Short but Strange Watch Story

My wife’s best friend just picked up her Ford Escape from the shop after getting a routine oil service.

As she was driving home, she saw a watch on the front seat. “Oh, Brian must have left it there while he worked” she figured, as she returned to the garage.

Brian, who always performs her oil changes, said he found it under the hood (the bonnet for some of you) while cleaning out leaves.

You have to admit, it’s a strange one, but my wife’s best friend is beyond honest and really, why would she make this up?

The watch…




I am not sure why we don’t have a Valencia Sub Forum so I used the open discussion space.




If I find an explanation I will update this thread. Watch not working. I need to see if a battery will do the job.

Water resistance seems ok.

We probably do need a Valencia sub-forum.

I know how I'd have done it. I would have been working on the engine, maybe changing oil and didn't want to get my watch dirty. So I took off my watch and put it wherever it was found. Then I'd finish up, forget I took off the watch and closed the hood. I then spent the next 20 years wondering what happened to my watch.

I understand that the Snap-On tools are excellent. What sets them apart? They are expensive.

Yours is especially great because it comes with a cool story.

I've owned a decent number across a large amount of time (I pick them up on craigslist/etc sometimes). Truck tools (Snap On/Mac/etc) are all very nice quality tools, definitely near the higher end. Nicer finishing, 'thinner' in the right places, etc than an older Craftsman or the like.

More recently, they've been selling a lot of the same Chinese tools that you can get everywhere else too, particularly for some of their lesser used tools (but even for wrenches!).

In general, they are GOOD tools, not necessarily the best, but good quality.

BUT what makes them expensive(and thus given a bit of a is 3 fold:

1- They are available on the truck: They literally bring you/delivered anything you wanted within a day or so at most, and most of the time, immediately.

2-Imagine the old-school craftsman warranty of "no matter what damage happens, we'll replace it!", except the store would come to YOU and do the swap while you waited for oil to drain on an oil change.

3- This is the biggest: They do pretty reasonable financing. For most job guys, they need tools before they are making a paycheck or making a profit on them. So they give them decent financing terms. Mixed with the above, they get to charge significantly more, which gives them a prestige.

Erich has it right. Guaranteed specialty tools right when you needed them. Back in high school, I used to have a summer job as a gofer in an independent auto repair shop. When the Snap On truck arrived, at least a couple mechanics would disappear into the truck for an hour or so, sampling cannabis while tool shopping, then go back to work. Needless to say I never took my personal car to that shop for a brake job!