Category: Watch Repairs

A recent restoration project for one of our clients involved fully servicing and repairing a great Omega Speedmaster.

Omega as a brand have a huge, interesting history – they are one of the most prominent watch companies in the world, with numerous inventions, innovations and awards to their name. Their iconic Speedmaster was launched in 1957 and was the first watch worn on the moon. These models features in their range amongst other popular models including the De Ville, Constellation and Seamaster.

The manual wind Speedmaster “Moonwatch” is very well known –  it was worn during the first US spacewalk as part of NASA‘s Gemini 4 mission. It was also the first watch worn by an astronaut walking on the Moon during the Apollo 11 mission. The Speedmaster Professional remains one of several watches qualified by NASA for spaceflight and is still the only one so qualified for EVA (Extra Vehicular Activity).

While the Speedmaster is commonly associated with space missions, these models were originally produced in the late 50s as sports watches to complement Omega’s sponsorship of the Olympic games. The name “Speedmaster” was coined due to the tachymeter scale and followed the conventions set by other model lines such as the Seamaster.

On arrival in the workshop this watch was not working properly and failing to keep time. Upon inspection of the movement there was a lot of dried up oil and debris in the movement, so a full service and a new mainspring was required. During a full service we completely disassemble the movement and run it through our specialist watch movement cleaning machine. We also run the case and bracelet through a separate ultrasonic cleaner. After cleaning, the movement is carefully reassembled and oiled, before being adjusted and tested.

Following our service, this Omega Speedmaster is working again just as it should be. It’s a superb watch.

Do you have an Omega Speedmaster in need of repair? If so, get in touch and see how we can help. We are watch repair specialists with a fully insured freepost watch repairs service.  We offer repairs to clients all around the UK and we are experts in the repair of modern and vintage watches. As holders of a Feefo Platinum Trusted Service Award and business partners of the British Horological Institute you can be confident in the service we provide.

Please Contact Us for further information regarding any requirement you may have.

Yours sincerely

David Clark DGA PJDip PJGemDip CertGA

Managing Director

W.E. Clark & Son Limited

We deal with a huge variety of watches in our workshop, ranging from modern Omega and Rolex through to vintage wrist and pocket watches. Vintage watches often need extra special care and attention, especially if the watch in question has not been regularly serviced over the years.

In this particular instance we received a vintage Moeris watch in for servicing and repair. Moeris are a quality Swiss manufacturer, with a history dating back to the late 19^th century. Inspection of the movement revealed dried up oils and greases, alongside some wear around the centre wheel. A full service and mainspring, alongside work to correct the wear was required.

The movement is completely disassembled and pre-cleaned, with each part inspected. The disassembled movement is then run through our specialist watch movement cleaning machine, while the case was cleaned in an ultrasonic cleaner. After an initial clean, corrective works were conducted to fix the issue with the centre wheel.

On disassembly of the barrel, the mainspring itself was found to be “set”. This is when the mainspring has, in effect, lost much of it’s spring. The upshot being a significant reduction in power. It was also an old carbon steel mainspring – these are more prone to breaking. We needed to measure up the mainspring and barrel to source the correct modern equivalent mainspring for this job.

After cleaning the movement is carefully reassembled and oiled. The dial and hands are then refitted, before the complete movement is fitted into the case.

No additional works were carried out to the case, dial and hands, so these were all left in original condition for our client. All that’s left is to test the watch before it’s ready to go back to its owner.

Do you have a vintage watch in need of repair? Get in contact with us to see how we can help. We are able to repair almost any watch and we offer a comprehensive watch repair service. We cater to clients all around the UK thanks to our fully insured freepost watch repairs service. You can also bring watches in to our showrooms based in Lewes and Uckfield, Sussex. As Business Partners of the British Horological Institute and a Feefo Platinum Trusted Service Award accredited business, you can be confident when dealing with us.

Please Contact Us for further information regarding any requirement you may have.

Yours sincerely

David Clark DGA PJDip PJGemDip CertGA

Managing Director

W.E. Clark & Son Limited

A recent job in the workshop involved cleaning and refinishing the case of a stunning Rolex Day-Date II.

Rolex are arguably the biggest name in the world of watches, with numerous inventions, innovations and awards to their name. Their range of watches includes some truly iconic models including the Datejust, Submariner, Air King and Day-Date.

