A Stressful Run-Up to Christmas

I am relieved Christmas is over – the two months prior to it were rather stressful.

For some reason not understandable to a mere man – Radley handbags and Skagen watches have a cult following with the ladies. I’m not sure how many Radley bags Libby (my wife) has amassed, but a guess of 10 would probably not be far adrift. I admit to being responsible for buying some of them as gifts for her.

This year I was faced with the usual dilemma – what gift do you give a wife who you feel already  has everything she needs.

Three months before Christmas I vaguely recalled at a dinner party the 3 ladies talking about designer stuff (which was an intrusion into the conversation us blokes were trying to have about football). They were chatting about jewellery and in particular watches and the name Skagen dropped into the conversation. I had never heard of them.

The following day Mr Google told me that they were designer watches made in America using Swiss components based upon a simple but distinctive Danish design that had developed a great reputation and following since 2015.

So I bought her one and secreted it in my study ready for Christmas.



Early in November I was horrified when she told me she had bid on Ebay for a lovely Skagen watch and she showed me the advert. It was exactly the same model I had already purchased. This set my nerves jangling and they remained so for several days , until she told me she had been outbid at the very last second in the auction. Phew

The peace didn’t last for long before she was bidding for another one – a different model but still Skagen. Hence another nervous period for me until she gave up on that auction – the bids were higher than she wanted to pay. It was more than £100 less than I had paid for the watch – hence I thought it a bargain.

All was quiet for a few weeks until, 10 days before Christmas, another watch was advertised on Ebay and she started bidding for it. I was now in a muck sweat and toyed with the idea of getting one of my friends to outbid her and then sell on the watch after Christmas - presumably at a loss. As it happened – it wasn’t necessary – the bidding was too high for her within a couple of days and she lost interest.

I was now safe – it was too late for her to bid for another one before Christmas.

So Christmas day turned out to be very successful

I now have a lot of house points in the bank.

Ebay is full of 'em for as little as 99p !!

malcolm wrote:

Ebay is full of 'em for as little as 99p !!

Curious about your assertion I just took a look at Ebay and the Skagen sold list.

I can't find an identical Skagen watch that has sold in 2018 on Ebay for less than £62. That one was cheap because of a scratched bracelet.
 
Furthermore - I can't find a single advert for a used ladies rose gold Skagen bracelet watch on Ebay that sold for less than £35.50. 


if you found adverts for such watches for 99p - that must have been an auction starting price. I can't even find any of those.

Just winding you up Alan !

malcolm wrote:

Just winding you up Alan !

You succeeded - I think it was the shock of getting a response to one of my posts. 

I have made 280 posts since October 8th and attracted only about a dozen responses - 4 of them being my announcement that Gandalph had died.

Even I am getting somewhat disheartened.

I lovely story Beastie - you got your own back there for sure.

I only wear mine occasionally - If I don't wear it for about a week it stops. I did have an electric auto watch charging stand for it - but it started to rattle and was too noisy for the bedroom. I eventually chucked it.  Hence every time I get the Rolex out of the safe I have to give it a gentle shake for a couple of minutes to get it going again and set the time.  Mine was given to me for completing 10 years slavery in a Bahrain Aluminium Rolling Mill where I was Manager of Engineering.  You get a gold one for 20 years but I had enough after 13 years service and retired at 59 years old.  Watch servicing in the Middle East used to be very reasonable. I bought a new gold ladies rolex oyster perpetual from the Saudi husband of a lady in Saudi which was an unwanted 5 year service gift from her employer. My wife wanted one and I think I paid about 1,500 US dollars for it. I sold it to a watch specialist in Sheffield when my wife died in 2004 and only got £5,200 for it because the back was engraved with the recipients and employers names. I bet he fitted it with a new back and then sold it for a good profit.



I much prefer a lighter watch - my favourites being Citizen eco drives with solar charging. They just run and run provided you don't shut them in a drawer long enough for the battery to become depleted.