Grant took off the watch. His father took the watch from him and studied it. Monsieur Bernard came over, carrying a porcelain tray with a microfiber cloth on it. Walter placed the watch on it reverently. He and the other Patek representatives crowded around the watch, studying it in the diffuse sunlight that came through the large glass windows.
“This is marvelous workmanship,” his father said. “And in stainless steel. It is quite rare.”
“It works great too,” Grant said. “Keeps time like a champ. It’s also bomb proof.”
“Excuse me?” Monsieur Bernard looked as if he were in physical pain.
“I wore it on my wrist during all my time in the Marines, including when I was deployed to Afghanistan and the Middle East. There was a rocket attack one time that was only a few yards away from me. I thought for sure it would have ruined the watch, but it just kept ticking. My first sergeant said it was a good-luck charm. It’s been through a lot.”
“Perhaps,” Monsieur Bernard said, visibly trying to calm himself, “you could tell me how you acquired this watch?”
“I bought it at a garage sale for two hundred dollars. I had received my enlistment bonus, and I wanted to buy something decent that wasn’t a car. I saw this watch. The lady wanted like five hundred, but I talked her down. It was a lot to spend on a watch, I thought, but she said her husband had died, and she needed the money, it looked like, so I bought it.”
“Where did her husband find it?” Monsieur Bernard asked.
“He cut it off of a Nazi,” Grant said. The people in the room seemed taken aback. Grant ignored them. “I have it here.” He pulled up a picture on his phone of the former watch owner posing in front of a dead Nazi that the woman who sold him the watch had given him. The young GI was holding up the watch and grinning like a fool at the camera. “He kept the watch as a souvenir,” Grant told them. “I have the receipt, too, if you want to see. I bought it fair and square. I saved it to declare on my taxes,” he said proudly. Kate and his father snickered. He felt stupid. Two hundred dollars was nothing to them. His father probably wrote off tens of millions of dollars every year.
The Patek representatives looked at the pictures on Grant’s phone. The insurance agent glanced at it, too, as well as the receipt.
“Thank you for bringing it to us,” Monsieur Bernard said finally.
Grant reached for the watch.
“Ah—”
“What? It’s mine, isn’t it?” Grant said, eyes narrowing.
“Yes,” said his father, “but it hasn’t been serviced since the early forties, and it’s probably gunked up with dirt, gunpowder, bits of dead Nazi, and whatever you picked up on your deployments.”
“What am I supposed to wear as a watch?” Grant demanded. That was his lucky watch! He couldn’t give it up!
“I’m having a special insurance policy taken out just on your watch,” his father said and looked pointedly at the insurance agent, who nodded.
Grant looked around wildly. That was his lucky watch! It needed to stay with him.
“Why did you think you were coming here?” Monsieur Bernard asked him kindly.
“I just thought you wanted to see it.”
“It needs to be cleaned,” Monsieur Bernard told him. “I assure you we will take excellent care of it.”
“Ok… well…” Grant realized he sounded crazy, but they didn’t understand. Healwayswore that watch. That was his watch.
“It should be back in your possession within eight months,” Monsieur Bernard continued.
“Eight months?” Grant said too loudly. Alice flinched. Kate got up from her chair and went over to him.
“Calm down,” she hissed. “You’re making a scene.”
Grant glowered.
“Sit,” she told him, pushing him into a chair.
“What am I supposed to do without a watch?” Grant asked, trying to salvage some dignity.
“We’ll find you a new one,” Walter said. “They have a showroom here. You can have any watch you want. Some of the grand complications are on back order, but they don’t make the best everyday watches, anyway. Maybe a Moonphase? Those are nice watches. Or a Nautilus if you want something more robust.”
“It’s fine, Grant,” Kate interjected. “This is why you have more than one watch, so that you have something to wear while your other ones are being serviced.”
