Julian Watch Repair

The guy was super nice he took a look at a watch that he knew he couldn’t fix but he still tried as much as he could. My other watch an omega he changed the band with a really high quality and durable leather band. Also Another watch that no one sold the band for but he did. Overall great experience and convenient!

I’d heard not so positive things about this watch place before, but figured «hey, I’m in a pretty good mood, how bad can it be?»
I needed to get my self-​winding watch looked at after it started making a funny vibration and, since I pass by Julian every day on my way to lunch, this seemed too convenient to pass up.
Inside is pretty standard with a glass partition where you can see everything the owner does to your watch (which is pretty cool).
After being asked by the owner/​repairman if I wanted my watch looked at, I handed over the watch and responded affirmatively. After a few minutes he’d opened up the watch and was showing me a tiny part that he said was rusted and would need to be replaced. I expected this to be the case and said, «great, how much?» The repairman told me that my watch was nine years old and needed a «complete service» where he would check and clean each individual part. I told him I really didn’t think it was necessary since I bought the watch new and have only had it for a few years — I would prefer just to replace the rusted part. He said he couldn’t replace the part since the entire watch needed to be cleaned and it was going to cost me $ 450. Disappointed that he wouldn’t replace just the broken part, I thanked him as he handed me back my watch… this is where it got uncomfortable.
He said, «ok, well, since I diagnosed your watch you owe me $ 25.» Astonished, I asked him if he was kidding and said «$ 25!!! Why do I owe you anything when you’re the one who is refusing to service the watch? Had you told me upfront it was going to cost that much just to diagnose the problem, I would have taken it to an official dealer.» To which he replied, «I’m calling the police.»
To make an already long story short, after the police came, the owner changed his mind and said I didn’t owe him anything.
While I fully embrace paying someone a rate that’s commensurate with their skill, I also believe in transparency and can’t help but wonder if things would have ended the same if the owner spoke English or if I was more fluent in Spanish. I doubt it, but I’d like to think the owner wasn’t intentionally trying to swindle me into a $ 450 watch cleaning.