Watch Repairs

Overhaul and servicing

Since 1992 we have searched, found & developed contacts & colleagues who can overhaul, repair & restore just about any watch, but our speciality is the repair of quality watches at realistic prices. E.G. Rolex, Cartier, Omega, IWC, Jaeger le Coultre, Breitling, Tag Heuer, Longine, Tissot, etc, etc. 

Please see the list at the foot of the page, for a list of watch brands we repair.

The following craftsmen carry out these repairs:

Graham - Qualified and trained by Rolex. has worked for Garrads & Cartier. Graham looks after our high end & luxury brand mechanicals, especially where parts may be a problem or have to be made, and where a second to none finish is required by a discerning client! (Usually where investment watches are concerned) 
Graham is regarded as one of the best case & bracelet refinishers in the business!

Allan M- Trained by Omega and my vintage watch "Expert".
What Allan doesn'tt know about repairing vintage Omegas' isn't worth knowing! Also Rolex, Breitling, I.W.C, etc.

As of 16th Oct 2011, Allan is sadly not keeping well at the moment, so his workload has been cut back from around 15 completed watch services to 3 or 4 watches per week..

Allan T- Great news! Alan started for us in October '08, taking over from Dave ,who you may recall retired at the ripe young age of 83! Any way, Allan is now our specialist in English / Scottish fob (Pocket) watches.         

Robert - B.H.I. trained and looks after high to mid range quartz, Japanese automatics (Seiko & Citizen) & mid to low range mechanicals.

We also use the services of many other specialists, but too many to list here though!

These include screw makers, bezel & case makers, hand made watch strap makers & glass formers.

Also official service agents for may high quality watch houses that do not normally deal with Independant businesses, but due to the historical links through business and Martin & Gails tenacity & personality, deal with Martins of Glasgow.

These include, to mention just a few, Franck Muller, Hublot, Chopard, Corum, Ulysee Nardin and others.

When servicing a watch, the following work is undertaken.

Some items may not be applicable to your watch.

I.         Open the case, remove the movement.

II.         Remove the hands and dial from the movement.

III.        If replacing the complete movement, ignore items IV through VIII.

IV.       Strip down the movement into its individual components.

V.        Check whether the watch parts function correctly, checking for rust or wear.

VI.       Determine if any parts require replacing. Estimate to client if required.

VII.      Wash the stripped down movement in cleaning machine with specific baths.

VIII.     Assemble and lubricate the movement. (Several different grades of lubricant may used when lubricating a watch)

IX.       Adjust the movement in accordance with our quality criteria.

X.        Fit the dial and the hands.

XI.       Bench test & final adjustment of the movement.

XII.      Ultrasonic cleaning of the case and bracelet.

XIII.     Polish the case and the bracelet. (This is not refurbishing. Refurbishing costs from £50.00)

XIV.     Re-assemble the case.

XV.      Close the case and check the water-resistance (if appropriate).

XVI.     Set the correct time on the watch, check the cleanliness and the functioning of the assembled watch.

XVII.    Bench test over 24 hours. If not satisfactory, the watch is returned to the watchmaker for the necessary corrections.

XVIII.   Fit the bracelet or strap and carry out a final check before returning the watch to you.

Cell Battery Replacement from only £5.95

We only use Swiss made Renata cells, as we believe they are the best watch cells on the market, and can supply & fit cells for all makes of watches including quality quartz watches that most jewellers are scared to touch! E.g. Breitling, Cartier, Ebel, Tag-Heuer etc.

Also kept in stock is a full range of batteries for digital watches (Casio G-Shock etc)

TESTING FOR WATER RESISTANCE:

We offer a pressure and vaccum testing service faster and at less cost than most "High Street" jewellers, and in most cases can carry this out by return, if mailed in to us, or while you wait, if brought in!

