Vintage Waltham Pocket Watch Repair.

gholian

Hi,
Wonder could someone recommend a Jeweler/watch maker in Ireland or abroad to repair a Vintage Pocket watch. I got a name of Michael Swift UK from a previous post but When I called him He said it could not be repaired if there is a problem with the balance. Which isn't true.  The problem is with the balance shaft being broken. I don't have the equipment to change this myself. From searches I can find a few places in the UK who all claim to be the best with outstanding customer service. I also see from forums all these scare stories. I was wondering if anyone has any experience of getting a vintage pocket watch repaired and if they could recommend someone.

Thanks.

saccades

Watching with interest.

Wibbs

So the balance staff is broken? So the Michael lad was right as far as he was concerned? I can understand why TBH. Finding a balance staff that fits might be an issue for him and how he runs his business. Making a new balance from scratch takes time so is costly and outside the remit of a basic service.

Though a Waltham should be easier than most. Have you looked on eBay for a staff or better yet a balance assembly for your watch? It might be a common enough one. The American makers pretty much invented standardisation of watch parts in the 19th century. A Swiss brand would usually be a harder find.

Trigger Happy

I would agree. While it is not impossible for him to get that watch working it would be a lot of effort and potential cost that you would not want to incur. Add in to that the fact that Swift already has an 8 week lead time to get around to servicing watches (ie - he already has more business than he can handle) and you see where he is coming from.
I would take Wibb's advice or look for a donor movement.

gholian

Thanks for your replys. I have gotten two donor watch off ebay already, on had a broken balance shaft. The other looks fine, checked under a microscope but will not run. There is something else wrong with it. I contacted a watch repair guy in the US who says it can be repaired no problem. Balance shafts are available. The problem is I don't have equipment to replace the shaft. Need to use a K&Dstaking set. A big investment for just one watch. The guy in the US can repair the watch for me but the approximate cost is $135 to strip, clean, oil etc. Replace balance shaft and possibly Jewels is $110. To ship to Ireland with tracking and insured to a value of $500 is $69. The total cost is $314. Thia is a lot of money for a low grade pocket watch. Plus I will probably get caught for customs when it arrives in Ireland.


Michael Swift told me over the phone if there is a problem with the balance it cannot be repaired. He just should have told me he didn't want to repair it. He told me he had 8 or 9 weeks work ahead of him which is fine. If someone doesn't want to do something just say it instead of saying it can't be repaired.

HDMI

Shoot at email off to webwatchmaker and find out what he quotes for the job. He is very active on the tz-uk forum and has a loyal following. Never had a watch repaired by him myself but he seems to specialise in making hard to obtain parts

https://webwatchmaker.com

gholian

Cool, Thanks. Will see if I can get quote.