The Limes Aretemisia watch I bought S had stopped keeping good time. It would loose 10 minutes over a few days. The see-through back allowed us to see that there was a thin arc of plastic that was in the way of the rotor. Eventually we took the watch to Shane Ede. The plastic was from the spacer and easily pulled out. But the watch also needed cleaning/lube (suprising since it was only 2 years old), so we left it there and came back for it a week or so later.
When we came to pick it up, I had him look at my Nomos Tangente which used to keep really good time but was now about a half minute fast per day. He wondered why I had all these German watches and asked me what I paid for this one. I sheepishly gave him the answer and he didn’t sound taken aback (whew!) but said for the price they should be able to make it easier to regulate — the screws were too close together for his liking.
He and I had a discussion about women and modern jazz, then he “treated” us to a listen to his Sainkho Namtchylak Lost Rivers CD. It was very interesting to listen to – for 2 minutes or so. Sainkho is a throat singer, but not in the husky Inuit kind of way. This was more screeching birdsong. The more staccato stuff was really amazing, and it was amazing that she could make those sounds not just once, but over and over again. But overall, I won’t be buying that CD anytime soon.
Shane’s an interesting guy though. I kind of feel sorry for all the watch afficionados who mail him their watches for repair but don’t get to talk to the guy.
Meanwhile, S emailed Limes /Ickler again, asking if they could send her replacement screws for the screwbars that holds her watchband on. Even though she used loctite last time, another ball worked its way off (took about a year though). And Limes sent her 6 replacements, for free. It’s a shame it keeps happening, but the customer service is excellent.
And as for watches, I just bought myself a Casio AMW-340 from Sears – 30% off for Father’s Day shopping. This will be my beater watch to replace the one that was stolen. Because it’s new, and I like new things, I’ve been wearing it since I bought it. But I miss the tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick of the Nomos. Hopefully the battery in this one will last longer than the one in my last quartz (needed replacing every year. Why?). If not, I’m pretty sure I’ll feel a compulsion to buy a solar powered quartz to replace it.
