Fifty years ago, son Jim and I were being taught by a catamaran what happens when the sail points down instead of up. To save you the time and trouble, I will tell you. It has a tendency to stay down until the Coast Guard comes. There is much more to this story that I believe Jim has not heard, although being a wise man he probably understands.
On that fateful Pacific Ocean Sunday, Jim’s unwise father was wearing a highly valued (both personally and monetarily) gold Hamilton 17 jewel watch while looking up through salt water at the canvas deck of the topsy-turvy “cat”. It took me ten years to learn the correct order of choosing a watch repair. Here is the order I chose.
On Monday following the salty sailing lesson, I was first in line at a respected Santa Barbara time-piece shop. Upon brief inspection, the expert conclusion was, “The salt has ruined it. Nothing can be done”. Not being expert on the subject, I accepted the answer as fact.
A few years later, apparently with nothing better to do, I visited another reputable store, known to keep time with the best. It took only seconds (I could see on their clock) to be told, “The salt cannot be removed. It is beyond repair.”
With or without a watch, more years of time passed until a friend advised that he knew who would surely be able to do the job without fail. My friend was correct. His expert agreed that he could indeed remove the salt and bring the watch back to its original beauty and full function; “ but, It will cost too much”. You’d think a wise man would have asked how much is too much. No comment.
It was several years later (There’d been at least a total of ten by now.) I was having coffee in the courtyard at El Paseo with the owner of the jewelry store there, which also sold watches. So being a glutton for punishment, with no watch in hand, I asked if he could repair my still salty Hamilton. His answer? Simply, “Yes.” After providing him with the untimely timepiece, a short time passed and again over coffee, he returned my now sparkling, ticking time-piece. Apparently “Something could be done.” It was apparently not “beyond repair”. I don’t remember the cost, but it apparently wasn’t too much, since I happily paid it.
There must be a lesson here someplace. Maybe it’s, if you ask a question and the answer is no, you should take it with A Grain of Salt.