Watches--Retail & Repairs

Retailers and repairers of watches, of all makes, models and values.

Electronic movement watches have few or no moving parts, as they use the piezoelectric effect in a tiny quartz crystal to provide a stable time base for a mostly electronic movement. Traditional mechanical watch movements use a spiral spring called a mainspring as a power source. In manual watches the spring must be rewound periodically by the user by turning the watch crown. A self-winding or automatic watch is one that rewinds the mainspring of a mechanical movement by the natural motions of the wearer’s body.

Watches range widely in quality and price and are sold by an equally wide variety of retailers including specialist watch manufacturers, jewellers, department stores, novelty stores and even petrol stations. Traditionally, watches have displayed the time in analogue form, with a numbered dial upon which are mounted at least a rotating hour hand and a longer, rotating minute hand. Almost all watches with digital displays are used as timekeeping watches. Expensive watches for collectors rarely have digital displays since there is little demand for them.

Watch repairs are performed by specialist watchmakers. A watchmaker is an artisan who both makes and repairs watches, however since a majority of watches are now factory made, most modern watchmakers only repair watches. Independent watchmakers will work on any brand of watch, while premium watch brands require that those branded watches are returned to a dealer for repair and service. The vast majority of modern, Swiss brands do not sell parts to independent watchmakers, irrespective of the watchmaker’s expertise, training or credentials.