My diary of the repair of an old watch, for the benefit of those about to undergo the same experience.
Not sure how to rate this. I leave it to the reader.
This should not be viewed as a criticism, but a statement of facts for the benefit of those looking at this site, to supplement the many excellent reviews.
When the gold watch given by my mother nearly 60 years ago stopped working properly I looked for a suitable repair service. I saw that David was not far away, that he had an excellent website and that most of the Trustpilot reviews were good.
So I contacted him, and after some exchange I made an appointment through his on-line system at his house to drop off the watch for a quote. I naturally wanted to meet the person to whom I was going to hand over this precious watch. When I reached his place, having received an sms reminder as well as the booking email, he was not there and was not going to be back soon. But seeing his wife and young son, I felt confident to hand over the watch, receiving a hand-written receipt.
After a chaser I finally received a very detailed estimate about 5 weeks later. Because I was due to travel abroad for an extended time and because the estimated completion date was just a few days before my departure, I quickly accepted it and had to make the total payment of not so very far short of one thousand pounds, so it could be completed before my departure. One is required to pay the FULL amount in advance, not just a deposit to cover the cost of parts. This is not a business model encouraging timely completion of course.
In the event it was finished a day before my departure, except that at the last minute a fractured part was found, that had not been spotted, so I could not take the watch on my trip with me. He advised the part would arrive in a few days, with no extra charge to me.
After a reminder I finally heard a couple of weeks later that he was chasing the part, and after another reminder I heard 2 weeks later that he had received two parts but neither were suitable. He said he would keep looking for the part and expected to locate it. But time passed with no news. He said such parts of old watches were hard to locate. I then emailed some possible alternative approaches but did not hear back, in spite of reminders, for more than 6 weeks. During that wait I found myself facing the prospect of having paid so much for the repair but not getting the watch back working.
Finally after nearly 3 months from the original delivery date he emailed me that he had received the part, and so my worries were put to rest. When I received the watch it was well presented and looked good, almost like new! However I found that that the automatic winding mechanism was not working, even though it was functioning when originally given to him. I contacted David and he said he would see if he could free it up and could I return it - which I did. Hearing nothing for some days, I asked for an update by email. Receiving no response after some more days I again requested an update. His AI Assistant (the software for which was coded by himself) responded swiftly that he had yet to look at it. Then 2 weeks later I was able to collect the watch, fully working. The whole process took 9 months but I am very happy with the result. One may not appreciate the challenges of fixing such old timepieces.