Our average cost for testing to 5ATM /50mts & cell replacement is £25.00stg. This can usually be done while you wait, or by return (If the watch passes the tests!) unless we are very busy, in which case we may take 48 hours. (Note there are exceptions. Please call in advance for more information)

Testing to 100mts/20ATM/20BAR and above, takes aprx 1 week and costs £35.00. This is only usually required for professional divers watches.

Please note that if the watch fails the WR tests, new case, glass or crown seals may be required and if we do not have in stock, this may entail further costs and take slightly longer.

We would inform you if this were the case.

If you mail a watch to us, the return, insured p&p via Royal Mail "Special Delivery" is from £10.00.

PLEASE do not send your watch in its original box or include any original documents or paperwork.

These are usually heavy and take up too much storage space. If you do prefer to send the original box we will have to charge the return P&P accordingly. This can be £15.00! Bubble wrap is usually sufficient and is a lot lighter!

If mailing a watch to us, please use the folowing information.

If mailing in the UK and Northern Ireland, please send via ROYAL MAIL SPECIAL DELIVERY or your preferred courier (Not Recorded Delivery This is not insured), enclosing your instructions and contact details including phone number, address and email if you have one.

Our address can be found on the contact page.

We obvioulsy cannot be responsable for watches or other items mailed to us but not received!

Did you know that there are six different calibre's of Bulova Accutron movements, and other companies such as Omega used these movements as well?

We keep the full range of available cells for these watches. Possibly the only jeweller in Scotland to do so!

Important point regarding the above cells. They were manufactured using mercury oxide and are now illegal to produce. We have the silver oxide equivalents along with special adapters to fit specific Bulova, Omega, I.W.C, and other models using the Accutron movements.

Please note the following three important points before sending a watch to us.

1:- From 1st December 2006, we have not been able to accept for servicing, Bulova Accutrons, or any other brand using tuning fork, or electronic  type modules, with the exeption of Omega.(See section above regarding f300Hz etc)

This has been a hard decision to make, but we have been experiencing too many problems sourcing spare parts & materials.

WE WILL, however, still undertake cell replacement for these watches as long as our stocks last. We also have just sourced, from the USA, specialist cells, which will power certain calibres of Accutron movemnts. 

2A:- Please do not send any fakes or copy watches. Even if you have spent £2,000.00 on an 18ct gold copy "Rolex" with a Swiss ETA movement. We do not want to know. They are more trouble than they are worth. Any watches received unsolicited,  will be immediatly returned with a charge of £15.00 for return, insured postage & packing.

2B:- If you are not sure if your watch is  genuine or a copy / fake, please let us know and we may be able to give you some advice on what to look for to ascertain genuine or rubbish?

3:- We do not charge for estimates* but please note that from 24th September 2011, we have had to introduce a return charge for estimates that are not accepted. This is for ANY item sent into us for possible repair / estimate.

This charge is to cover return insured mail, via Royal Mail Special Delivery. If an item is to be returned outside the UK, then charges may be higher. EG, France & Ireland £15.00.

*The only exception to this is when we have to return a watch to the manufacturer, usually in Switzerland or Germany, and they may levy charge to us for an estimate that is not accepted.

NOTE we never return to the original manufacturer/service agent without explaning this to the client and receiving their express permision to do so.

Part jobs

1. crowns (winders) genuine parts used from manufacturers, unless not available.
2. stems
3. hands

Glasses

1. Low/high dome
2. Flat round/square/shaped
3. Tag Heuer
4. Omega
5. Rolex etc
6. Hardened sapphire

Dial restoration

If the dial of your watch is worn or faded we can restore this to "as new".

Case repairs

We can repair damaged cases for most vintage & antique wrist & fob watches.

The most common case repair we get asked for,in both wrist & pocket watches, is to supply or have made replacement bezels. This is the top part of the case that secures the glass.

We can do this, although, due to the variences of watch design, it is by estimate only. (This type of repair can only be done on watch cases made from precious metals. i.e. silver, gold & even platinum!)

