I hate breaking bad news to people, I hate being a know-it-all, I hate being “that asshole”. Usually I just let people believe what they want to believe:

I’m so glad you think you look great in that outfit.
That was really well written, I think you had some interesting wording in that.
No, I can barely smell the litter box in your house.

But when it’s someone you care about, someone you respect, someone you think should know better- it’s hard to not express yourself.

One of my closest friends (who is a watch guy-but more modern that vintage) recently inherited his grandfather’s watches- found in a dresser drawer after his 106 year old grandmother past away. He sent me a picture of his new collection



I offered the usual platitude- “what a lovely heirloom of your grandfather- you should get them serviced and enjoy”.

Then the text dialogue started where it got harder and harder to keep from being that asshole.

Him: they are in pretty decent shape for their age.
Me: yeah, they aren’t bad,
Him: the Longines is very nice
Me: they made nice watches
Him: the dial design is really neat

….this is where it started getting really hard to keep it to myself

Me: it is unusual
Him: I looked online and couldn’t find another like it- perhaps it’s a rare dial?

shit….how can I dodge this

Me: have you taken a good look at it and compared against others of this time period?

Him:


Me: you should really look up some others from this time period and compare the fonts, the minute track, etc.
Him: I have and this is an unique design/ haven’t seen another like it.

….can’t….stop….now….

Me: well, it was redialed at some point in its life which is why you can’t find another like it.
Him: My grandfather owned it since new, I doubt he ever serviced it.
Me: he did, and it was redialed.
Him: I doubt that
Me: Trust me, he may not have realized it was redialed, it was SOP back then if you brought a watch to a watchmaker and it has moisture damage in the dial, they may refinish it and polish to case to make it “shiny”.
Him: But how do you know?
Me: I know.
Him: But how?
Me:


Him: Are you sure that’s not factory?
Me: No, Longines never would have let that out the door.
Him: I don’t know, man.
Me: That Eterna is a nice piece, let’s take a closer look at that!

We haven’t spoken about these watches since.

 

Perhaps this can be the marquee post under a new sticky: ‘My Grandfather’s Watch’

 

So you’re saying that you don’t like my Ranchero after all? Man, and I thought we were friends …

 

Ah I know you a little JW, from that one night we drank to much and promised never to talk about. (I still respect you) you don’t come across as a know it all. You stated a fact and sometimes people get upset as they don’t want something to be true but after a while you can’t deny the truth.

It’s just a watch after all unless he is Irish he shouldn’t hold the resentment too long, if he is Irish he will forgot what the resentment was about but never let the resentment go.

 

That's real life man. Everyone will come to that point one day....

 

You should have told him that Star Trek fans go crazy over vintage Picard watches, and that he should bring it to the Antiques Roadshow to have it valued.

 

Yeah, those 26" wheels you just put on your BMW look great...

 

If it wasn't you, it would have been someone else. Then he'd be upset you didn't tell him when you first saw it.

You were doomed. At least this way he should get over it sooner.

 

In fact you tried your best to avoid bad situation. He invited it himself. I'd rather believe that he provoked you into this mess..

 

I like the idea of steering the conversation towards the Eterna.

 

The hardest part of that interaction was that he knows I know vintage watches- shit, I have given him a few! It was the “how do you know” that really irked me. He was in such denial and wanted so badly to believe he had a prize that he was questioning the person who he actually comes to for info on vintage watches. He can tear apart a Rolex fake down to details of fonts and bezels like I have never seen- but he was totally blind in this case.

 

Next chapter: How he finds a Longines on C24 that’s advertised for 10k so obviously, his example must be in that kinda price range, too?

 

Reminds me of the time a few years ago in the Philippines when I tried cluing in a pal of mine that the girl he just picked up wasn't a girl. He found out the "hard" way

 

I met someone recently to buy a watch, and so I also asked him to bring any other watches he might want to sell. So he also brought an old Omega with a 30mm caliber of some sort. He was telling me how nice it was. It was obviously redialed and in an over-polished gold case, so I told him I wasn't going to be a buyer. But also, it was missing a minute hand. So when he asked me why I didn't want to buy it, I just mentioned the minute hand. He was totally shocked, and hadn't noticed the missing hand. Some people just are blind to things.

 

It's always like that, man. I just had to tell a women her antique clock was broken. She thought it was worth a fortune. It isn't if its broken. She says she'll get it fixed. No you won't....it will cost you $2,000 or more to do so. Looks nice as it is, just leave it there to look nice. Trust me.

 

My watchmaker (who is also a master clock builder), told me that he had a customer who called about wanting her family heirloom coo-coo clock serviced. She said her grandfather brought it back from the “war” and it had always hung in her grandmothers house. When she brought it to him, it was a plastic 1970’s coo-coo clock made in Asia- even has the sticker on the back! People really want to believe what they want to believe.

 

People always want to hear the truth until you tell it to them.

 

My mentor would tell the customer to get a bag from Macy's (Or some other high end department store like Tiffany.) Then put the clock into it and leave it on the subway.

-j

 

Unfortunately it's not just watches, I've been racing yachts for years, usually fairly consistent results in the top 3. Some guys ask what's the secret and when I tell em (it's almost always cause they don't really know how to sail, need to learn how to sail trim and need to put the time in on the water) they get all defensive, sometimes the truth hurts

 

It’s funny, sometimes they get it and sometimes they don’t.
I used to shoot trap and skeet competitively years ago. I saw a younger guy (in camo, not tweed) on the range with a fancy new Beretta shotgun and he obviously needed a little coaching (his stance was all wrong and he was trying to swivel with his arms and not his hips). He was with his buddies (also camo) and they were ribbing him about how he couldn’t hit anything (they weren’t much better). After the first round I walked over to him and mentioned he needed to open his stance and swivel from the hips- he sheepishly said - yeah, I got it, thanks.
Next round I saw him looking at me for the first few positions and mimicked my stance and posture- he then started hitting them, one after the other. His friends shut up pretty quickly.