Wait, you're only 50 once, I tell myself. (When I once said something along similar lines to an Indian friend of mine, he responded, "Oh? You're not Hindu?")
Should I jump, or step back? I jump.
"Philip, what's the absolute best price you can give me for this watch?"
He tells me that he is not going to play games, he shoots straight. He quotes a price.
I'm momentarily shocked. It's lower than I thought. Reasonable, even. Philip already knows he's got me, he's much too smart not to know this. Now he gives me a price that he knows is going to clinch the deal. Since I am falling off the cliff anyway, why not just give me an extra push, just to make sure?
"Well, you've just made it impossible for me to say no," I say. Which is my way of avoiding having to actually say yes. But I have said yes.
"OK," I say, "I'll take the Lange 1." I take out two credit cards, because one is definitely not going to be enough, and Philip's assistant takes them away. I tell them to ship the watch, so they won't collect sales tax. I save roughly what I paid for my Breitling Aerospace. (Interesting comparison: an Aerospace is worth the sales tax on a Lange 1.)
Moving right along, Philip takes out that string of a thousand strap samples, and we pick a medium brown alligator that will be sewn with black thread. I hope that will turn the Lange 1 into a casual watch. I joke that if that doesn't work, I'm going to put a sharkskin strap on it. It's 5:55, and we are done with the strap.
The assistant returns with the charge slips, which I sign. It's 5:58. Then a quick good-bye, because Philip says that if they're not out of there quickly after 6 the police show up. He says I should return to chat some more tomorrow, and I can see my watch. I tell him I will.
Wow! I did it. I bought my Birthday present, and with two minutes to spare. Lange 1. Good choice, I think. The obvious choice. I could have stayed indoors today!
I head to Sir Harry's bar to congratulate myself over a beer. The Lange goes into the Cellini safe. I'll toast it with a glass of Scotch when I put it on my wrist next Tuesday.
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