FREE battery service?

A colleague once told me how he handles customers who can't afford the store they walked into.

Client comes in, looks around. Budget is tight. SA notices his Citizen quartz is running behind. Offers to set the time, and finds out the battery is dead. Client gets embarrassed.

SA says don't worry, we'll take care of it.

Sends it back to the watchmaker. Swap the battery. Done.

Batteries are cheap. The gesture isn't.

That client didn't forget it. And when it was time to buy something real, he knew exactly where to go.

Free sometimes means investing in your client before they're a client.

A $30 battery can be worth a lot more than $30.

What's a small thing you've done that ended up building real loyalty?

— FZ

The Trust Account

Every warranty claim is a deposit or a withdrawal from the trust account. Most service operations don't know which one they're making until the client stops coming back. The two scripts When a client walks in with a warranty question, there are essentially two opening lines:

What Breaks When You Do

My dad ran his watch shop for years on memory and paper. Job statuses, promised dates, parts on order, callbacks pending. All of it in his head or in a pile on the bench. Then a client called on a Thursday. His anniversary. The watch was done Wednesday. My dad

Some watches aren't for sale.

Not because of what they cost. Because of what they mean. A dealer can price a reference. He can't price a memory. He can't price the feeling of putting on a watch that spent decades on someone else's wrist before it landed on yours.

Stop and smell the roses

Stop and smell the roses (or drink a few pints). Today I paused. Had a long conversation with my business partner over a few beers. No agenda. No deliverables. Just two people talking through life and work. → The hustle will still be there tomorrow → The challenges aren't going

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The Trust Account

What Breaks When You Do

Some watches aren't for sale.

Stop and smell the roses