Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 1,295, Buying a Watch.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 1,295.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
This episode is a dialogue between Jack and a clerk someone who sells things for a store about buying a wristwatch.
Let's get started.
Hello.
Are you shopping for a watch for yourself?
Yes.
I'm looking for a dress watch.
Something understated, with a simple face.
We have plenty to choose from.
Let me show you these quartz watches.
I'm looking for something with an automatic movement, something that is self-winding.
Oh, in that case, let me show you these.
These have the finest workmanship you'll find anywhere, with very hard crystals.
Are you looking for something with a bezel, a leather strap, or a metal one?
I'm not sure.
My diving watch has a bezel and chronograph.
But I'm looking for something simpler.
What's the difference between these two?
This one has luminous hands and dial and is waterproof, and the other doesn't have either feature.
Hmm, I can't decide.
All three?
Yes.
Let me show you these diamond-encrusted watches we just got in.
You think I need more than four watches? no man of style would be without at least a dozen.
This episode is all about buying or purchasing a watch W-A-T-C-H, which is, of course, a small clock that tells you the time.
Nowadays, when we say watch, we usually think of what was called more popularly in earlier years, a wrist W-R-I-S-T watch.
Because you wear it on the wrist of your hand, or the wrist of your arm, I should say.
The wrist is where your arm meets your hand, where they connect.
There are also pocket watches that people used to wear many years ago.
Not so much anymore that you keep in your pocket.
Nowadays, of course, many people don't wear watches at all.
They just look at their phone to see what time it is.
The dialogue begins with the clerk saying to Jack, Jack says, yes, I'm looking for a dress watch.
A dress watch is a watch that you would wear to a formal or business event.
It isn't a big watch, one that has a lot of different functions on it.
It's not a watch that does a lot other than tell you the time.
But it looks nice, so we call it a dress watch.
Jack says he wants something understated with a simple face.
Understated, U-N-D-E-R-S-T-A-T-E-D, means it's simple or it doesn't draw attention to itself.
It's not something that people will immediately notice, perhaps.
Jack wants a watch with a simple face.
The face of the watch is the front of it.
We also talk about the face of a clock.
It's the part that you can see that has the numbers on it and the lines that indicate the time what we would call the hands.
H-A-N-D-S.
In traditional watches there are two hands on the watch a big hand, which is the longer of the two, and a little hand.
Many watches, of course, don't have any hands at all, but rather just have numbers.
These are electronic watches.
The clerk says to Jack, We have plenty to choose from, meaning we have a lot of watches that you can select from.
Let me show you these quartz watches.
Quartz, q u a r t z, is a kind of stone or crystal that is used to keep time.
A quartz watch then uses a crystal to keep time, not what we would call a mechanical device.
Jack says, I'm looking for something with an automatic movement, something that is self-winding.
Automatic movement means pretty much the same as self-winding, W-I-N-D-I-N-G.
An automatic movement or self-winding watch uses the movement of the hand or the arm to to help keep the watch going.
It actually helps wind the watch.
To wind W-I-N-D means to move a small knob, something that is on the side typically, of a watch.
That is used to give the watch energy so that it keeps going.
We would say it keeps ticking, T-I-C-K-I-N-G.
To tick means to work or to function, especially when talking about a watch.
There are little wheels inside of the watch that move and they make often a small, what we would describe as ticking sound.
This is related to another expression that is used to describe the sound a clock or a watch makes, which is tick-tock T-O-C-K.
In any case...
The clerk says, let me show you these.
She's showing him some self-winding watches.
She says, these have the finest workmanship you'll find anywhere, with very hard crystals.
Workmanship, W-O-R-K-M-A-N-S-H-I-P, refers to the quality and skill with which something is made.
Something that is made very well is something made with fine workmanship.
These watches, according to the clerk, have very hard crystals.
In this case, the word crystal refers to the cover that protects the face of the watch.
Most watches have some sort of covering over the hands of the watch.
The clerk says, The clerk says, a leather strap, or a metal one.
A bezel, B-E-Z-E-L, is a small ring or circle around that crystal covering of the watch.
Often it has numbers on it.
The watch is held onto your wrist by a We would call wristband B-A-N-D or a strap S-T-R-A-P.
