Zurich Watch Shop

He was dressed in a Zurich banker's uniform of fine grey cloth tailored not too lose and not too tight. I was looking in the display window of the 2nd hand watch store, the biggest in the city, when he appeared beside me and said hello. American? Yes, he'd just arrived, just left the airport. From? Paris. Doing what? Buying watches, among other things. You? I buy watches too, in a small way, sell them again quickly. You can do me a favor then. Take me around to the places you know for watches.

We go inside the store, and he asks to look at pocket watches. A selection is place before him on the counter. I'll take this one, he says. Wrap it up. He pays, and we turn our way to another store more downtown. He opens the box and says, They gave me an extra watch by mistake. How could that happen? What could be the explanation? It was coming soon.

At the second store, another set of watches were assembled on a counter before him. A few minutes pass, and he says he'll take this one, and this one. He counts out the money. The store owner asks, What about the other ? What other? The other that was here. He doesn't know. He collects the Swiss Franc bills together he had set out on the counter, but one falls to the floor on our side of the counter. He kneels down to retrieve it, says, Oh! Here's the missing watch, it'd fallen to the floor. Not a chance, I think but don't say.

That's the whole story. I got out of there and away from the American dressed like a Swiss Banker as fast as I could.