He used to watch his father the same way. Only he wasn’t on the outside looking in. At his father’s elbow, he learned to disassemble and clean clock parts.

Hanging on a wall at John Cook Jewelers in Kanawha City, the Rockwell print reflects the father-son relationship that spawned John E. Cook & Son Jewelers. They worked side by side for 24 years.

The watchmaker’s son has adapted to change, but his feet stay firmly planted in his father’s footsteps.

He’s 55.

“My dad was a clockmaker, a hand engraver, a watchmaker, a jeweler, he did everything. He worked at Carbide as an instrumentation man. None of the clocks there would work and that upset him. So he left and went to Elgin Watch College to learn to repair clocks. When he went back to Carbide, they said they didn’t need that anymore, so he went into business for himself.

“First, he was at Coyle and Richardson as head of the silver department. He did his watches at Coyle’s and he had a shop at home where he did jewelry repairs and customer jewelry design. In 1966, he opened up on Hale Street.

“He loved his work. I played ball and dad probably didn’t have as much time to see me play as he should have because he was so tied up in his work. One man taking care of a family of three, he had to put the hours in.

“I lied about my age and tried out for the Cincinnati Reds farm team. I made the first cut, but then I quit because I wasn’t old enough. You can’t make a living doing that if you’re not a real ballplayer.

“I went to jewelers college in Pennsylvania for three years. It was 12 months with a two-week vacation, so it was almost year-round. I had an instructor who had a Patek Philippe wristwatch. The staff was broken off. For eight years, he asked students to repivot that staff. You had to drill a hole into the staff, make a pin, friction it into a hole, cut it down on a lathe and polish it without it breaking off again. The thickness of that pivot was half of the hair on your head.

“I fixed it. It took me a month and a half, and I broke hundreds of them before I finally got it. That’s the kind of patience it takes. I had that kind of touch. I don’t have it now, not at 55. Watch making teaches patience. I should have a real fine touch on the golf course, but I’m like a bull in a china shop.

“I was intrigued with watch making, but I think now that the basic appeal was that I could spend some time with my dad that I didn’t get to spend when I was a kid. He’s been dead nine years, and we worked together every day for 24 years and got along marvelously.

“More than anything else, dad taught me to take care of people, to be fair, the moral aspect. There’s not much morality out there anymore, truth in advertising, and that drives me nuts. Character, that’s what he taught me.

“I started with him on Hale Street, beside the Strand, in 1970. When the mall came in, I told him I thought we would have to get bigger and more noticeable. He disagreed. I said, ‘Well, we are going to have to split.’ And we did. I designed the store on Quarrier Street, and by the time I got it finished, he changed his mind and said he was coming with me. I knew he would. We were on Quarrier Street about 22 years. He worked on a Monday, all day, went home and had a heart attack and died.

“I still have his bench, a solid cherry watchmaker’s bench custom-made for him. He designed it. It had a pad on the front so he could put his hands over the tip of the watch instead of leaning over the desk. It kept his hands free instead of being crimped. My bench is designed the same as his.

“Today, I’m a watchmaker, clockmaker and jeweler. I don’t do hand engraving. In this store, we do jewelry repair and jewelry design. I used to repair 10 to 15 watches a day. I had to work 12 to 14 hours a day just repairing watches. Thank goodness I don’t have to do that now to make a living. The Lord’s been good to me.

“With the invention of quartz watches, we don’t have the repairs. We replace batteries all day, but we don’t have to dissemble and clean watches. We still have a few. I had a customer this morning who brought in an English antique pocket watch that’s 150 years old. It needed a crystal. I’ve taken care of his watches for 20 years.

“I buy a lot of estate jewelry. If jewelry could talk, wouldn’t it be marvelous? I purchased an estate with a diamond bracelet, a diamond ring and an antique watch. I did some investigating work and found out the watch belonged to the first king of Italy, his personal pocket watch and chain and watch fob. I think it was probably taken during the war by a serviceman. I’m getting ready to e-mail all the museums in Europe to see if they have any interest in it.

“People are holding on to things more now. We can tell when the economy is going bad. People start bringing in things and asking what they’re worth or if we purchase things over the counter. We’re seeing very little of that now.

“I really enjoy appraisals. I do more insurance appraisals than anything. I’ve had people drop off $1 million of jewelry to be appraised and leave it here with no signature. They just tell me to take care of it. That feeds the ego, that people have that kind of confidence in you.

“I see a lot of pieces people paid a lot of money for and I have to tell them they were oversold. I’m the bad guy. But then, one day a lady brought in a stone she thought was a sapphire that she had bought at a garage sale. It turned out to be a canary diamond, so that was exciting for her.

“I concentrate on custom jewelry. I have a lady now who has a lot of scrap gold pieces, old earrings and things, and she wants a nugget-style bracelet made out of it. I had a fellow bring me a picture of a ring his wife had kept in her sock drawer for 26 years. It was beautiful, very intricate work, and she said it was her ideal ring. I called and the company that made it had been out of business 15 years. So we duplicated it, and that made her very happy. Personal attention. It’s very simple.

“There’s not a lot of competition for what we do. This week, a lady said she had taken her watch to the mall to put in a new battery and it wouldn’t work. They told her it would cost $150 to repair. I opened the watch and flipped the battery right side up and gave it back to her. They had put the battery in upside down. This was a $1,000 watch. You’ve got no business opening a watch if you don’t know the right side for the battery.

“We’re a close-knit family. We do everything as a group. I’ve got three beautiful daughters. We just bought a place on Pawley’s Island. I play golf with my sons-in-laws and the girls enjoy the beach and shop. I’m watching my grandkids grow. I have an assistant, Yvonne Hupp, who’s been here 15 years. When I leave, she takes care of my business. She was a nurse, so she’s used to taking care of people.

“It’s been a good life. I love the business I’m in. I have brothers-in-law who are dentists and people hate to go see them. The people who come in here are happy. If they aren’t happy when they come in, they are when they leave.”

To contact staff writer Sandy Wells, call 348-5173 or e-mail sandyw@wvgazette.com .