Rolex Day-Date II before polishing and refinishing

This particular Rolex Day-Date is crafted in 18ct gold. It’s always a pleasure to refinish gold – you can achieve excellent results, with the correct tools and techniques of course.

The first step was to remove the movement from the case. Once the movement is removed we can disassemble the case – so this means removing the bezel, glass and case tube. Once the case is down to its individual components, we are able to give everything a clean before we begin the polishing process.

The refinishing process involved stages of polishing the different elements of the case using a few different techniques. This is all done using our Durston double polishing motor. For the final high polish finish we use Menzerna M5 compound. This is a personal preference – alternatively we could use red Dialux and also achieve excellent results. As we’re working on gold there’s no need to use aggressive polishing mops and compounds – we don’t want to ruin the profile of the case and as there are no major scratches it’s better to be conservative.

Once the refinishing of each part of the case is complete, they are given an ultrasonic clean. Each part is then steam cleaned to ensure everything is spotless before reassembly.

Reassembling the case is a matter of initially refitting the case tube and glass, before then fitting the friction fit bezel. Once this is done the movement can be re-installed into the case, before the case back is fitted and the watch tested for water resistance. The watch is also checked on our timegrapher to confirm the timekeeping is still excellent. Once fully reassembled, the results are truly stunning.

The stunning result, fully refurbished Rolex Day-Date II.

Do you have a Rolex watch in need of repair? Get in contact with us to see how we can help. We are able to repair almost any Rolex watch and we offer a comprehensive watch repair service. We cater to clients all around the UK thanks to our fully insured freepost watch repairs service. You can also bring watches in to our showrooms based in Lewes and Uckfield, Sussex. As Business Partners of the British Horological Institute and a Feefo Platinum Trusted Service Award accredited business, you can be confident when dealing with us.

Yours sincerely

David Clark PJDip PJGemDip CertGA
Managing Director
W E Clark & Son Limited

We are skilled in the repair and restoration of a whole range of different types of watch – both modern and vintage. One group of watches we regularly work on are military watches. These watches tend to have some age to them, but alongside this there’s often a fascinating story behind each and every one.

The most famous sub-group of military watches is the “Dirty Dozen”. In the 1940s, the MOD needed watches produced to a certain specification for issue to the armed forces. The given specification was demanding due to the conditions some of these timepieces would be used in. Watches needed to be durable, water resistant, accurate timekeepers and have luminous dials/hands. They also needed to display designated serial numbers and codes on the case back; and feature a black dial, with arabic numerals, and a sub-dial for seconds.

About the Dirty Dozen watches

Twelve manufacturers were eventually approved to produce these watches – hence the name, the Dirty Dozen. In alphabetical order, these makers were: Buren, Cyma, Eterna, Grana, Jaeger Le Coultre, Lemania, Longines, IWC, Omega, Record, Timor and Vertex. As you may note, all these makers are Swiss. Unfortunately British watchmaking had been in decline for some time, so lacked the required means of production to make such timepieces.

We’ve been lucky to see a number of “Dirty Dozen” watches throughout the years, though some brands are rarer than others. Take the Grana for example – it’s estimated that only between 1000-1500 were produced – we’ve not had one of these arrive in our watchmakers workshop quite yet!

How we repair a military watch

Repairing and restoring watches like these is a real skill. Simply due to the age of the watches, there are often many heavily worn parts. On top of this the watch parts can be scarce, so it may be necessary to make replacement parts for anything more worn. During the restoration of such pieces it is important to be sympathetic to the nature of the timepiece, and to appreciate the history behind the watch. We help guide our clients on the best way to restore such pieces without losing the original character.

It should be said, the “Dirty Dozen” is only one group of Military Watches. We regularly repair many different types, including vintage pocket watches, the CWC G10 & W10, Luftwaffe pilot’s watches, WW1 Trench watches, and even military timepieces produced by Rolex and Tudor.

Do you have a military watch in need of repair?

If you have a military watch in need of repair, get in touch and see how we can help. We are watch repair specialists with a fully insured freepost watch repairs service.  We offer repairs to clients all around the UK, and we are experts in the repair of modern and vintage watches. As holders of a Feefo Platinum Trusted Service Award and business partners of the British Horological Institute, you can be confident in the service we provide.

