A Pocket Watch is a Minhag Yisroel, brought down in Ta’amei HaMinhagim, to represent the Shalsheles of Klal Yisroel (continuation of the Jewish people), which is what the young couple is acting on by getting married. Why anyone would want to change such a beautiful minhag is beyond me.
Agreed… and based on what we are hearing from Leizor (and, admittedly, we’re only hearing one side) it sounds like his in-laws to be are being petty.
But, at the end of the day, he has to decide if escalating tensions is worth the watch. As I said above, I’d bet dollars to donuts that ANY rav would tell him that making Shalom with one’s in-laws to be (and certainly not distressing his kallah) is worth far more than the minhag.
The Wolf