Sol Meller dies at 69; president of L.A.’s Feldmar Watch Co.

Sol Meller, a former lawyer who built the family-run Feldmar Watch Co. on Pico Boulevard into a century-old fourth-generation retailer and repairer of luxury watches, has died. He was 69.

Meller passed away at his home in Beverly Hills on Monday after a six-month battle with pancreatic cancer, a family representative said.

Known as “Uncle Sol” to longtime Feldmar Watch Co. patrons, Meller’s career arc was an unusual one that began when he married into the Feldmar family business, which has its roots in a Hackensack, N.J., watch repair business founded in 1913.

Meller stepped behind the watch counter of the store east of Doheny Drive in 1972 for what was supposed to be a brief stint and never left — even after he and founder Jack Feldmar’s granddaughter Nancy divorced.

In a 2013 Times story marking the business’ 100th anniversary, Scott Meller, Sol’s son and Feldmar vice-president, credited his father — whom he described as the consummate salesman — with transforming the family business. “When my dad took over, it was essentially a mom-and-pop business,” Scott Meller said at the time. “They weren’t making real money — they were just surviving. My dad put all the risk into the business, building [watch brands].”

The elder Meller was born Sept. 30, 1946, in Germany. He was an enthusiastic throwback to an earlier era, quick to shake a hand and even quicker to speak his mind. In 2013, he was asked how the Feldmar Watch Co. could hit the century mark when so many other family businesses fail.

“By the second generation, most have either snorted it, sold it, blew it or didn’t like it,” he said. “The third generation almost never [gets involved].... How have we survived for four generations? It’s because we live and breathe the watch business.”

Meller was Feldmar’s president; former wife Nancy continues to own half the business.

Survivors include wife Susan Title of Beverly Hills, two other children, Jody Bakhtiar of Los Angeles and Tracy Kleinberg of Chester, Conn., and seven grandchildren.

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FOR THE RECORD

Dec. 2, 2:37 p.m.: An earlier version of this article referred to Meller’s wife, Susan Title, as Susan Meller.

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adam.tschorn@latimes.com