Student area Repair tracking
Watchmaking The course

Mechanical watch repair and servicing

Repairs for private customers

Your watch, serviced at my bench.

I still service watches for private customers, sent by post. I take everything apart, clean it, replace the worn parts, oil it, regulate it and test the water resistance. The watch comes back with a report giving its measurements before and after.

Mechanical watch

Hand-wound

from €269

  • Date+ €35

Automatic watch

Self-winding

from €289

  • Date+ €35

Chronograph

Manual or automatic

from €389

  • Automatic+ €35
  • Date+ €35
  • Flyback+ €95

I also do batteries, straps, polishing, sandblasting and clocks, on quotation.  Ask for a quote

Two-box secure parcel for sending a watch for repair
  1. i.

    Ask for a quote

    Tell me the brand and model and add a few photos: you get a quote before any work starts.

  2. ii.

    Safe shipping

    I send you a parcel with two boxes to protect the watch, and I film it being opened when it arrives.

  3. iii.

    At the bench

    Disassembly, cleaning, reassembly and regulation, measured before and after.

  4. iv.

    Back to you

    Your watch comes back with its service report, and a reminder when the next service is due.

At the bench

A service, step by step.

This is what happens to your watch once it is with me. Here a hand-wound watch, from the open caseback to the balance running again.

The watch arrives on the bench.
The watch arrives on the bench.
The caseback open: the movement as it came in.
The caseback open: the movement as it came in.
The movement out, the case and the crystal set aside.
The movement out, the case and the crystal set aside.
The hands off, the dial put away safe.
The hands off, the dial put away safe.
Everything apart, each part in its place.
Everything apart, each part in its place.
The mainspring out of the barrel, the parts in the baskets.
The mainspring out of the barrel, the parts in the baskets.
In the machine: the cleaning and rinsing baths, then drying.
In the machine: the cleaning and rinsing baths, then drying.
The screwdrivers sharpened before reassembly, so no screw gets marked.
The screwdrivers sharpened before reassembly, so no screw gets marked.
Clean, the parts come back to the bench.
Clean, the parts come back to the bench.
Reassembly, with a different oil for each place.
Reassembly, with a different oil for each place.
Back together: the balance runs again.
Back together: the balance runs again.
Then the checks: the rate, and the water resistance.
Then the checks: the rate, and the water resistance.

A few jobs

Through my bench.

A Vacheron Constantin

A hand-wound calibre, serviced like any other: all taken apart, cleaned, oiled and regulated. Its finishing deserves a look at every part.

A hand-wound Vacheron Constantin calibre, in its holder.
A hand-wound Vacheron Constantin calibre, in its holder.
Before taking it apart, look at everything.
Before taking it apart, look at everything.
The train cleared, part by part.
The train cleared, part by part.

An Omega Saint Christopher

An old Omega, Saint Christopher in the middle of the dial. It came in stopped, and the point of its turning bezel was gone: originally it was one piece with the bezel. I made a new one from photos of intact examples, as wide as four minutes on the dial, that is 1.3 mm, turned from 20AP steel and checked on the profile projector. Its seat was cut on the jig borer from inside the bezel, so nothing shows outside, and its 0.6 mm stem is pressed in. Flame-blued, like the hands. The movement serviced, the hairspring's Breguet overcoil reshaped: it runs again at 280° of amplitude.

An original point, enlarged: the reference for the measurements.
An original point, enlarged: the reference for the measurements.
Drawn in CAD: 1.3 mm wide, four minutes of the dial.
Drawn in CAD: 1.3 mm wide, four minutes of the dial.
The point and its 0.6 mm stem, in 3D.
The point and its 0.6 mm stem, in 3D.
Checked on the profile projector, against the drawing.
Checked on the profile projector, against the drawing.
Under the loupe, while fitting it.
Under the loupe, while fitting it.
The steel point, under the loupe.
The steel point, under the loupe.
The bezel ring, taken off.
The bezel ring, taken off.
The point pressed into the bezel.
The point pressed into the bezel.
The point in place, before bluing.
The point in place, before bluing.
Finished, and running.
Finished, and running.

A sapphire caseback

To see the movement without losing the original: the original caseback, engraved 1956, is kept, and a sapphire back takes its place. The back turned on the lathe, the sapphire fitted, then the water resistance tested at 9 bar.

The original caseback, engraved 1956, and the sapphire back that shows the movement.
The original caseback, engraved 1956, and the sapphire back that shows the movement.
The caseback turned on the lathe.
The caseback turned on the lathe.
The seat for the sapphire, to the hundredth.
The seat for the sapphire, to the hundredth.
The water-resistance test, at 9 bar.
The water-resistance test, at 9 bar.

A watch to bring back, a caseback to change, a part to remake?  Ask for a quote

Work out the price

An estimate in ten seconds, with no commitment. The exact quote comes after the watch has been examined.

Your watch
Complications
Shipping

Starting from

€269

Starting price, wear parts included. A broken part or a balance to replace is added to the quote.

Ask for the quote

Contact

Write to me.