The Watch That Changed the World

A watch changed my world view. How does a day at the mall in 1986 affect diversity, acceptance, and counter profiling? What happens when judgement and acceptance clash in the heart of a teenager? Can all of this inspire a lifelong passion and inspire change?

In January of ’86 I had $50 of Christmas money burning a hole in my pocket. My grandpa dropped me off at Fox Valley Mall in Aurora and gave me some change to call home on a payphone when I was ready to go home. I was 15 and untethered. I ate greasy food in the food court with an Orange Julius to wash it down. Along the way I bought some records at Sam Goody and got some sci fi books at Waldenbooks to geek out on. Then I saw something beautiful!

In the store window of Kay Jewelers was a Gold Tone Seiko 6923-8080. Swatch watches and digital watches were all the rage, but the gold tone 3 hand watch with the day and the date at the three o’clock took my breath away. It was so very gold and so very shiny. I had no idea a watch could be so breathtaking and amazing. I walked into the store and met Roxanne and Jeff.

I entered the jewelry store and walked up to a woman with impeccably tall blonde hair, fashionably big shoulder pads, and gold and diamond earrings that would make Cybill Shephard jealous. To me she was refined and sophisticated. With excitement I told her I saw the gold watch in the window and wanted to know more about it. With a stern expression and even sterner voice she told me that she was very busy with paying customers and essentially shooed me off. Something inside me broke. I did not have many friends at that time and had recently moved in with my grandparents to escape an abusive situation in my former home. In that moment I was reminded that I was a dork and a geek and a dweeb. I did not matter. I felt the tears well up in my eyes and the choke in my throat. I mumbled that I was sorry and started to walk away with my tail tucked between my legs. Then I heard another voice call to me. It was a store manager named Jeff.

“Young man!” a man’s voice called from behind the counter. “Please don’t leave. My name is Jeff. How can I help you today?” I turned and there was Jeff. He was a short thin man with male pattern baldness in a wash and wear black suit and a skinny black tie and a well trimmed moustache. He smiled warmly. I walked toward him with saltwater still stinging my eyes. He looked at the woman and gently said, “Roxanne, please wait in the back, we’ll talk later.” The woman, Roxanne, who shooed me off, went into the back room behind the counter. I told him with a shaky voice about the watch in the window. He reached behind the display window and brought out the watch. He told me I had good taste and explained the watch was quartz, made of stainless steel, had a mineral glass crystal and was even water resistant. It had everything and it was lovely. Then he told me the cost. I do not remember the exact number but it was over $100. It was 1986 and I was 15. In today’s money the watch would be somewhere around $275 to over $300! I told him I could not afford anything like that.

“Do you know what layaway is?” I told him I heard about it but did not know how it worked. He told me that if I gave him 15% of the cost today, they hold the watch in the back with my name on it and I would have 90 days to pay off the balance. It still seemed like a lot. Then he told me that to earn my business he would be happy to extend the terms to 180 days or more if I needed the time. I still had about $20 left. I asked him if that would be enough. He said it was plenty and wrote up the paperwork. He gave me a pink copy of the form with a receipt and his business card on it. He thanked me for my business as he made a production of putting the watch in a box and taping a copy of the paperwork to it.

I got it! Not yet, but someday. It was mine. I was excited again.

Over the following months I would sometimes get a ride to the mall from my grandpa or my uncle anytime I had money to pay down the layaway. If Jeff was there he always knew me by name and he would let me visit the watch. At one point he put it on my wrist and pinched the side. He explained to me he was estimating how many links he would have to remove so it would fit me when it was mine.

In July I turned 16. It was a great day! I got my driver’s license and birthday money. A few days later I drove to the mall all by myself. I went to Kay and Jeff was there. I told him I had the final payment. He took the dog eared paperwork and stamped it paid. He told me he wanted to make sure the watch had a fresh battery and remove some links. He sat behind a small counter with my watch. When he was done he put it on my wrist. It was still a little loose. He showed me the micro adjust by the clasp and how to move the pin to tighten or loosen it. He tightened it and it was a perfect fit. He showed me the links he removed in a small bag in the watchbox and said as I grow I may need to have a link added so be careful.

I wore it out of the store. I was Don Johnson in Miami Vice! I was fancy! I had a real watch. Nothing like it had ever been on my wrist. I celebrated with an Orange Julius, a pretzel, and a new record at Sam Goody.

The watch almost never left my wrist for a decade. School, first car, first kiss, first job and many other important firsts happened with that watch on. I still have it and it still gets time on my wrist as it keeps the time for me 38 years later. Last year I took it to a watchmaker who replaced the terribly scratched crystal. She went to great lengths to ensure it was an original Seiko crystal built for the SQ Seikos of the 80’s. The gold tone is faded in many spaces and I am not sure how much life the bracelet has, but when it is on my wrist, the feeling of joy and accomplishment is still with me. It feels different than any other watch I own.

How Jeff and the Watch Changed My World and the World Around Me

Every day I make a choice everywhere I go if I am going to be Jeff or Roxanne. I do not want to throw her under the bus. With Jeff as her boss I am sure she learned and grew from the experience. But that fateful day and that moment I knew what it felt to be profiled as less. And not knowing my life circumstances she had no idea how her dismissal affected me. How it hurt. On the other side, Jeff likely does not know that almost 40 year later his smile and kindness has impacted my life.

I endeavor to profile no one and accord everyone I encounter respect and dignity. Regardless of it being a professional or personal setting, if there is something they want or need and it is in my power to present a solution to that, I will work with them and encourage them as Jeff did to me. This has made me a better father, friend, and partner. Now there are some moments and some days that I am Roxanne, it is reality, but Jeff is the magnetic North to my moral compass and when I wear the watch I am reminded of him, my ability to goal set, and to not give up on myself and the things I want in this life. Not every goal happens and I cannot help everyone, but in 1986 I got a good model that changed my world.

The world around me? There are people in my world who are profiled and live in the margins. Activism, volunteering, engaging with elected representatives and other things I can, often with others, work with them and among them to showcase their dignity and create change. If I see someone hurting another person, I can pull them to the side as Jeff did with Roxanne and remind them that profiling others hurts us all. Maybe the commission from my watch may not have changed Roxanne’s life, but she did leave money on the table. Jeff turned me into a repeat Kay customer throughout my life. If he had not been there, that would not have happened. When we profile there is an impact on us as well.

I am no hero, but I know I have inspired some people to look at life in this way and they do like I do in every day little encounters. I wear a watch that changed the world a little and it still keeps time as I live this life.

In closing, it also helped begin a hobby that I enjoy to this day. Watches and horology. There is a history, science, and philosophy of time and an artistry to watches and clocks that gives me delight as I curate my collection and save up for the next acquisition.

May we all be like Jeff and change the world in the little moments as well as the big ones. May we all be aware of now and know that time is a limited and non renewable resource in the human experience.

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