Why do people lie?

[jfreeman420]

I have an older man maybe in his 70's that works for me part time at night. He comes in today with a new big gold watch. He was standing around saying how he needs the bracelet adjusted. I have a quick look and notice it has pins to take out the links. I go into my office drawer and pull out my pin pusher tool (yeah you have to be really demented to keep an extra set of watch tools in the office drawer). I offer to size it for him for no charge of course.

I look the watch over and it is a nice heavy piece. Looks kina like an Invicta lupah about 43mm gold plated and heavy. It has a quartz chrono movement and the dial says Milan or Milano. Obviously nothing special but nice looking none the less.

I push the chrono button because it isn't set to 12:00 and notice the chrono resets to about 2:00. I point this out and he has no clue what a chronograph is or anything. He even asks if he has to wind it.

I tell him to exchange it or take it to a repair guy it should be an easy fix to adjust the second hand. He tells me he bought it from some jewelry exchange in New Jersey and it's a good watch and 18K gold. He'll just take it in to have sized. He doesn't want me to screw it up. Well the damn thing is stamped stainless steel and the back isn't even plated.

The moral of the story is that no good deed goes unpunished. I try and help the guy with his watch, he basically tells me I don't know what I'm doing. I didn't say a word about the quality, I just walked away. I hope the guy didn't get scammed into buying a piece of crap for any good money. I doubt it, just why make up a story?

[TomRiddle]

that sucks man.. dunno what else to say :X

but yea, i got a soft spot for the elderly too cuz i take care of my parents so yea, i got a soft spot for them

[gioarmani]

A conundrum of ironies.

Wearing a rep is a lie.

[Corgi]

I'm sure that, as an elderly man, he must have been quite confused. You should realize that not everyone in the world is a watch expert like we are! That said, it sounds very rude of him to ask you not to break it... but maybe he was scammed, and maybe he thinks he is wearing a very expensive watch... it can happen if you don't know anything about them or if you're elderly and/or senile.

[rek001]

Sounds to me like maybe he was proud of this heavy piece he picked up someplace in Jersey, he's mentioning he needs to have the thing sized..maybe to draw attention to it, and by pointing out a flaw - the chrono doesn't re-set poperly, possibly that made him feel a bit bad and embarrassed.

Just arm chair psychoanalyzing

[Victoria]

I'm sure that, as an elderly man, he must have been quite confused.

I agree with you below, but not this bit. One of my pet peeves is when younger people think older people are "confused". That's just condenscending.

(Don't worry, Corgi, you're a really nice guy, I'm not saying anything about you specifically. It's something almost everyone thinks. Like Tom, I have a soft spot, A BIG soft spot, for the elderly)

You should realize that not everyone in the world is a watch expert like we are!

Well, like some are! I couldn't count myself here.

Mind you, I too carry my Bergeon tools now wherever I go!

That said, it sounds very rude of him to ask you not to break it... but maybe he was scammed, and maybe he thinks he is wearing a very expensive watch... it can happen if you don't know anything about them or if you're elderly and/or senile.

Again, this is an assumption too far with this person.

Perhaps he genuinely thought it was gold. As kind as the impulse was, I too would've declined having it sized by a co-worker, because I genuinely would think a professional would take greater care and responsibility, if anything went wrong.

Having said that, it seems this older gentleman could've handled things more elegantly. Jfreeman's impulses were only to help, after all.

[offshore]

Hmmmm,

Whilst this is a bit different to the above......

Some of you would know that I run a watch repair business, at a local Sunday market.

You would be amazed at the number of (poor) reps I get handed to inspect, and are told they are genuine.

Or solid gold!!!!

I've actually given up trying to educate the masses, I now just go along with the stories, fix the bloody things if possible, and get the $$.

I have found that on most occasions that I have told someone the watch wasn't as they thought, they just got offended and walked!

As an example, I would be given 2-3 "genuine" Rolex' a week, that "just need a new battery"

I have found that it takes weeks, or months to build up raport, to the point that someone will give you a genuine upmarket watch to work on.

On the other side of the scale, you would be amazed at how many people, having found out I am also a collector, will come back a week or weeks later, with either a family heirloom , just for me to look at,or more interestingly, with a bag of mechanicals, out of a drawer, and just give them to me! Can't say I have yet to see too many gems.... but mechanical Seikos, Citizens, and the like. I must have been gifted over 50 watches in the last 6 months.

Back to the point in question... he may have lied, or maybe not... maybe just embarrassed.

What does Two Tone say.... "Where people gather, life happens!"

Offshore

[georgegrasser]

I thought ALL chronos were user resetable by pulling the crown to the 2nd position, depressing both pushers, pressing upper pusher until the hand sets properly and then simply push the crown back in. (The lower pusher can be used to reset the other chrono hands).

[jdavis]

Many people don't care to hear the truth about a purchase if it reminds them that they have been foolish. Trying to reverse the blame by giving the impression to the barer of the bad news that they are the inept one simply is a way to stroke their own damaged ego. A number of years I had a friend come to me to evaluate his recent expensive antique gun purchase. It quickly became apparent that the firearm was not what my friend thought. I gently gave him the bad news only to have him become insulted and rather angry at me. A few days later he came by to inform me that he had taken his gun to someone else who praised him for making a wise purchase. He had either found someone who told him what he wanted to hear or he lied to protect his self esteem. Hence forth, I learned to be neither negative or positive with my remarks until I know how it will be taken.

[Pugwash]

I thought ALL chronos were user resetable by pulling the crown to the 2nd position, depressing both pushers, pressing upper pusher until the hand sets properly and then simply push the crown back in. (The lower pusher can be used to reset the other chrono hands).

This works with most quartz chronos and none of the mechanicals.