He's a BS artist. Kept my clock for 1 year and still didn't work. Gives a lot of excuses and tries to shift blame from himself on to customer. Find someone else to fix your treasured timepieces. read more

Sent my movement to Clockworks. Told it was badly abused and needed all the bushings replaced. $1,300. The value of the clock including this movement is $200 to $300. it's not a family heirloom. I told them to just return it to me. They charged me $200 for an oiling and cleaning service and $50 to pack ship and insure it. I tried to reason with them and my appeal was shot down. My impression is that this outfit is a slick well-oiled machine designed to separate trusting people from their hard earned cash who have hopes to restore items that often have sentimental value. if that's their business model, it worked on me. Advice, look elsewhere. read more

We have a treasured albeit relatively inexpensive pendulum Seth Thomas wall clock that stopped working. We made the inestimable mistake of trusting this "professional" to make it work again. He had our clock for more than a year, we tired of waiting and complained about the delay. The very next day, we were informed that our clock was ready for pickup. An amount for more than $200 was paid at his store. Days later the clock stopped working! Disappointed would be a major understatement! Fool me once, Shame on Me! read more

Update: I got the clock out to get it running and put it on my mantle and, to my absolute horror and devastation, I found that Clockworks had GLUED a Clockworks sticker to my 100 year old plus clock, completely ruining the lovely patina. This is a gorgeous clock that has been in my family for generations. This is far beyond incompetence. It's just plain evil. read more

Came in on a whim, and so far I'm hooked. My review is solely based on the jewelry half of the store and not the clockwork. The guy who does jewelry knows his stuff. Friend bought a necklace and he was able to adjust and even MODIFY the chain that was like 1ish mm thick. Precision. Helps with jewelry. Will update later when I do more work on my own jewelry read more

Quite possibly the rudest, most condescending jerk ever on the phone (I believe the name given was Dave). Can I give negative stars? Please? I called to ask about having an antique clock of mine cleaned up and repaired. The conversation went something like this: ME: "Hi, I have this clock I need repaired. Its an old piece made by XX company. I can give you the name and send you some pictures if that will help with estimating. " RUDE JERK: "What are the pictures of?" ME: "The outside, the label and as best as I could get of the inside." RUDE JERK: "yeah, the outside and the label arent really condusive to getting it to operate again, now are they? Is this a manual clock?" ME: "No its electric" RUDE JERK: "I seriously doubt that. That clock maker never made an electric clock. You must have modified it." ME: "No, I'm pretty sure this is original. Maybe if I read the label to-" RUDE JERK: "Look, how about if I try calling your workplace and describing vaguely what I need done over the phone to you? Do you think that you will be able to help me?" Well, I hung up after that. OH.MY.GOD. I cant even imagine what would have happened if I had gone there in person. Please, if this is your first impression to customers how good of a place can you be service-wise? UPDATE 4/23: The guy on the phone's name was Dave. And he's the owner. I was going to write a letter complaining about this phone call, but you can see now I dont have to bother. WOW. I hope he's good at what he does because he's going to need all the old, repeat customers he can get!!!!! read more

David was an awesome guy, and very friendly. Had some great conversation while he replaced the battery in a watch that I brought in. The loop on my watch broke just after leaving, when I came back to tell him he pulled out a box of loaners and said it was on the house. Thanks for looking out!! Will definitely be back here for any watch needs. read more

Clockworks Inc - Watches Near Me

If I could post a negative star review I would. What a criminal enterprise. This horrible man held my dad's watch repairs hostage. He refused to turn over the watches to him and my dad is suffering from cancer. He only returned the watches upon threat of police confiscation. He is rude and refuses to refund clients for their watch repairs. Find another watch repair service - step far away from this criminal. read more

The owner replaced my watch battery, seemed to take a long time, but job done well. Not sure about any other repairs, fair price too. read more

Fixed ten old watches quickly and at a reasonable price Great service Both automatic and quartz

