Watch Repair & Servicing Specialists

A proper service, which watchmakers also call an overhaul, starts with taking the movement out of the case and taking it apart completely. Every wheel, bridge and screw goes through a cleaning machine, then the watchmaker inspects the parts for wear, replaces what's worn (mainsprings and gaskets are the usual suspects), relubricates each pivot and jewel with the correct oils, and reassembles the whole thing. Then comes regulation: the watch goes on a timing machine in several positions until its rate sits inside the shop's tolerance.

The case gets attention too. Gaskets are replaced, the crown and pushers are checked, and the sealed watch goes through a pressure test before it's returned. Ask what's in the written estimate and what isn't, because some shops quote the movement service alone and treat case and bracelet work as extras.

A quartz watch that stops usually needs a battery, and that's a quick job, though a careful shop still replaces the caseback gasket and tests water resistance afterwards. If a fresh battery doesn't fix it, or the watch has gone ten years without being opened, the circuit or the gear train may need cleaning too, and that's a service.

Mechanical watches never take a battery, so the warning signs are different: the watch gains or loses noticeably more than it used to, the power reserve shortens, the crown feels gritty when you wind it, or the date changes at the wrong time. Any of those is a reason to book an overhaul rather than wait for the watch to stop, because running a movement on dried oil wears the parts that are expensive to replace.

Brand service centers know their own movements intimately and carry every part. The trade-off is time and control: turnaround is often measured in months, the watch is usually shipped to a regional facility, and the service center may replace dials, hands or bezels to current spec without asking, which matters a great deal on an older watch.

A good independent can be faster, cheaper and far more willing to follow your instructions, such as returning the old parts or leaving the case unpolished. The question that settles it is parts access. Several major manufactures supply spares only to their own network and to independents they've approved, so ask a shop directly whether it holds an account for your brand. If it doesn't, it may still be able to service the watch, but it can't replace certain parts.

Two names come up again and again. The American Watchmakers-Clockmakers Institute (AWCI) runs the CW21 exam, short for Certified Watchmaker of the 21st Century, which tests practical bench skills rather than theory alone. WOSTEP, the Watchmakers of Switzerland Training and Educational Program, trains many of the watchmakers who go on to work for the Swiss brands. Neither guarantees good work, but both mean the person on the bench has been formally tested.

Brand training matters as well. Some independents have completed a manufacture's own course to qualify for its parts account; others came out of a brand's service center and opened their own shop. It's fair to ask who will actually do the work, since a storefront that ships watches to an outside workshop isn't the same as a watchmaker at the bench.

The depth printed on a dial is a lab rating for a new, perfectly sealed watch, and gaskets dry out with age. That's why a pressure test belongs at the end of every service and after every battery change. Most shops use a dry tester that measures how the case responds to air pressure or vacuum; some follow up with a wet test.

If you swim with your watch, test it every year or two even between services. A watch that's been opened by someone without a tester, or a vintage piece with original gaskets, should be treated as not water resistant until it's been checked.