Watch store closes - a rabbit hole of history!
Yesterday I went out to buy a suit for an upcoming wedding. Covid spread hit me hard and the local charity shop is going to benefit from many clothes that no longer fit. Since I was unsupervised (the Mrs looking after the dogs) I thought I'd take 10 minutes out to try on the Bulova Lunar Pilot. But the shop, Ernest Jones, was bare. Empty. Closed down.
Ernest Jones is quite a sizable High Street chain of stores in UK so I looked it up and found several have gone. I guess I'm as much to blame as anyone, buying most of my watches online.
This shop has always interested me because it doesn't look like their usual shiny store - the frontage looks pre-war, and their name is very subtle, written above the old signage. Pics from Google maps:
It turns out that when they took over from the previous watchmakers R. Salsbury & Sons they traded under the Salsbury name for some time. As they had a long history in the town it probably made sense to keep the old look.
In fact my pre-war estimate is out by 100 years. In 1840 Busby and Baxter took over the old post office and started their jewellers & watchmakers business, this photo from 1864:
In 1870 Salsbury took over (photo c.1900)
They also had the responsibility of winding the guildhall clock three times each week. Here's the clock during the coronation of George V in 1911
... and in present day
Ten years ago they installed an electric motor to wind the mechanical clock. The mechanism itself is in the building, only the clock face is above the street.
The clock face is dated 1683, and it's believed to have been given in lieu of debts. However it's thought that the clock itself originally powered a dial on the front of the building, and the mechanism may date from the mid 1400s.
I still haven't tried on the watch.
Art. Jazz. Dachshunds. Bolton Wanderers. Reading FC.
Sad story, both parts of it. I m as much guilty as you (though not in the UK). But since i ve got my grail to service at a local watchmaker i m pretty sure i will buy all future watches there.
Thx for sharing your story, I love old buildings which explains why my wife and continue to live in an ancient mix use brownstone erected in the early 1880s with miles of stairs for a man looking at another birthday 10 years after retiring. I have never purchased a watch on line my wife and daughters shop almost exclusively that way. I enjoy visiting the boutique where I have purchased my most recent watches, definitely pay more than even at some other competitive shops for the same items. I like the young man who owns the business and have some previous commercial connection with his two staff from other stores in the past. A recent part time hire once sold me a wallet to replace one that I misplaced in a pickpocket’s jacket. There is a huge discount men’s store where I went to purchase a few short sleeve shirts for summer, interesting operation owned by a flamboyant fella, store is staffed by guys who have somehow been considered redundant from their former high end jobs. Long story trying to make my point for bricks and mortar, apologies! My usual SA there was busy selling suits to gents who suddenly needed them again, I was assisted by a man that I have no previous contact with but he was helpful and professional. He mentioned that both he and his brother have worked sales since they were young men at first in the family business but later at many luxury shops around the city. He said that his brother has secured new work at a watch and jewelry store that I might know. Of course I had chatted with the former leather goods salesman just days previously when I stopped at his new job to pick up some watch warranty documents. When you enter into a shop, there is usually interesting interaction with other Homo sapiens, some predictable others surprising. I totally support the individual who chooses to shop on line, save a few important dollars, hopefully he or she will regard me in the same positive light for owning a different habit.
I sort of have to support small shops similar to the one you mentioned. The primary reason is that I can't always afford a new watch at a boutique and my nearest boutiques are quite a drive away (two hours, give or take; the watch industry isn't massive here and virtually exclusive to cities.) Secondly, I like interacting with the shopkeepers and talking with them. The retired watchmaker and his daughter speak to me in a conversational way that most ADs don't manage to pull off without an underlying air of trying to sell me something. Besides, my watchmaker has a few gems from the 70s, many of which new old stock, that you can't find anywhere else. Being someone who wants to start their own small business one day, I want to keep the small, brick-and-mortar businesses alive. The quartz crisis hit my watchmaker. Then the several economic crises between then and now. I desperately want him to stay in business.
I too bemoan the loss of the small business watchmaker.
its a sad story 😢
Coming from the States where a building from 1969 is “old”, i really enjoyed this post - great photos to boot! Thank you! 🤙❤️