Timekeeping rant
Sep. 7th, 2006 07:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
altivoTell me, why is it that you can't get a decent watch any more? We used to buy a Timex for $29 and it would last forever, all you had to do was wind it. If you bought a more expensive watch, like an Elgin or a Bulova, it was guaranteed for life and if it failed for reasons other than the obvious (you put it through the washing machine or ran over it with your tractor, say, or maybe dropped it in a pot of boiling soup) you could send it back to the factory for repair and it only cost you the postage.
Gary prefers a pocket watch, because he bangs his wrist into stuff all the time. I've bought him several, he has bought himself several, and they never last more than a year or so. The first one I got him was a few years ago, from Dakota Watches, and was a Christmas gift from the horses. It has a nice gold plated case with two horses putting their heads out a dutch door, and he was delighted. It's electric, which we both find is a pain because the batteries are hard to replace. The battery died, of course, and the watch wouldn't restart when the battery was replaced. It was still in warranty, so we sent it back. Cost, $7.50 service charge. It was returned with the works completely replaced for that price. Ran until the battery died again, same problem. This time they said they could not repair it because they no longer have replacement works to fit that case. Two years, and the watch can't be repaired. I think he still has it because the case is so pretty.
He was going to Canada with our friend and farrier John to deliver a mare to a buyer. We went to KMart, knowing the watches would be junky, and bought him two for $10 each. Both were digital. The wrist watch worked and lasted him for about two months before it quit running. The pocket watch never worked. We couldn't even get it set to the right time. It had instructions, but they referred to buttons that the watch didn't even have, and were obviously written for some other watch and in that queer kind of English that you get when it's written by someone for whom Korean or Japanese is the native tongue. That one got thrown away, $10 wasted.
I checked into Bulova pocket watches, but they seemed to start at $250, had only a year warranty, and were all electric. No one makes spring wound watches any more, I guess. It's all electric, can't repair it, can't adjust it, throw it away and buy another trash.
I got him two inexpensive fob watches from Levenger that are still running, but they haven't needed batteries yet. When that day comes, it will probably be the end of them too.
He needed a watch he could use with his Civil War costume when he performs as a musician in costumed environments. He bought a pocket watch at the drug store. It was electric, but it looked period on the outside and would do. It ran until the battery died. We couldn't figure out how to get the battery out to replace it, so we took it to a jeweler. He could replace the battery, but it would not run. He said he didn't charge for bad news, so it cost nothing. Fortunately my wrist watch needed new batteries and he did those for me and I could pay him for that.
We went five different places and found another watch just like the one that died. He bought it and when we got out to the car I said "Check now and make sure it runs." It didn't. Took it back into the store, and they changed it for another, checking to make sure it ran. It ran, but they didn't set it. I tried to set it, and the hour hand was stuck. It wouldn't move. The clerk played with it and said it was working now. I took it and turned it through twelve hours. The hour hand stuck again in the same spot, 4:30. They traded for another with a different case design, but that one didn't work either. So he got his money back and no watch.
I know many railroad personnel still carry pocket watches. Surely they must get decent watches somewhere, and I doubt they pay $400 for them. How about it,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
quickcasey? Any suggestions?
Oh, and in a separate rant, I ordered rubber floor mats and doorsill scuff plates for my new car from Ford. They arrived via Federal Express, who delivered them a day late and with the boxes crushed and torn. The floor mats are the wrong color, black instead of gray as specified on the order and confirmed via e-mail. The scuff plates are for the wrong model year, 2003, even though the printed order confirmation clearly says 2007. This is simple stuff, not rocket science, but I guess shipping and warehouse employees aren't even required to be able to read any more.
Gary prefers a pocket watch, because he bangs his wrist into stuff all the time. I've bought him several, he has bought himself several, and they never last more than a year or so. The first one I got him was a few years ago, from Dakota Watches, and was a Christmas gift from the horses. It has a nice gold plated case with two horses putting their heads out a dutch door, and he was delighted. It's electric, which we both find is a pain because the batteries are hard to replace. The battery died, of course, and the watch wouldn't restart when the battery was replaced. It was still in warranty, so we sent it back. Cost, $7.50 service charge. It was returned with the works completely replaced for that price. Ran until the battery died again, same problem. This time they said they could not repair it because they no longer have replacement works to fit that case. Two years, and the watch can't be repaired. I think he still has it because the case is so pretty.
He was going to Canada with our friend and farrier John to deliver a mare to a buyer. We went to KMart, knowing the watches would be junky, and bought him two for $10 each. Both were digital. The wrist watch worked and lasted him for about two months before it quit running. The pocket watch never worked. We couldn't even get it set to the right time. It had instructions, but they referred to buttons that the watch didn't even have, and were obviously written for some other watch and in that queer kind of English that you get when it's written by someone for whom Korean or Japanese is the native tongue. That one got thrown away, $10 wasted.
I checked into Bulova pocket watches, but they seemed to start at $250, had only a year warranty, and were all electric. No one makes spring wound watches any more, I guess. It's all electric, can't repair it, can't adjust it, throw it away and buy another trash.
I got him two inexpensive fob watches from Levenger that are still running, but they haven't needed batteries yet. When that day comes, it will probably be the end of them too.
He needed a watch he could use with his Civil War costume when he performs as a musician in costumed environments. He bought a pocket watch at the drug store. It was electric, but it looked period on the outside and would do. It ran until the battery died. We couldn't figure out how to get the battery out to replace it, so we took it to a jeweler. He could replace the battery, but it would not run. He said he didn't charge for bad news, so it cost nothing. Fortunately my wrist watch needed new batteries and he did those for me and I could pay him for that.
We went five different places and found another watch just like the one that died. He bought it and when we got out to the car I said "Check now and make sure it runs." It didn't. Took it back into the store, and they changed it for another, checking to make sure it ran. It ran, but they didn't set it. I tried to set it, and the hour hand was stuck. It wouldn't move. The clerk played with it and said it was working now. I took it and turned it through twelve hours. The hour hand stuck again in the same spot, 4:30. They traded for another with a different case design, but that one didn't work either. So he got his money back and no watch.
I know many railroad personnel still carry pocket watches. Surely they must get decent watches somewhere, and I doubt they pay $400 for them. How about it,
quickcasey? Any suggestions?Oh, and in a separate rant, I ordered rubber floor mats and doorsill scuff plates for my new car from Ford. They arrived via Federal Express, who delivered them a day late and with the boxes crushed and torn. The floor mats are the wrong color, black instead of gray as specified on the order and confirmed via e-mail. The scuff plates are for the wrong model year, 2003, even though the printed order confirmation clearly says 2007. This is simple stuff, not rocket science, but I guess shipping and warehouse employees aren't even required to be able to read any more.
