Month: June 2024

Rolex is a name synonymous with quality, so it is perhaps unsurprising we see many Rolex watches in our workshop – Maintaining a quality item makes absolute sense. These may be more recent or vintage models, and vary from daily wear watches through to those worn only on special occasions.

This watch is a ladies Rolex Yacht-Master, sadly it arrived having suffered from water ingress. In previous blog posts such as this one here we discuss how water can affect a watch movement. Depending on the severity of the water ingress and how long it has been left in the watch, damage may range from relatively minor through to very serious indeed.

This Yacht-Master was at the absolute serious end of the spectrum. Water had entered the watch through the crown and there was very little left undamaged. All movement components showed water damaged to varying levels. On top of this the dial was in a sorry state.

To restore this watch back to excellent working order we would need to replace the vast majority of movement components, complete a full service, change all seals and to restore the dial.

Through our extensive network of suppliers we were able to source everything we needed to repair the Rolex calibre 2235 movement. The only parts it was possible to save were some of the plates and bridges, which we were able to clean up following extensive hand and machine cleaning. With all the new components we can service the movement – cleaning everything in our Elma Solvex watch movement cleaning machine before reassembling and oiling as per the manufacturers specifications and best practices.

We work alongside a specialist dial restorer who was able to restore the damaged Yacht-Master dial for us. To do this the dial is completely stripped back to the base metal, before it is re-painted, the text added and the restored indices reapplied. Again, we’ve written a blog post specifically about dial restoration in the past which you can find here.

All we needed to do now was to complete the last few finishing touches – we noticed the bezel click spring needed replacing so that was done while the case was stripped apart for ultrasonic cleaning. We replaced the seals and completed both a wet and dry pressure test to confirm water resistance had been restored.

With all the case work done we just needed to rebuild the watch and double check timekeeping before putting it on test. The end result is very satisfying – taking a watch which was in a truly sorry state and bringing it back to life is always rewarding. Our client was delighted with the outcome and this Rolex Yacht-Master is ready for many more years of reliable service.

Yours sincerely

David Clark FGA DGA MJVA PJDip. PJGemDip.

Managing Director, JVA Registered Valuer®

W.E. Clark & Son Limited

Garrard watches regularly come through our workshop. The brand is perhaps most famous for being the Crown Jeweller of the UK, in charge of maintaining the British Crown Jewels for over 150 years until 2007. While they no longer produce watches – production ceased some 20 years ago – there are still many Garrard watches in need of maintenance and repair.

Here at WE Clark Watch Repairs we are always happy to see a Garrard watch on our bench. The quality is excellent, and their watches often have solid gold cases which polish up very nicely indeed. Sadly Garrard watches often fall victim to unsuspecting owners being told their watches can’t be repaired as the manufacturer no longer offers this service. As the watches often have gold cases, this sometimes means watches are merely sold for scrap to gold dealers. Do try a specialist watchmaker like us before selling your Garrard watch – we can almost certainly fix it!

On our initial inspection this watch appeared to be in reasonable aesthetic condition, though it was only working intermittently. A close look at the sub dial second hand showed it fouling against the dial. Immediate thoughts were this could be a result of the hand being distorted, or perhaps an issue with the fourth wheel extended pivot.

During disassembly it became apparent the extended pivot was bent and no longer running completely true. In some instances it is possible to straighten these, but as a replacement fourth wheel was available we replaced the damaged part. The movement powering this watch is a very nicely decorated version of the Unitas 6376 – a 21,600BPH 17 jewel mechanical movement. It’s a pleasure to work on these movements – nice quality and everything was in decent shape besides the damage to the fourth wheel.

As part of the full service to this Garrard watch we completely strip the movement down – carefully checking and cleaning each component by hand before everything is run through our specialist Elma Solvex watch movement cleaning machine. After cleaning we reassemble the movement, oiling all the necessary areas as per current industry best practices.

On top of the work to the movement we give the case a polish to restore some shine to the 9ct gold. Once this is polished, ultrasonically cleaned and dried, we can then fit a new plexi glass dome.

With the works to the case and movement finished, all that’s left is to rebuild the complete watch before we can put it on test. This Garrard watch is now back to excellent working order and displays some impressive readings on our timegrapher for a watch 40+ years old.

 

Yours sincerely

David Clark FGA DGA MJVA PJDip. PJGemDip.

Managing Director, JVA Registered Valuer®

W.E. Clark & Son Limited