A Jewelry Store at Christmastime, and the economy

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Wednesday, December 22. 2010

A Jewelry Store at Christmastime, and the economy

Stopped by my local jewelers at lunchtime today (to pick up a repaired watch - not shopping). The place was packed, and I had to wait a while despite there being 8 salespeople.

The lady who retrieved my watch showed me a $285,000 watch. Used. It doesn't look fancy or flashy at all. She told me they would sell it this week, already sold one just like it earlier in the week. I admired it, but I prefer my old Accutron that my wife gave me the first year we were married (and my Timex Explorer for banging around). She also showed me a pretty bracelet, $60,000. She said they had had five of them three weeks ago, now down to this last one.

They have an armed rent-a-cop on duty full time.

When I finally got my watch delivered from the repair and jewelry construction area upstairs, she handed it to me and said "No charge. It was a simple repair, just a cleaning and oiling. Merry Christmas."

Posted by Bird Dog in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects, Our Essays at 15:51 | Comments (8) | Trackbacks (0)

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Was the bejeweled lady in the picture the one who waited on you? That would surely be a reason for the store being crowded!

I had an Accutron when I was in high school. Don't know whatever happened to it. My dad left me his Rolex mechanical watch but I can't wear it because it doesn't keep good time on me. I have a Casio Data Bank watch. It wakes me up in the morning, keeps my appointments and phone numbers... never needs cleaning... I can't live without it. It could be replaced by my cell phone, but I'm just old school enough to require a watch.

#1 mudbug on 2010-12-22 16:00 (Reply)

If I were a guy, rather than spend 285K on a used watch, I would pay for the lovely creature on the right part of the page for the privilege of bedding her for one night. Some people do not have their priorities straight.

#2 Cilla Mitchell, Galveston Texas (Link) on 2010-12-22 16:22 (Reply)

My accutrons all crapped out, and then quartz came along, and then I stopped wearing a watch, decades ago.

The deal with running faster with tuning fork tynes down than up was amusing though.

Atomic time is the way to go, except there's an hour uncertainty (exactly an hour) owing to misreading the DST bit code for the day at midnight.

#3 rhhardin (Link) on 2010-12-22 17:32 (Reply)

Good to see that beautiful display of jewelry again.

I have seen the picture before, I am not sure where. It might have been here. But here, there, or wherever, it is a picture you don't forget.

#4 KTWO on 2010-12-22 20:20 (Reply)

Diamonds are forever, eh?

I like my $15 Casio watch. Keeps respectable time year in, year out. Wear it swimming, diving, everywhere. And when the battery dies, I replace the whole watch for the same cost as a new battery because the watches are frequently on sale. I never have to worry about losing it or having it stolen. If I ever misplace one, I'll just step inside the nearest drug store and buy a replacement.

#5 Agent Cooper on 2010-12-22 21:25 (Reply)

AC: Agreed; I also have a Casio that gets updates daily from WWV in Ft Collins, and also has solar cells built into its face. But when these watches die (they aren't exactly Rolexes) finding an exact equivalent is hard because manufacturers tend to change their designs. And aesthetics mean a lot to me in a watch. BD probably saw an IWC "Grande Complication" whose specs read thusly: (platinum case material); Limited edition of 50 watches per year, Mechanical movement, Self-winding, 44-hour power reserve when fully wound, Chronograph, Minute repeater, Perpetual calendar with crown-activated rapid advance, Four-digit year display, Perpetual moon phase display, 659 mechanical parts, Screw-in crown, Sapphire glass, convex, antireflective coating on both sides, etc etc. cheers & Merry Christmas chuck

#5.1 dhmosquito on 2010-12-23 11:26 (Reply)

My husband has a Timex he has been devoted to for forty years. It has been to twenty countries with him, up and down the Amazon five times, to Canada many times, and Scandinavia, to Russia to visit polar bear birthing dens, to the Arctic and Antarctica, to Azerbaijan and the Mid East, as well as to the civilized countries of the world. In that time, he has had it back to the factory once for reconditioning and has clung stubbornly to it, since no one bothers to try to steal it when he goes through the dreaded airport security.

Oh, and by the way, Ben David and other dwellers in Israel. He's never been to the one truly civilized part of the Mid East, namely Israel, although he has been to Saudi Arabia, since he edited their history of the Saudi Arabian oil industry. One comment he made when he got back was that he got lonely for the sound of feminine voices, since the country strictly limits their womenfolk from appearances in public, without male family member escorts.

I think that's a sad comment on a backward part of the world.

Marianne

#6 Marianne Matthews on 2010-12-23 13:02 (Reply)

I have revised my general dislike of buying my wife jewelry. I think I will buy her pearls this year. She looks great in pearls.

#7 Maddog on 2010-12-23 20:08 (Reply)

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Wednesday, December 22. 2010

A Jewelry Store at Christmastime, and the economy