Watch Repairer Recommendations - UK

[desmoboy]

Can anyone recommend me a good independent watch repairers preferably in the London area, but anywhere in the UK will do also. Many Thanks

[in_denial]

Can anyone recommend me a good independent watch repairers preferably in the London area, but anywhere in the UK will do also. Many Thanks

Hi Desmo,

For modern Omegas, I'd go to Omega (especially these modern, fiddly automatice chronos they do)
For vintage Omegas, you can try Chris Heal in West Sussex , or Swiss Time Services in Essex for the dear but gold-plated five star service - google them!

cheers

-- Tim (mine's a 916; whatcha got?!)

[desmoboy]

Thanks Tim. It's vintage servicing that I'm after, I'll look them both up.



Karl -got a 916 as well:-!

[psychlist]

I have used STS and Chealwatch. The first are excellent but you pay for that. With Cheal my vintage Speedy came back with fluff on the dial and marks on the underside of the crystal - I was so shocked at this shoddy workmanship that I never took it up with him - but be aware.

[MarkEg]

I have used STS and Chealwatch. The first are excellent but you pay for that. With Cheal my vintage Speedy came back with fluff on the dial and marks on the underside of the crystal - I was so shocked at this shoddy workmanship that I never took it up with him - but be aware.

ChealWatch are a joke... my 321 Speedy was away for 8 months – :-|

After 2 month it came back NOT fixed, and with a new problem. Then I waited another 6 months before finally demanding that he send it back.

He refused a refund, so I had to pay again to get someone else to fix what he was not able to do… I will not be using him again.

I found Chriss Heal to be worse than useless amd not prepared to admit his mistakes.

Good luck

Mark

[bry1975]

Hi there,

With the amount of work Chris receives. I'm sure he has to rely on Assistants/Helpers to work on jobs for him.






Regs
Bry @ SatinTime

[MarkEg]

His comments are in light above my replies


We have done a lot of work on this watch including a new mainspring….
The watch did not have a broken mainspring when It was first sent to you, it came back from your first attempt at repair with a broken spring..

The watch was returned as requested without any delays
You have had the watch for nearly 8 months; I have made many requests for it to be returned

This was your decision.
You left me no choice, how much longer would it have sat on your bench waiting for you to sort the problems that you created and failed to fix before talking my money.

The work has been done on this watch
The work done indicates a very poor level of attention to detail

The watch still has a problem with the chronograph, it stops the watch after 6 minutes - Was it not possible to test this before replacing the hands and case, The constant second hand has been bent and hits the hour hand stopping the watch at 8 o’clock – I am not a watchmaker – but this is pretty basic stuff.
The hands have been damaged and scratched – paint left on the dial – could this not have been blown off – as requested when I sent it back to you after the first visit.( time is a non refundable commodity , only in star trek )
I just lost 8 months and have wasted a great deal of time chasing progress, I now have to spend more time and money getting the job done properly.

You were paid for this in December 05, the original problem with the Chronograph has been made worse – the main watch was working when it was first sent to you.

You have had 6 months to make good your mistakes from the first attempt – surely fixing a botched job that you had already been paid for should have had a higher priority?

I want my money back, why should I pay for this fiasco…

Mark

So if you took your car in to a garage for repair - and instead of taking a few weeks, as promised –
After 2 months, they took your money sent the car back – broken with the original problem not fixed –
Then kept it for another 6 months and finally send it back in a worst state, after you repeatedly and patiently chase them until you finally get fed up with the lack of progress –
You would be happy to pay for their time?

I don’t think so….

Time is money, but so is good customer service and reputation.
Running a good business means looking after your customers and admitting your mistakes when things go wrong.
=============
I never got my money back.....

[bry1975]

Very sorry to hear about the trouble Mark,

Swiss Time Services are meant to be very good.


Regs

Bryan

[underwurlde]

Hear hear mate.

If only more people in this poxy country stood up & complained then this hole will be a better place to live. I hate having to rely on ANYONE or ANYTHING because it's gunna be 50-50 on the service front & GUARANTEED to be over bloody priced.

& guess what? I'm having to face the trauma of getting my cracked crystal fixed on my Speedy. There is NO WAY on planet earth that I will accept shoddy workmanship as the last time it was 'serviced' it was returned to me with mis-aligned hands, dial, bezel and crystal.

Hell, I even had to point out to the guy that the crystal HAD an alignment.

Andy