About Time

Through in Glasgow today to collect my dead poorly Mondaine watch from the mender's. Not that they mended it themselves, of course, but, as agents, sent it to the manufacture's repair workshop in Leicester to diagnose the fault and then to service it, which would cost £80.

We had a long chat with the shop assistant, who clarified the definition of 'maintenance service', which involves changing the battery and repairing minor imperfections to render the timepiece workable. This did not include replacing the strap (though I had already done that) or changing the scratched glass, which would only have been done in a 'full service'  Apparently just changing the battery would still cost £80 for this brand; a more prestigious manufacturer (or House) could charge twice that, the best House might charge four or five times that.

So, although I  may have saved a great deal of money by taking it to the chap down the road for five years, he did me no favours by damaging the terminals and causing the watch to stop. Somewhere, I feel, there is a compromise - and it might just be a better 'chap down the road' rather than a trip to Glasgow.