SPHARLER KEEPS WATCHES TICKING

By Larry Fugate/SPECIAL TO THE COMMERCIAL

Clarence Ross “Sonny” Spharler Jr. rose from his chair behind a watchmaker’s desk as two women from Star City walked into Spharler’s Jewelry in downtown Pine Bluff. The one carrying four watches gave Spharler a kiss on the cheek and a hug before explaining her problems with the timepieces.

Spharler smiled when another visitor asked if it was common for customers to give him a kiss and hug upon entering. “They are not customers,” he explained. “They are friends of mine.”

Less than 30 minutes later three of the watches had received new batteries or repairs. The fourth would require a new movement, Spharler decided.

When the two women returned 90 minutes later, Spharler told the customer he had a movement in stock for her watch and the repairs would cost $24. “Let’s do it,” she answered. He told the two a joke, and the retired school teacher with the watches patted his shoulder and left with her friend.

A man and woman entered seeking repairs on the clasp on a gold necklace. Spharler had the replacements in stock, completed the repair work and the couple left.

“Every walk of life comes through here now and then,” he told the visitor. “I don’t make a lot of money, but I have lots of fun.”

His father, the late C.R. Spharler Sr., opened the store at 115 E. Fourth Ave. in 1936, and after 73 years, it is the oldest, privately owned jewelry store with in-house watch repair services in the state. The father learned watch repairing as an apprentice.

The younger Spharler started working in the store when he was 10 or 11, “and couldn’t see over the counter.” He learned the craft of repairing watches from his father.

During his 68 years behind the counter he has seen many changes in downtown Pine Bluff. The store’s hours of operation — 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. weekdays and 8:30 to noon on Saturdays — reflect the changes.

Before malls and strip shopping centers, most retail operations were centered in the downtown area. He ticked off a list of stores that were open on Main Street decades ago, but now represent only memories and boarded up windows.

“We stayed open until the early evening then, and to 10 p.m. or midnight on Saturdays, when downtown was it,” Spharler told the visitor.

The streets were paved with bricks and retailing operated at a different pace. Spharler said he remembers a man named Bear who operated a clothing store with a mounted stuffed bear outside as an attraction.

“My business is as good as it has ever been,” he added. “I’ve seen a lot of good people and businesses come and go.

“People have changed a bit. In the early years they were much more humble because they didn’t have a lot of money. Now they have more money and are more demanding. However, if you treat them right, they do become friends.”

The small store has survived through good and bad times because of service, he emphasized. “It’s how you treat people. It’s more than knowing how to fix things. … This is a service business.

“I fix their watches like it was mine. People appreciate that.”

While he sells jewelry, watch repairs account for about two-thirds of the store’s volume. He quoted a salesman who calls on the store as saying he has the largest inventory of watch bands in the state.

A number of jewelry stores and general retailers send him watches to repair. “You pay them and you pay me,” he said with a shrug.

Most watches today lack real quality and are designed to be thrown away, Spharler observed. “Before, watches were made to last a lifetime.”

A confirmed bachelor, he jokes that “I never had time to get married.”

One wall of the store is covered with signs, many with pithy expressions. The headline above a framed story from the July 15, 1989, edition of The Commercial noted “Watch Repair Business Ticks on for Spharler.”

The writer of the story described the small store as being “jammed with new watches, old watches, new jewelry, old jewelry, dusty boxes and corners that don’t look like they have been touched for years.” Nothing has changed in the past two decades.

“I don’t have an answer for that,” Spharler replied when asked if he has any plans to retire, adding he doesn’t “have an understudy” who would like to take over the business one day.

“Some of the finest people in the world walk through that door. They are the salt of the earth and easy to work with. Why would I want to retire?”