Watch brands we undertake to repair.

Watches in  "RED"  are the main middle to high luxury brands we see REGULARLY. The seven brands in highlighted in bold upper case, are the seven we currently see the most of.

Watches in  "BLUE"  & bold, are the more unusual or rarer luxury brands we happily service & repair, and have succesfuly repaired in the last year, but do not see regularly and you will be pleased to see we  undertake.

Watches in "BLACK" & bold are watches we will see every day for cell replacement, servicing & parts. 

Acctim, Accurist, Alfex, Adidas, Aramani, Audemars Piguet, Avia, Baume, Baume et Mercier, Bell & Ross, Bennetton, Bentima, Bernex, Bertolucci, Blancpain, BREITLING, Boucheron, BeucheGirod, Bulova, Burberry, Breguet, Bucherer, Buler, Bvlgari, Buren, Cartier, Casio, Certina,Certti, Chophard,  Christian Dior, Citizen, Concorde, Corum, Corvette, Cyma, Calvin Klein, DKNY,  D&G, Dolce & Gabbana, Dunhill, Ebel, Ellesse, Emporio Armani, Eterna, Everite, Excalibur, Favre Lubre, Fendi, Festina, Fila, Fossil, Fortis, Frank Muller,  Fred/Constant, Garrard, Girod Perregaux, GUCCI, H Samuel, Hamilton, Heuer, HugoBoss, Ingersoll, IWC,  JWBenson,  Jacob, Jaeger le Coultre, Jean de Eve, Jean Pierre, Junghans, Lacoste, Lassale, Le Chammant, Les Must de Cartier, Liberty, Limit, Lorus, Lotus, LONGINE, Majex, Marvin, Maurice Lacroix, Michel Herblin, Mappin & Webb, Martin Braun, Mondaine, Mont Blanc, Montine, Movado, OMEGA, Oris (old & new), Patik Phillipe, Piaget, Pierre Cardin, Police, Porsche, Pulsar, Rado, RAYMOND WEIL, Record, Regency, Rotary, Roamer, ROLEX, Sector, Sekonda, Seiko, Skagen, Smiths, Sovereign,TAG HEUER, Ted Baker, Tissot, Tresta, Tudor, Ulysse Nardin, Universal Geneve, Uno, Vacheron Constantin, Vertex, Verity, Waltham, Yves St Laurent, Zenith, Zodiac.

The above list, although comprehensive, is by no means exhaustive. If you own a watch that is not on the above list, please do not hesitate to contact us to see if we can help.

AND please don't forget pocket / fob watches, antique or modern, English, Swiss, French or American!

Click on the link below to be directed to the Wikipedia list of watch makers, some current some not. (Again this list is not complete but makes for interesting reading)

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_watch_manufacturers

We only use genuine spare parts, unless obsolete and no longer available.

The watch brand we receive the most request for changing or supplying & fitting spare parts for is Tag Heuer.

We can supply & change new bezels, bezel click springs, bezel retaining springs, hands, dials, links, catches, crowns etc. The original Tag Heuer F1 and Tag Heuer 2000 series are the most popular for the above parts.

Unfortunately we cannot supply complete bracelets or straps, as LVMH class these as "sales" and can only be purchased through an official sales agent. 

Omega do not supply anyone directly with spare parts and materials, but do this through their official agents in the UK. We have had an account with them for over 15years.

* Any prices mentioned are subject to change and, in the case of Rolex Perpetuals, does not include the Seadweller, Daytona or any "vintage" model prior to 1980. The price mentioned in the examples for both Rolex & Omega, also does not include any parts, materials or further work deemed by us to be required over and above a service.

*When we furnish a client with an estimate, but further parts, materials or further work is deemed to be required, this will not be undertaken without first informing the client, providing a quote, and second, obtaining their express permission to proceed as quoted.

*The cost does not include return trackable, insured return mail.