The Importance of Regularly Servicing Your Watches and Clocks
Is your watch or clock losing time or stopping unexpectedly?
Regular servicing, every 3 to 5 years, keeps your timepiece in good working order.
Over time, accuracy can drift as oils dry, gaskets degrade and parts wear. Lubrication deteriorates and attracts impurities turning it into a grinding paste. Minute dirt particles get into movements affecting their precision and causing parts to fail. Regular servicing reduces the risk of this happening.
Regular servicing is essential for maintaining the accuracy and longevity of your timepiece, extending its lifespan and preserving its value.
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What's in a Service? |
Full Service (Mechnical / Automatic) |
Maintenance Service (Quartz only) |
|---|---|---|
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Assessment and identification of timepiece |
✓ |
✓ |
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Separation of the case and movement |
✓ |
✓ |
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Disassembly of the case and bracelet and polishing of the case and bracelet (if Full Valet chosen) |
✓ |
|
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Cleaning of the case and bracelet (if applicable) |
✓ |
✓ |
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Disassembly of the movement, separation, cleaning and inspection of all movement components |
✓ |
|
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Replacement of worn spare parts |
✓ |
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Reassembly and oiling of the movement |
✓ |
|
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Replacement of the battery in quartz movements |
✓ |
✓ |
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Reassembly of the case with exchange of parts if necessary to achieve water resistance |
✓ |
✓ |
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Calibration & regulation of timekeeping to Andrew Charles specification |
✓ |
✓ |
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Control of watertightness (if applicable) |
✓ |
✓ |
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One year guarantee on the work carried out |
✓ |
✓ |
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All additional components not included in the price are charged individually |
✓ |
✓ |
A Full Service
Attention to the Tiniest Details
When we service your timepiece, it is completely disassembled to the smallest component and every part is individually inspected. With many mechanical watches and clocks having over 100 parts, this process takes time. Each component is then cleaned and repaired, or replaced where necessary. Replacement parts cannot be bought for vintage items. Sometimes the required parts may have to be sourced from donor movements or manufactured by us from scratch. This can be highly precise work down to the thousandth of a millimetre. Depending on the complicated nature of the part, we will use precision modern equipment or hand tools and techniques, such as were used hundreds of years ago when making the original piece.
Once your movement is re-assembled and lubricated with horological oils and greases, it is then tested and its time-keeping recalibrated and regulated. The watch or clock is reassembled and, where required, resealed.
It then undergoes a final quality control check and is ready to be reunited with you.
How We Can Help You
For the many different ways we can help keep your watches & clocks in good working order, see the services we offer:
Repairs
Watch hands loose? Crystal glass cracked? Crown or stem broken?
We can help with such repairs and more. We can work on them as part jobs, if a service is not needed yet, or do them alongside a full service.
If your watch needs a repair, bring it in to us (or post it) and we can discuss it.
Our estimates are free of charge and no obligation.
Moisture or condensation in your watch?
If the worst happens and your watch gets wet (one customer dropped his in a coffee!) then bring your watch to us as soon as possible. We will act quickly!
Water and condensation can cause a lot of damage so it's always best to let a professional sort it out.
We can dry it out thoroughly and check for signs of rust or damage and carry out any emergency remedial works.
Then we can reseal it for you and, if desired, pressure test it for water resistance.
Pendulum or suspension spring broken? Clock fallen off the wall?
If your clock needs a repair, bring it in to us and we can take a look.
Our team of craftspeople can repair casework as well as investigate any damage to the movement or small parts.
Our estimates are free of charge and no obligation.
Why do mainsprings break?
A clock mainspring is made of spring steel and is about the width of a ruler (but not quite as thick). They are on average 1.5-2.5m long (60-96 inches). One end of the mainspring hooks on a winding arbor (your key fits onto this when you wind a timepiece). The other end hooks onto either the inside of a drum or on the corner post of the clock movement. A mainspring must be fairly clean and have a proper horological lubricant in order to wind and unwind easily, thereby delivering power.
Over the years, these oils and greases become dry and sticky, and a mainspring can become rusty or corroded. These factors cause friction and eventually the spring becomes so dry and gummed up that it can’t release, or the spring metal becomes worn out, corroded and may break.
Regular servicing helps prevent these occurances.
Problems with a longcase (grandfather clock)?
Try our callout service where our expert clockmaker comes and looks at your clock at home.
If the problem can be resolved in-situ, they'll do it straight away or advise you on what's needed.
Our estimates are free of charge and no obligation.
Timepiece damaged or looking very tired?
BRAND CERTIFIED
Our equipment and workshops are certified by Tag Heuer
We are in the process of Accreditation with Omega and Cartier
UK SERVICE CENTRE
We are appointed for two Swiss watch manufacturers: Edox and Claude Bernard