Yours sincerely,

David Clark PJDip PJGemDip CertGA
Managing Director
W.E. Clark & Son Ltd.

One of the brands we regularly see in our workshop is Tag Heuer. As a watch brand, Tag Heuer in its current iteration was established in 1985, though the Heuer company has existed since 1860. Watches are produced both with quartz and automatic movements in a variety of different models including the Aquaracer, Kirium, F1 and Carrera.

Our workshop holds a parts account with Tag Heuer so we are able to obtain genuine Tag Heuer parts and repair many different faults with these watches.

One common repair we tackle is a quartz movement service or complete replacement. If you have a quartz Tag Heuer which has stopped and the battery is not at fault, this is most likely the repair required to get your watch up and running again.

In a quartz service we fully disassemble the watch movement before running it through our watch cleaning machine. Sensitive electronic parts like the circuit cannot be put through the machine, so these are carefully cleaned by hand. After cleaning the movement is reassembled, with appropriate oils used where necessary. The now complete movement is then tested electronically in a variety of different ways to ensure it is performing within the manufacturers tolerance. Test include lower working voltage, coil resistance and power consumption.

A complete movement replacement involves swapping out the entire movement in a like-for-like exchange. This may be necessary if for example the original movement is heavily water damaged.

Both a quartz service and complete movement replacement include ultrasonic cleaning of the case and bracelet.

As a Tag Heuer parts account holder we are able to obtain any case parts which may be required. Common repairs needed include bezel replacement (most often necessary on F1 models where the numbers can fade easily), Crown replacement and fitting a new set of seals to re-establish water resistance on models used in water. We are able to repair very water damaged watches – obtaining anything which needs to be replaced including the dial, hands, seals and of course the movement.

Do you have a Tag Heuer watch in need of repair? Get in contact with us to see how we can help. We are able to repair almost any Tag Heuer watch and with our Tag Heuer parts access we offer a comprehensive service. We cater to clients all around the UK thanks to our fully insured freepost watch repairs service. As a Feefo Platinum Trusted Service Award accredited business, you can be confident when dealing with us.

Yours sincerely

David Clark PJDip PJGemDip CertGA
Managing Director
W.E. Clark & Son Ltd.

A recent job we had in the workshop involved restoring a rather tired 18ct Gold Rolex Day-Date Automatic watch. This watch had certainly lived a life – the bracelet was extremely worn and stretched, and the movement had not seen a watchmaker for many, many years.

To tackle such a job we involved both our on-site jeweller and watchmaker. Our jeweller restored the 18ct gold bracelet, whereas our watchmaker serviced and repaired the intricate mechanism.

To restore such a worn bracelet took our jeweller many hours. Each link needed to be carefully broken down into its individual components, and the pins drilled out. He then needed to rebuild the bracelet – reforming some links and pinning every single link to ensure it is strong for many further years of continued wear and enjoyment.

Our watchmaker found the movement to most certainly be in need of a thorough service. Pivots which should be clean and nicely oiled were found running dry, with residue of old oils and greases broken down and further interfering with the smooth running of the mechanism.

To rectify these issues the entire watch movement is stripped apart, before going through a full cleaning cycle in a specialist watch movement cleaning machine. The movement is then carefully reassembled, with oils and greases used in certain places to ensure optimal performance of the watch for a full service interval. A new mainspring was fitted during the reassembly process too.

On top of the work to the movement, this watch required a new glass and crown – these jobs were also tackled by our watch workshop. This model of Rolex uses a plexi-glass with a cyclops lens to magnify the date. We sourced and fitted a glass based on the Rolex model reference – this presses onto the case before being secured in place by the fluted bezel.

After all the work was completed, the watch undergoes rigorous testing for timekeeping. It is initially regulated by our watchmaker and checked in multiple positions to ensure it is performing as expected. It then is testing for automatic winding on our Elma Cyclomotion winding machine, as well as for power reserve and performance after 24 hours has elapsed.

If you have a Rolex Day-Date or similar model in need of repair, do get in contact with us. We are experts in the repair and restoration of almost any type of wrist and pocket watch. We hold a Feefo Platinum Trusted Service Award – testament to our many satisfied customers. Our fully insured, freepost repairs service is still operational during lockdown.

Yours sincerely

David Clark PJDip PJGemDip Cert GA
Managing Director
W.E. Clark & Son