At our workshop, we frequently handle vintage Garrard watch servicing. 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. Although they stopped producing watches around 20 years ago, many Garrard timepieces are still out there, needing maintenance and watch 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 vintage 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 Garrard no longer offers this service. As the watches often have gold cases, this sometimes means luxury 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 repair it!
On our initial inspection this watch appeared to be in reasonable aesthetic condition, though it was only working intermittently. At the start of teh Garrard watch service 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.
Servicing the Vintage Gold Watch
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 Gararrd watch service 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 watch 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