Watch repair and restoration

Specializing in ALL TYPES of watch repair!

Join the numerous satisfied customers and get your watch repaired the easy and smart way .Our staff uses one of the best brands of watch repair tools including mainly Swiss tools like Bergeon, Horotec,Greiner,Elma, etc. From a simple battery replacement to a complete watch restoration, Central London Clocks & Co. can accommodate all of your watch repair needs.

In the contact form we would gladly provide you with a free estimate. Just fill out the form below with your details and your watch information. Please take a minute to describe the problem of your watch. One of the members of our staff will contact you with a repair estimate.

Our Routine Services include:

• Complete disassembly of the watch. completely disassembled, cleaned, oiled, and timed up.
• Clean all moving parts with specialized cleaning solvents.
• Proper lubrication with only the highest grade lubricants and oils during the reassembly process.
• Thorough testing of accuracy. Your watch is tested to our exacting standards over a period of 72 hours to assure accuracy, water resistance, and proper operation of all functionality.

Optional Services include:

• Replacement/repair of the bezel.
• Replacement of the crystal if necessary.
• Repairing or replacing the watch dial.
• Restoration or replacement of watch hands

Please note that all repairs and restoration take place on the premises and only high quality Swiss tools and machinery are used-Bergeon, Elma, Horotec, Greiner,etc.

Useful Tips on how to handle your watch

If your watch is 2 or 3 minutes fast or slow this may mean that your watch needs an overhaul.

Winding the hand wound watch

The crown is snug to the watch case (when in resting position). Before wearing the watch, wind it by moving the crown back and forth until you feel a slight tension. The watch’s mechanics reach highest precision when wound once a day. Fully wound, the watch has a reserve capacity of 32-48 hours, depending on the watch model. But, just so you won’t forget to wind it, you might want to follow our advice and make it part of your daily routine – wind it after your shower, at lunch, before you go to bed or on a similar reoccurring occasion.

Winding the automatic watch

The same that applies to the manual mechanism applies to the automatic watch. However, just by wearing the watch daily, the kinetic power of the arm movements is transferred to the mechanism’s rotors and thus continually winds the spring. Theoretically, you only have to wind your watch once. But, should your watch stop when you have not worn it for a while, you can kick-start the spring by just turning the crown back and forth a few times. The arm movements of an averagely active person suffice to keep the watch wound.

Setting the time

(This applies to single-handed and three handed watches with manual and automatic winding mechanisms). Use your fingernails to pull out the crown to the furthest – i. e., second – setting. By turning the crown you can set the time.

Setting the date

With you fingernails, pull out the crown to the first setting. By turning it, you can adjust the date. If you pull out the crown to the second setting, you can set the time.

Waterproofness

Water is the biggest enemy of a mechanical watch. This is the reason why MeisterSinger watch cases are constructed in such a way that they are waterproof and can withstand certain pressures. As a precautionary measure, we do recommend that you do not wear your watch while showering, swimming, diving or visiting a sauna. Waterproofness is not a permanent condition; e. g. knocks to the crown can damage the sealing gasket, which cannot be detected from the outside. Strong temperature changes can critically alter the tolerance of a watch and affect the gasket or make it porous. Thus, it is advisable to have the gasket checked every 1 to 2 years

Mechanical movements

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Compared to electronic movements, mechanical watches are less accurate, often with errors of seconds per day, and they are sensitive to position and temperature. As well, they are costly to produce, they require regular maintenance and adjustment, and they are more prone to failure. Nevertheless, the "old world" craftsmanship of mechanical watches still attracts interest from part of the watch-buying public.

Mechanical movements use an escapement mechanism to control and limit the unwinding of the spring, converting what would otherwise be a simple unwinding, into a controlled and periodic energy release. Mechanical movements also use a balance wheel together with the balance spring (also known as a hairspring) to control motion of the gear system of the watch in a manner analogous to the pendulum of a pendulum clock. The tourbillion, an optional part for mechanical movements, is a rotating frame for the escapement which is used to cancel out or reduce the effects of bias to the timekeeping of gravitational origin. Due to the complexity of designing a tourbillon, they are very expensive, and only found in "prestige" watches. The pin-lever (also called Roskopf movement after its inventor, Georges Frederic Roskopf), is a cheaper version of the fully levered movement which was manufactured in huge quantities by many Swiss manufacturers as well as Timex, until it was replaced by quartz movements.

Tuning fork watches use a type of electromechanical movement. Introduced by Bulova in 1960, they use a tuning fork with a precise frequency (most often 360 hertz) to drive a mechanical watch. The task of converting electronically pulsed fork vibration into rotary movement is done via two tiny jeweled fingers, called pawls. Tuning fork watches were rendered obsolete when electronic quartz watches were developed, because quartz watches were cheaper to produce and even more accurate.

Electronic movements

Electronic movements have few or no moving parts, as they use the piezoelectric effect in a tiny quartz crystal to provide a stable time base for a mostly electronic movement. The crystal forms a quartz oscillator which resonates at a specific and highly stable frequency, and which can be used to accurately pace a timekeeping mechanism. For this reason, electronic watches are often called quartz watches. Most quartz movements are primarily electronic but are geared to drive mechanical hands on the face of the watch in order to provide a traditional analog display of the time, which is still preferred by most consumers.

The first prototypes of electronic quartz watches were made by the CEH research laboratory in Switzerland in 1962. The first quartz watch to enter production was the Seiko 35 SQ Astron, which appeared in 1969. Modern quartz movements are produced in very large quantities, and even the cheapest wristwatches typically have quartz movements.

Power sources

Traditional mechanical watch movements use a spiral spring called a mainspring as a power source. In manual watches the spring must be rewound by the user periodically by turning the watch crown. Antique pocket watches were wound by inserting a separate key into a hole in the back of the watch and turning it. Most modern watches are designed to run 40 hours on a winding, so must be wound daily, but some run for several days and a few have 192-hour mainsprings and are wound weekly.

Automatic watch: An eccentric weight, called a rotor, swings with the movement of the wearer's body and winds the spring

A self-winding or automatic mechanism is one that rewinds the mainspring of a mechanical movement by the natural motions of the wearer's body. The first self-winding mechanism, for pocket watches, was invented in 1770 by Abraham-Louis Perrelet; but the first "self-winding," or "automatic," wristwatch was the invention of a British watch repairer named John Harwood in 1923. This type of watch allows for a constant winding without special action from the wearer: it works by an eccentric weight, called a winding rotor, which rotates with the movement of the wearer's wrist. The back-and-forth motion of the winding rotor couples to a ratchet to automatically wind the mainspring. Self winding watches usually can also be wound manually so they can be kept running when not worn, or if the wearer's wrist motions don't keep the watch wound.

Some electronic watches are also powered by the movement of the wearer of the watch. Kinetic powered quartz watches make use of the motion of the wearer's arm turning a rotating weight, which turns a generator to supply power to charge a rechargeable battery that runs the watch. The concept is similar to that of self-winding spring movements,  except that electrical power is generated instead of mechanical spring tension.

Electronic watches require electricity as a power source. Some mechanical movements and hybrid electronic-mechanical movements also require electricity. Usually the electricity is provided by a replaceable battery. The first use of electrical power in watches was as substitute for the mainspring, in order to remove the need for winding. The first electrically-powered watch, the Hamilton Electric 500, was released in 1957 by the Hamilton Watch Company of Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

For more information on types of watches and their repair and restoration please do not hesitate to contact us. A member of staff will be happy to assist you. Further information you can also find on our Facebook profile.