Vintage Watch Repairs & Servicing
Sympathetic specialists in Heirloom Timepieces. Using period-correct techniques and New Old Stock (NOS) parts to preserve the history and value of your vintage watch.
Lancashire’s Premier Vintage Watch Restorers
Vintage watches are not just timekeepers; they are historical artefacts. Whether you possess a Dirty Dozen military piece, a 1960s Omega Constellation, or a family heirloom passed down through generations, these watches require a fundamentally different approach to modern servicing. You need a partner who prioritises preservation over replacement. At Prime Time, we understand the chemistry of tritium lume, the fragility of vintage acrylic, and the scarcity of parts for obsolete calibres. We provide museum-quality care, ensuring your watch functions correctly without stripping away the patina that gives it value.
FBHI & BHI Accredited
Master Watchmaker handling your timepiece.
Genuine
Parts
Strictly authentic components used.
Fast
Turnaround
Servicing in weeks, not months.
2 Year
Warranty
Comprehensive cover on all workmanship.
Vintage Watch Service
Here at Prime Time, we specialise in the sympathetic restoration and servicing of vintage mechanical watches. All work is carried out on-site in our workshop, where we balance modern lubrication technology with traditional watchmaking skills. We offer a 2-year warranty on our vintage work.
A full service includes:
- Diagnostic Assessment: Detailed inspection of pivots, jewels, and hairspring condition.
- Careful Disassembly: Stripping the movement while cataloguing wear on irreplaceable components.
- Ultrasonic Cleaning: Gentle cleaning cycles to protect delicate plating on vintage bridges.
- Part Sourcing/Fabrication: Sourcing NOS parts or hand-finishing worn pivots if replacements are unavailable.
- Mainspring Replacement: Fitting a modern alloy mainspring to provide consistent torque and protect the gear train.
- Re-assembly & Oiling: Using modern synthetic oils to reduce friction on aged pivots.
- Case Cleaning: Ultrasonic cleaning of the case to remove dirt (Polishing is only performed upon explicit request to preserve case geometry).
- Crystal Restoration: Polishing the original acrylic/plexiglass to remove scratches, or fitting a period-correct replacement.
- Gasket Replacement: Fitting new seals where possible (though water resistance is rarely guaranteed on vintage pieces).
- Extended Testing: A prolonged testing period on the winder to ensure the aged hairspring keeps time within acceptable vintage tolerances.
Specialist Vintage Services
Lume Stabilisation
Old Tritium or Radium lume can crumble, turning into dust that enters the movement and stops the watch. We use a binding agent to stabilize the original lume from the back, preventing it from flaking while preserving the original aged look.
Obsolete Part Fabrication
For rare calibres where parts no longer exist, we can re-pivot worn wheels or modify compatible components to fit. We also have a vast network of “donor” movements to harvest genuine period-correct parts.
Laser Welding Restoration
Vintage cases often have deep dents. Traditional polishing removes metal, ruining the sharp chamfers. We use laser welding to add metal back into the dent, allowing us to refinish the surface without changing the original case shape.
Crown & Tube Modification
Water resistance is the first thing to fail on vintage watches. If the original crown threads are stripped, we can often machine the case to accept a modern, water-resistant tube and stem system while keeping the original crown cap if possible.
Other Vintage Services
Specialist Care for Vintage Watches
Restoring a watch that is 50+ years old requires a deep understanding of historical watchmaking failures and fixes.
We are highly experienced with legendary vintage movements like the Omega Calibre 321 and Rolex 1570. A common issue we see is worn barrel arbors in the mainplate. Because these older watches didn’t always use jewels for the barrel, the metal wears into an oval shape, causing the gears to mesh poorly. We have the tooling to re-bush these holes, restoring the roundness and saving the mainplate.
We are also trained in the safe handling of Radium dials (pre-1960s). We strip these watches in a controlled environment to ensure no radioactive dust contaminates the movement or the workshop.
See why hundreds of customers trust us with their vintage watches
Frequently asked questions
Only if you ask us to. In the vintage world, an unpolished case with sharp edges is often worth more than a shiny, rounded one. We typically recommend an ultrasonic clean only, but if you want it to look new, our laser-welding experts can achieve incredible results.
Usually, no. Metal corrodes and pits over 50 years, meaning the seals may not sit perfectly flat anymore. While we replace gaskets, we advise treating all vintage watches as “splash-proof only” and keeping them away from showers and pools.
From a value perspective, usually no. A spotted, tropical, or faded original dial is often more valuable to collectors than a freshly painted one. However, if the dial is illegible or ugly to you, we can arrange a professional restoration.
It takes longer than modern servicing, typically 4 to 8 weeks. This is because we may need to hunt down rare parts from suppliers around the world or test the watch for longer periods to ensure the aged springs are settling correctly.
We have a success rate of over 95%. However, if a part is truly extinct, we can often hand-make simple components (like stems or levers) or modify existing parts to work. We love a challenge.
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