Precision Time

Precision Time is a kiosk in the center of the Ocean County Mall that sells cheap watches and replaces batteries. It is not the sort of place that I would look at and say, «Oh, that’s exactly the guy I want tinkering around inside a nice timepiece», but after being rebuffed at every actual jeweler in the building, each of them recommending their services, I threw caution to the wind and made my way over.
When I have needed any kind of watch repair in the past, I have gone to Earth Treasures in Eatontown, which has never steered me wrong. However, I no longer live up there, and I no longer work up there, so it’s not really convenient anymore. I don’t know if they still do so, but they used to replace watch batteries for free as a courtesy. I suppose that’s easy when you have a full-​time watchmaker on staff. Being my first time trying to have batteries changed elsewhere, I found it surprisingly difficult and rather more expensive than I would have guessed.
I had three watches with me, and one of them they would not even touch, telling me that it should go to an authorized service center, which I sort of understand. While the value of it is only marginally more than the two they did service, I suppose there has to be a limit to how much liability a mall kiosk wants to take on. For the other two, they charged $ 59.95 a piece. Always having had it done for free, I really didn’t and still don’t have any concept of what this service should cost, but it seemed reasonable, as they guarantee both the battery and the watertightness of the case for a period of two years.
So, they changed the batteries in two watches, didn’t mar them in anyway, and had the job done in about twenty minutes. I can’t see what more the fellow who performed the work could have done for me, but his assistant didn’t seem to know anything about watches (to the point of not even recognizing two of the brands, which might be understandable if your business wasn’t working with watches). Perhaps he was new, but it didn’t instill any initial confidence, so I’m holding back a star for that. But other than that, job well done.