch magazine, and now: "I take a dive watch once a quarter to a different locale. Galapagos, Belize, places like that."

Dream job. Couldn't be better, could it? "My wife is an underwater photographer, and she takes the pictures."

But you live in Minneapolis. Only so many shoots you can do at Lake of the Isles. "It's a little frustrating; if I lived in the Florida Keys I could be taking watches out every weekend. But we make it work. I was up at Isle Royale for a piece, and the water was 36 degrees." Ah, that's where Minnesota hardiness comes in handy.

Won't Apple's new fancy gizmo make these items obsolete?

"It's more about the artistry and tradition. Digital will never supplant the mechanical watch on people who appreciate those things. I was sailing out in San Francisco in the Rolex Big Boat series, and the timing ring, timing bezel around the dial of my watch, snagged and flew off. I thought I'd lost it, but a crew member found it and I popped it back on that night. Big scratch on the side of the watch now, but it's another story.

"I wore it diving under the ice, climbing Mount Ranier. It's the only thing I'll have on my wrist the rest of my life."

JAMES LILEKS