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Anthony Boskovich displays some of his custom watches at the work station in his Williamstown home. The retired attorney and Williams graduate opened Purple Cow Watch Co. last year.
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Boskovich uses a microscope to work on a watch. He enjoys the precision work and has turned his hobby into a home business.

Purple Cow Watch Co. Keeps Timepieces Ticking

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
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Anthony Boskovich points to one of his custom watches, the 'Who Cares, I'm Late,' with its scattered numbers and glowing hands. 

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Purple Cow Watch Co. is ready to keep your timepiece ticking.

The new shop repairs, restores and custom builds watches, including his Purple Valley brand, and sells brand-name timepieces.

Anthony Boskovich is the "one man band" who started this new company late last year in his basement.

"The popular belief right now is that if you own a quartz watch you just throw it away and really I don't think that makes sense, even if you paid $50 or $100 for that watch. More than half the time it needs a new battery or a cleaning," he said, adding the repairs may be inexpensive. "I would hope that people would consider getting their watches fixed."

He has always been interested in watches and clocks and how they work and is excited to finally start working with them.

"I've always been fascinated with clocks and timepieces ever since I was a kid, like my website says, I tried to take a clock apart when I was ten and they've always fascinated me."

Boskovich was a civil rights trial lawyer and said every time he won a case he would reward himself with a clock or watch. He retired in 2018, took some time to decompress and enjoy retirement, but last year he started to become interested in watches and clocks again.

"Before I knew it, I'm looking at a full-blown workshop," he smiled.

He watched Youtube videos to help him learn more and be able to work on various watch brands.

Boskovich grew up and practiced law in California but attended Williams College and felt like he really fit in here. He moved back to Williamstown in 2017, thus the "Purple Valley" and "Purple Cow" branding.

He says the watch industry is booming right now and he wants to be unique with his business.

"I'm trying to build watches that are unique and distinctive and trying to find old world crafts people who can still do things the way it was done before and use old tooling, that to me is fascinating to do that," Boskovich said.

He also loves to restore watches and bring customers' memories back to life.

"I would enjoy talking to people and if they hand me, 'hey look at this, this was my dad's Seiko' or 'this was my high school graduation gift,'" he said, to help bring it back would be the goal.

There are few craftsmen left in America who know how to make watches, so he advised if you're good with your hands, and like precision, watch making and repair could be a career option.

"If you wanted to learn to be a watchmaker when you're young, you can go to Texas. Rolex will pay for you to go through their 18-month watch-making technician program," he said. "There's no employment requirement after that and they will give it to you for free because they need people to be able to work on their product."

You can reach Boskovich through his website or call 408-286-5150. Follow him on Instagram here.


Tags: new business,   

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Williamstown Planning Board Asks for Seasonal Communities Designation, Talks Tiny Homes

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Planning Board this month voted unanimously to recommend that the Select Board ask town meeting to accept the provisions of the provisions of the commonwealth's Seasonal Communities law.
 
If town meeting members agree at the May 19 annual town meeting, the town would have the ability to take steps to allow or create workforce housing, and it would give the town the ability to compete for grants to support year-round housing.
 
The tradeoff is that, under the terms of the Seasonal Communities program, Williamstown would need to enact zoning bylaws that allow the construction of residential housing on undersized lots, provided it is not used as a seasonal home or short-term rental "of less than six months." And the town would be required to enact zoning that permits so-called "tiny houses" of 400 square feet or less in floor area — again, only to be used as year-round housing.
 
The town would have two years to enact the zoning changes through subsequent town meetings while enjoying the benefits of the Seasonal Communities program from Day 1 if adopted at the May meeting.
 
The Legislature enacted the Seasonal Communities program to help communities address housing needs when those municipalities meet certain characteristics, including when "excessive disparities between the area median income and the income required to purchase the municipality's median home price," according to the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities (formerly the Department of Housing and Community Development).
 
The Seasonal Communities program initially was targeted at towns on Cape Cod, where the inaccessibility of workforce housing has been a concern for decades. More recently, the EOHLC has designated some towns in Berkshire County as eligible for the Seasonal Communities designation.
 
The Planning Board at its March 10 meeting voted 4-0 (with Cory Campbell absent) to recommend the Select Board agree at its Monday, March 23, meeting to put the Seasonal Communities question on the annual town meeting warrant.
 
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