A battery £12 while you wait, a reseal and pressure test £28, straps fitted, services quoted
Watch repair and batteries
Batteries fitted while you wait for £12, or £28 with a new gasket and a pressure test for a watch you swim in; straps and bracelets fitted and sized on the spot; crystals, crowns and stems replaced; and quartz and mechanical services by Tomos, who has been mending watches since 1989 and will tell you honestly when one is not worth it.
Tomos Price came to the shop in 1989 with a watchmaker's box and has not left. Most of what he does is quick: a battery while you wait, a strap, a link out of a bracelet. Some of it is not: a crown and stem for a watch that was a retirement present, a full service for a mechanical movement that has not been opened in twenty years. Both get the same answer at the counter: what it needs, what it costs, and whether it is worth doing.
A battery is £12 and takes ten minutes at the counter, including a check of the gasket and a wipe of the case back. If you swim or shower in the watch, have the reseal and pressure test at £28: the gasket is replaced, the case is tested to the depth on the dial, and we tell you if it failed, which about one in six older watches does. We fit batteries to almost everything except watches under their maker's warranty, which we send back to the maker so the warranty survives.
Straps and bracelets are fitted while you wait: leather, rubber and nylon straps from £22 in every lug width, metal bracelets sized by removing links for £10. Crystals, crowns and stems are replaced in two to five days depending on the part. Quartz movements that have stopped are usually a new movement rather than a repair, and we say so: from £65 fitted for most fashion watches.
Mechanical watches are serviced on the bench upstairs: the movement stripped, cleaned, oiled, regulated and cased, with new gaskets, from £180 for a simple three-hander and quoted for anything with a date, a chronograph or an automatic module. We do not service watches whose makers restrict parts to their own network, and we tell you who does. A service comes with a twelve-month guarantee on the work.
What is included
- Batteries while you wait, £12
- Reseal and pressure test to the depth on the dial, £28
- Straps and bracelets fitted on the spot
- Crystals, crowns and stems in two to five days
- Mechanical services with a twelve-month guarantee
- An honest "not worth it" when it is not
What it costs
A battery £12 while you wait; with a reseal and pressure test £28. A strap fitted £5 (straps from £22); bracelet links removed £10. Quartz service from £65, mechanical service from £180, quoted after a look inside. The repairs page has the full price list with the days each job takes; the bespoke page walks through a commission from the first hour to the hallmark.
Questions about watches
Will changing the battery void my warranty?
If the watch is under the maker's warranty, yes it might, so we send those to the maker for you and say how long it will take. Out of warranty, no, and we are cheaper and faster.
Can you service my grandfather's mechanical watch?
Usually. Tomos will open the back at the counter, tell you what he sees, and quote. If a part is no longer made he will say what can be done instead, which is sometimes nothing, in which case there is no charge for the look.
Come in with the piece, or book an hour at the table.
Repairs, batteries and the cabinet need no appointment: the counter is open Monday to Saturday, 9:30 to 5:30, in the Royal Arcade. For a bespoke commission, a ring fitting or a valuation, book an hour and we reply within the working day with a time. The price list is on the wall and on here.