And you thought computer manuals were bad...

I just purchased a new watch because the 20+ year old Seiko LCD watch I'd been using was having trouble with it's buttons.

Of course, it then occured to me to find a watch repair place (yes, they still have them) and get that watch and another old watch I inherited from my father fixed. Actually, it was getting dad's old watch fixed that gave me the idea to try to fix the other one. I was referred to the watch repair guy by K's Merchandise when I went there to try to get a band....because they didn't sell one that would work. The watch guy just ended up fixing the pin though (apparently K's doesn't have the pins either.) Charged me a whopping $1 for the pin and time.

But let me tell you, the manual for the old Seiko is 10 times better (even if translated from the Japanese) than the manual for this NEW watch made by Elgin of Illinois. Not to mention larger.....you need a magnifying glass for the Elgin manual!

This Elgin watch cost (I think) more than then Seiko or it's contemporaries would and is from a US company (Elgin of Illinois, purchased at Sears on sale for $79 from it's normal $250 price). It's one of those fancy "chronographs" with all the graduated dials around the rim and it's got an LCD insert for showing a second time or date, timer, stopwatch, etc (part of the reason I got it, as my old Seiko had that and I used it. A lot.)

The Seiko watch booklet is about the size of a pocket notepad (or a curent PDA) and pretty clear and straightforward. Lots of pictures too. You could probably figure out how to use the watch from the pics even if it wasn't translated.

The Elgin watch came with booklet designed for several TOTALLY DIFFERENT types of watches (apparently the company only prints ONE booklet for ALL it's men's watches!) and the section for my watch was terse and unclear to the point of unbelievability.

Even worse, the booklet is about the size of a packet of stamps you buy from the machine at the post office. It fits in my wallet right next to it. Anyone much older than me would truly need a magnifying glass to read it.

And I've discovered several "features" of the watch that don't seem to be documented or explained. The fourth button only seems to have one vague undocumented use, for example, yet seems to have others that aren't documented.

The instructions for using the rings around the watch face (for doing math and conversions, in somewhat of a rotary slide rule fashion) are both far too terse and (from what I can tell) WRONG in some cases. Hell, I've used slide rules before so I have some idea what they are trying to do, but the instructions are useless (I used slide rules briefly when I was taking algebra in high school, pocket calculators had just started to become widely available and the course still discussed using slide rules. I still have a couple of slide rules that belonged to my dad.)

I gotta tell you man....before you buy a watch, have them let you take a look at the manual. I'll grant you I only paid $79 for this watch instead of the usual $250 Sears charges....I strongly doubt I'd have paid $250 for a watch. $79 was a stretch but it was the closest I'd found to my old Seiko. But if I HAD paid $250 for this watch, I'd probably drive to Elgin's HQ in Illinois and toss it through their front window. I'm about ready to now. (I may actually check out Sear's return policy.)

It seems to be a fine watch, otherwise, but the manual is frankly insulting! And in many ways, even with the main hands, three subsidiary dials, and 3 LCD panels, it is LESS capable than my 20+ year old Seiko!

I feel a letter to the manufacturer coming on.

And of couse, now my old Seiko watch works fine after the watch repairman cleaned it. He was a breath of fresh air too....real service in this day and age is hard to find and he provided quick, friendly, inexpensive and polite service. [If you're in or near Des Moines Iowa, and need a watch fixed, go to John's Watch Repair in McNeal Shopping Center at Merle Hay Road and Urbandale Avenue.]

Sears on the other had I had to practically force information out of about the watch, since they were out of it when I went to buy it and weren't sure if they would get more, etc. I was figuring they wouldn't since $79 for a $250 watch looked like a close-out to me...but apparently not! Either they're taking a loss on this watch, or their mark-up is normally obscene. If they made ANY profit on that $79 sale, then their normal $250 price is even more absolutely offensive.

They did finally get more in and call me, I'll grant you, and were good after that about adjusting the band and stuff....although I had to go back and ask them to adjust the band; they didn't ask ME up front. Maybe it was because it was on sale...but so what. It was THEIR sale. I didn't make 'em sell it cheaper. Maybe I should have paid $15 for that 2 year extended warranty.....nah. A 2 years warranty is a waste. I had my last watch for TWENTY (and apparently I'll have it a while longer yet.) Maybe I pissed 'em off by not purchasing the warranty on an on-sale watch.

But in another example of the difference between the Sears workers and the watch repair guy....I took my Dad's watch back in when I went to pick up the repaired Seiko. because I'd neglected to check and see if Dad's watch actually fit me (I just assumed it would since many of the other wearables I inherited from him do.)

Of course, the watch didn't fit, so I asked the watch repair guy about a new band for it.

But instead of just selling me a band...he CHECKED TO SEE IF IT COULD BE ADJUSTED. Something I should have thought to do (since I had to adjust the clasp of the new Elgin watch myself after Sears was done anyway. They didn't offer to do that either.). I felt like a dope for not thinking of this myself, since I'd just done it on another watch a week before.

But lo and behold, he just adjusted the clasp (I thought I had thin wrists, but Dad's were apparently thinner!) and he did so in two seconds and it fit fine. For free! Granted I'd just paid him $25 to clean the watch and add a screw for the battery holder in the watch and a pin for Dad's watchband as well...but still, he did the professional thing and merely adjusted the band instead of selling me a new band as he could quite easily have done since I was obviously prepared to buy a new one! Professionalism in action. Refreshing!

I just wish I had more watches for the watch repair fellow to repair. He at least deserves my business.

You can bet I'll remember this, however, in years to come, as both an objectl lesson and as a source of watch repair should I need it again. I'll even go out of my way to get bands and batteries from him if possible. Such professionalism deserves rewards, respect...and repeat business.