Snooty jewelers are very off-putting when they sneer at me for wearing sterling silver, or for having a Tag Heuer or Seiko instead of a Rolex or Breitling. I prefer silver to gold, and all I really want in a watch is something that’s easy to read, and keeps perfect time. To me, jewelry, including watches, aren’t status symbols. They’re accessories. I have some good stuff; I have some things that aren’t worth much, but I like, anyway. That’s the way it works. There are several snooty jewelers around here, none of which will ever again get my business. Then, there are two others, who are not snooty.
One of the two has a satellite shop not too far from me, but it’s only open a couple of days a week. The other is a bit farther away, but is now back to being open six days a week during its normal business hours. A month ago, we brought in several watches for new batteries, one for inserting new pins into a watchband that had some links break loose, and one for real repair. The watch that needed real repair was done, which was my real mission for going there. But, the one that had the pins replaced popped them again a couple of weeks ago, so we brought it back, and I inquired whether they could find a replacement band for it that would fit (didn’t have to be from the original manufacturer).
On the spot, the guy reached under the counter, pulled out a tray full of options, measured the width where the band attaches to the watch, and found a “universal” substitute that looked almost identical to the original band, popped it in, and went off to remove the two links from either side to make it fit the way my other half wanted it.
The repair of my watch cost exactly what I was quoted two weeks ago, and approved before the work began on it. The replacement watch band for the other watch came to $32 and change. That store was busy this afternoon — really busy.
There’s a reason for it. They sell some really expensive stuff that’s not up there with Bulgari, but is up there with Tiffany. Still, they also sell reasonably priced items, and do repair work for extremely reasonable prices, not only on watches, but also on other jewelry.
On a completely different note, I had to stop by my bank before the jeweler, and forgot to wear my muzzle face mask when I went into the foyer to use the ATM. The rest of the bank is closed. A guy came in just as I was almost done with my transaction, and he wasn’t wearing one, either. EFF OUR GOVERNOR, and his heavy-handed rules.
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