Workshop
Watch servicing
A mechanical watch deserves more than a quick clean. It deserves a full overhaul, respectful of its history and of its movement.
At Le Garde Temps, servicing is not a side activity, it is the heart of what we do. Every watch we offer for sale passes through our hands before going online, and we give the same care to watches entrusted to us by customers.
What an overhaul includes
- Full disassembly of the movement
- Cleaning in an Elma rotary machine with professional solvents
- Lubrication with Moebius oils as specified for the calibre
- Rate adjustment on a timegrapher
- Amplitude and power reserve checked
- Reassembly and final inspection
We work exclusively on vintage mechanical and automatic watches. Allow four to eight weeks depending on the calibre and parts availability, and no work is started without your approval of the quote.
Quartz watches
Battery, movement and crystal
A quartz watch that has stopped is rarely beyond saving. Battery, gasket, movement or crystal, every part can be replaced.
In most cases a fresh battery, a properly seated gasket and a check of the case closure are enough to bring a watch back to life. When the movement is genuinely beyond repair, we fit an equivalent calibre and keep the original dial, hands and case.
Common work
- Battery replacement and gasket refitting
- Movement replaced with an equivalent calibre
- Hands and setting adapted to the new movement
- Crystal replacement in acrylic, mineral or sapphire
- Polishing of acrylic crystals where their condition allows
The crystal is chosen from the diameter and shape measured on the watch. Our stock of period supplies often makes it possible to find the original reference rather than a close equivalent.
Bespoke
Case replacement and movement rings
A case beyond repair does not condemn the movement inside it. We fit one to the other.
When a case is too far gone to keep, or when a movement deserves better than the case it sits in, we fit a new or old stock case to the existing movement.
A movement almost never drops straight into another case. We then make a bespoke movement ring, drawn to the exact dimensions of both movement and case, then 3D printed. The movement is held without play and the winding stem lines up with the crown.
What this makes possible
- Saving a movement whose case is corroded or broken
- Fitting a movement into a case of another reference
- Taking up the play of a movement loose in its case
- Adjusting the height and the path of the winding stem
Each ring is calculated from the movement diameter, the inner case diameter and the available height, then trial fitted before final assembly.
Quote
Tell us about your watch
Describe the piece and what you would like done, and we will come back to you with an estimate and a timescale.