The strap can be made out of leather L-E-A-T-H-E-R
Or metal, M-E-T-A-L.
Or at least those are the two most common materials or things we make watch bands out of.
Leather is a material that comes from the skin of an animal, such as a cow.
A metal strap would be made out of something such as iron steel, silver or other kinds of hard metals.
Jack says he's not sure.
He says, But I'm looking for something simpler.
A diving D-I-V-I-N-G watch is one that you can use to go swimming or down into the dive, into that water.
In fact, diving is usually done with some sort of special equipment allowing you to breathe for a long time underwater.
A chronograph, or chronograph C-H-R-O-N-O-G-R-A-P-H is a Another word for what is more commonly called a stopwatch.
It's a watch you use to determine how long something is going on.
If you are running a race, for example, you will have someone typically, who has a stopwatch, who turns a watch on when you start running and off when you finish running.
That tells you how long someone has been doing something.
Jack says he's looking for something simpler than his diving watch.
He then asks what the differences are between two different kinds of watches he's looking at.
The clerk explains, this one has luminous hands and dial and is waterproof.
Luminous, L-U-M-I-N-O-U-S, means that it can be seen even when it is dark out.
So the hands that you remember indicate what time it is. are luminous on this particular watch.
And so is the dial.
D-I-A-L.
The dial of a clock or a watch is just another word for the face of it, the front of it that has the numbers on it.
The clerk also tells Jack that the watch he's looking at is waterproof.
W-A-T-E-R.
P-R-O-O-F.
Something that is waterproof is something that is usually sealed so that the water will not harm it, will not damage it.
You can put a waterproof watch in the water and it will still work just fine.
Nowadays, companies are starting to make waterproof phones, although they're still not quite perfect, from what I hear.
In any case, the clerk is showing Jack these watches and he says, I can't decide.
Then he says I'll take this one, this one and this one, and he's indicating three watches that he wants to buy.
The clerk is surprised.
She says, all three?
Jack says yes.
Then the clerk, realizing that perhaps he can sell Jack something even more expensive because he obviously has a lot of money, says to him let me show you these diamond-encrusted watches we just got in, meaning that just arrived to our store.
Diamonds D-I-A-M-O-N-D-S are clear, hard stones that are very valuable, and Women often get a diamond ring when they get married, as do some men.
I don't have a diamond on my wedding ring.
I just have what's called a wedding band, B-A-N-D.
I mentioned previously about watch bands that go around your wrist.
Well, a wedding band goes around your finger, but of course it doesn't have a watch on it.
Anyway, the clerk says that these watches are diamond-encrusted.
E-N-C-R-U-S-T-E-D.
Diamond-encrusted means that they are decorated with diamonds or that there are many diamonds on the watch itself.
Jack says...
He's wondering why the clerk is trying to sell him another watch.
The clerk responds by saying The phrase a man of style S-T-Y-L-E refers to a man who has good taste, who knows what good clothing looks like and good watches.
No such man.
According to the clerk, who of course wants to make more money by selling the customer, another watch would be without at least a dozen, meaning a man of style would have at least 12 watches and probably more.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Hello, are you shopping for a watch for yourself?
Yes, I'm looking for a dress watch.
Something understated with a simple face.
We have plenty to choose from.
Let me show you these quartz watches.
I'm looking for something with an automatic movement.
Something that is self-winding.
Oh, in that case, let me show you these.
These have the finest workmanship you'll find anywhere, with very hard crystals.
Are you looking for something with a bezel, a leather strap, or a metal one?
I'm not sure.
My diving watch has a bezel and chronograph, but I'm looking for something simpler.
What's the difference between these two?
This one has luminous hands and dial and is waterproof.
And the other doesn't have either feature.
Hmm.
I can't decide.
I'll take this one, this one, and this one.
All three?
Yes.
Let me show you these diamond-encrusted watches we just got in.
You think I need more than four watches? no man of style would be without at least a dozen.
Our dialogues are understated, but have the finest workmanship behind them.
That's because they're written by our very own Dr. Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thanks for listening.
Come back and listen to us again right here on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2016 by the Center for Educational Development.
