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Business & Tech

Netusil Jewelers Gives Back

A buck and a can gets a watch battery and aids local food pantries.

Time is valuable to all, but for jeweler and clocksmith Andrew Netusil, it is his business and life's work at , which has been in Rocky Point since 1966.

Upon entering the store, you feel you have moved back in time. Clocks are set to chime intermittently.

"Otherwise, if they all chimed at the same time, I would feel like Quasimoto," Mr. Netusil joked.

Netusil learned his trade from a long line of jewelers. It all started in 1925 on John Street in New York City, when Netusil's grandfather, Louis Frank Netusil, began as an apprentice for Mctique & Co. Jewelers. Netusil's father, Louis William Netusil, and Uncle Robert learned from their father and passed the knowledge down to Andrew.

Netusil's is a family run business, and on this day Kelly Netusil and daughter Kimberly were at the shop.

"Lucky our dog, who is a Shiba inu, usually comes to the store," Kimberly Netusil said.

"I'm a jeweler; we wholesale jewlery throughout the United States. I only learned clock repair as a sideline," Andrew Netusil said.

Alongside his own business, he does clock repair for other businesses.

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"Back in the '70s, I would do warranty repair for Howard Miller, but they wouldn't let me go five miles outside of a certain radius," he said.

Netusil still takes assignments for Miller, though the radius has expanded.

"I go from Montauk to Manhattan," he added. "I also do warranty repair for Comitti Clocks of England...I went all the way to Queens once to repair an old clock. The woman forgot to wind the dual dials; I didn't charge her."

Closer to home, as indicated on their sign outside, Netusil Jeweler's has had a standing offer for more than two years: bring in a can or box of food, and you can get a watch battery for just $1.

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"My wife got involved helping someone who lived near us," he said. "They needed rides, they needed food. We started to realize that a lot of people need food. What we do is each month the food we collect goes to a different place. This month we are collecting on behalf of the "

There is a wall with thank you letters. One from Susan Paulson, a Parish Outreach coordinator, read, "Many a person has gotten a free watch battery by simply bringing in a can of food to your shop. Thank you for hearing and responding to the cry of the poor."

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