Horological Meandering

What do you do when someone asks "can I see your watch"? Do you take it off and hand it to them, or say "sorry, I don't take it off for anyone". I worked in an offic where on of the guys wanted a Rolex DateJust, he kept looking at mine and asking question... 

Obviously, I'll take it off for someone I happen to know well enough....

No taking off, that's only for people I trust.

I was at a watch event and a fellow collector I knew well introduced me to someone. That someone asked to have a closer look at my Lang and Heyne Friedrich lll. He fumbled and dropped the watch on to a hard floor from four feet!!! My collector friend was ... 

Great to hear that it was unscathed however!

I now have a very high regard for Lang & Heyne watches. They look dressy with a fragile looking movement but the quality is there.

with it then we'll . . . they have a problem with it. I've had people drop a watch of mine. Once burned . . . twice shy.

then I'm glad you made the correct choice and live to fight another day. I just wish I'm as sensible as you.

I empathize monumentally with such ordeals, you made the only right choice, though dare I say that here in the US you could have easily 'lent' him your timepiece for a second, shot him in the head, and retrieved your rightful possession. Much better luck ... 

Just terrible.

I am a bit nitpicker when it come to personnel items. Luckily you caught it on time.

but over a table. There's no point in handing it to someone if you're not sitting or standing at a table/desk/shelf. That way they keep the watch above a surface that, if dropped on, is no big deal since it doesn't have far to go.

So, this is my script: "I have two options, I can either say yes, or I can say no. Nearly every time I say yes, just remember no good deed goes unpunished and you're probably going to scratch it with your rings when you try it on - making you the jerk. An... 

Reminds me of the Steve Martin comedy The Jerk 😄....

General rule I try to follow, only over a table. And then of course we need to be sure to take the knifes, forks, etc out of the way. Sounds like you got a lucky break on your incident. I do understand why your colleague would wanted to have looked at you... 

Then I take it off and hand it over to the person to see it. It usually happens at a watch meeting where attend also other watch enthusiasts. If an unknown person somewhere else ask to see it I don't see any reason to take it off. Several years ago a frie... 

Gets to touch my watch. If I think it is safe, I would hold out my wrist.

I never take if off if we are standing, especially on a hard surface. The law of gravity is always with us.