The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Former jewellery shop owner, Jim Hastie, 75
Jim Hastie, whose jeweller’s shop was a fixture on Hilltown, Dundee, for decades, has died aged 75. He was one of a small number of watchmakers and jewellers who completed a seven-year apprenticeship.
Jim worked at, then later owned E Butchart jewellers in Hilltown, Dundee, from 1964 until his retirement in 2012 aged 66.
The business had been founded in 1910 by the original Mr Butchart, with whom Jim worked.
In earlier times, the shop also housed an optician and the business also offered ear piercing.
Over the decades, thousands of couples selected engagement rings at the shop.
Jim’s son, James, said his father was always particularly busy on Christmas Eve with men dashing in to buy last-minute gifts for their wives or girlfriends.
William James Hastie was born in Arbroath to Robert and Elizabeth Hastie. His father had served in the RAF during the war and had stayed on in Angus afterwards. He went on to work for the North of Scotland Hydroelectric Board.
When he was 16, Jim met his future wife Olive, who was the same age, at a youth club at the Unitarian Church in Dundee.
They married in the same church in 1970. The birth of James completed the immediate family.
Jim always had an aptitude for fixing things and joined E Butchart in 1964 as an apprentice.
He learned to repair watches and specialised in working on grandfather and grandmother clocks.
Jim was often seen with two watches on each wrist, which he tested before handing back to customers after repair.
In 2012, shortly after his shop was flooded three times, Jim decided to retire.
He said trade had gravitated towards the city centre away from Hilltown, leaving it a shadow of its former self.
In retirement he devoted a lot of time to bowling, first at Dudhope, then Magdalen Green and latterly Balgay where he was outgoing president.
Jim had previous spells as president in 2014 and 2020.
He was predeceased by Olive in 2018 and was a member, treasurer and chairman of the committee of Williamson Memorial Unitarian Church.
He is survived by James and his wife Gill and their children Struan, Murdo and Breagha.
Jim was often seen with two watches on each wrist