Watch Saga: Clock for Shabbat

Last Shabbat, just as my husband said that he was going off to shul, my cheap NS40 watch, which was well under a year old, died. I looked at it to check the time and saw that the "second hand" wasn't moving anymore.

I'm very grateful that it was working when I woke up, since otherwise I wouldn't have known if it was a time to get out of bed or not. We no longer have a wall clock in the livingroom, since after that one died, I decided that we wouldn't get a new one until we did the kitchen and got new lighting fixtures for the livingroom.

I could manage fine without a watch until Shabbat afternoon, so when we came back from lunch at a neighbor, I asked my husband to leave his watch with me. I woke him when he needed to get up, and then his watch stayed with me most of the time until Shabbat was out.

This week I need to get a watch before Shabbat, but it doesn't look like it's going to happen. There's no place to get a reliable watch here in Shiloh. I bought the NS40 one in a toy store. Yesterday I was in Pisgat Zeev with my and granddaughter, and even though we walked around stores and a section of the mall, I didn't see any watches. Sunday I had been in Jerusalem for the NCSY Ben Zakkai Reception, but it was too cold, dark and windy to walk around the Center of town to shop.

Today I'm arriving in Jerusalem too late to shop in town, unless I got to a mall, Center 1, Hadar or a quick walk from Matan during my break on Wednesday. The watch stores people have been recommending aren't in those places. So, if you have any recommendations for those places, please let me know, thanks.

Getting rather desperate, I began to search for clocks in the house. Yesterday I found an old battery powered clock, and I even found working AA batteries. I will have to tape the back shut for Shabbat, since the batteries fall out otherwise. But since on weekdays I have my phone as clock, that can give me a bit more time to search.

I don't know if I really want to get another junky, cheap watch sans guarantee. This is going to be my third watch in less than three years. Cheap is starting to look more and more expensive.