Is that a watch in your pocket?

I felt like quite the dandy for the first couple days of 2017. My mother-in-law bought me a fancy, pewter pocket watch, with a slick little silver chain which attached the beaut to the left front pocket of my Levis.

The watch came in a fancy blue box with the name A.E. Williams emblazed in a brilliant gold typeface inside the lid – along with the company crest depicting two lions atop the statement of “manufacturers of some of the finest Pewterware in the World.” Flipping the nifty little watch over in my hand assured me this was not some made in China tin garbage, but rather from the U.K. – Birmingham to be exact.

With my watch slipped into my front pocket, I walked around the house using British slang, armed with dreams of a top hat, monocle and walking stick.

“Daughter, are ya still awake, why, dae ya hae any idea what time it is, Gov?” I quizzed in the most blatantly offensive Cockney accent I could muster.

“It’s noon, Dad,” Sophia answered, eyebrow raised towards the heavens.

I shot my hand into my pocket, brought out my pocket watch, hit the latch release and the cover popped open.

“Crikey,” I responded (British accent turning Australian), “you better go to your room and kip down, innit?”

Well, like I said, my dandy-ness only lasted a few days. Whether due to me telling my daughter the exact time 98 different times in 48 hours or perhaps a manufacturer’s defect, the cover of the watch broke off shortly after Christmas and I was back to doing time checks on my Iphone.

Inside the box the watch originally was gifted in was a business card and a 12-month warranty.

Good news.

On the warranty it stated that the receipt needed to be present with the watch to fix it.

Bad news.

I didn’t want to bother my mother-in-law or let her know I had already ruined the watch so I figured I would just let it go. On a whim, however, I found an email address on the card from the giftbox and figured it couldn’t hurt.

I traded several emails with A.E. Williams’ Janet Mann and as of 8 a.m. Thursday morning, a new watch is being sent to Malta. No receipt needed, they don’t want the broken watch back to repair and didn’t ask me if I was being foolish with the watch when it broke…just a new watch for the Malta Dandy.

I choose to shop locally as much as I can and always get top-notch customer service in Phillips County. Though my watch wasn’t bought here, it is nice to know that there are still places in the world where customers are treated like kings other than in our community.

Cheers, A.E. Williams, I look forward to harassing my daughter with my new watch.