I needed some work on an old mechanical chronograph watch with a swiss movement. I visited some local repairman near my home and neighboring towns and they were either not really repairman and could not help me or quoted some crazy prices for repair ( I think they quoted a high price as to not want to work on the watch, others told me they would send it out and had no idea of the repair cost until it went wherever. I was a little frustrated and remembered that Clockworks repaired a mechanical chronograph for my father about 20 years ago (and it still works like new today). So I drove the 45 minutes to Clockworks, it was worth the trip. (The store is now located in Lake Bluff..34 E Center Ave Lake Bluff, IL 60044 a few miles North from the Lake Forest location shat shows up here on Yelp. He repaired the one watch at very reasonable expense. I looked over his selection of new and vintage collectible watches (including some cool Swiss brands I was not familiar). I found that he had a beautiful limited edition Citizen watch I've had my eye on (for months on Amazon). He sold it to me for less than the Amazon discounted price and I had not even mentioned Amazon. He said, "If you like the watch I can give you a great deal on it". I love that I was able to shop local, AND save money..UNBELIEVABLE! Clockworks is well known for their repairs but the selection of old and new watches and clocks (and their prices) blew me away. My experience there has been nothing other than excellent from everyone from the owner to the person that called to tell me my watch was repaired. read more

Took a 15 year old wall clock in for repairs as it was chiming intermittently and usually at night. The owner told me it was running 12 hours behind, and without asking my permission, wound the clock forward for 12 hours. This is NOT was the instruction from the manufacturer state, and I had shown the instructions to the owner. He thought he knew everything. The wall clock now doesn't chime AT ALL, and will need to be repaired or unit replaced. I am now searching for a competent professional clock repair shop that can actually repair, and not break, my clock. read more

My experience with The Clockworks is just as poor as the other two reviewers. I find it hard to believe a business that operates like this is still IN business. I dropped off a small clock in mid-January 2012, and was told it would likely take several months to repair. That's fair, but after the several months went by, I tried repeatedly to speak with someone who could tell me the status of the repair, and finally after several attempts, in JUNE (yes, 5 months later) I was told they were waiting on the hands. I called again on October 4 (yes, ANOTHER 4 months later), after having received no additional information or updates about my repair, and was told someone would get back to me. On October 6 I got fed up, went to the shop to retrieve my clock, and was treated as if I was somehow at fault -- one of the shop clerks started in with "can I just say in my defense, it is difficult to find hands for a 60-year-old clock ...." No attempt to apologize for the extremely poor customer service, and lack of communication, just excuses and attitude. What they don't know is that I have several Atmos clocks that need to be repaired and was trying out The Clockworks with this smaller piece of work to see how they would do. So they basically blew a four-figure job with their lousy service. read more

Best clock repair in Chicago. Thorough, diligent and excellent repair work. Worth your trip if you don't live nearby. Super friendly and kind too. If 10 stars were an option I'd give them 10! read more

Excellent customer service at Clockworks! The owner is very knowledgeable. I highly recommend this shop

Easily the rudest, most condescending people I've worked with in this area in years. I dropped off a clock to be repaired and was told it would be ready in 1-2 weeks. My wife called approximately two weeks later asking about the status of the clock, and received a series of extremely condescending comments from the person in the store as she asked to see if the work had been done and when the clock might be ready. There are plenty of other options on the north shore to find antique clocks and get reapirs done with proprietors that would be happy to have your business. read more

Took 10+ weeks to fix watch bracelet and blamed the tardiness on a computer problem. I had to keep calling to check on progress. When it was finally done, the watch was "glued" back together and had to be sent back again to be fixed. Do not go here. Find another place. read more

I took a sentimental clock in for servicing and they lost parts to my clock, making it un-repairable. How is this place even in business? A real dissapointment as it was the last gift from my mother before she died. She asked me to pass it down to my kids and so on. read more

Worst store i've ever had the displeasure to entrust my valuables to---the owner of the shop is a total d-bag and had absolutely no interest in any of my concerns. I got my $600 watch back today and the back was DENTED! And the lady working the desk was extremely rude too. I had a simple question and she basically made me look stupid for asking. I never post on yelp, but my experience here compelled me to leave a review. If I could leave 0 stars, I would. Take your business somewhere else! read more

Had a great experience! Had battery replaced in one watch and links removed from an expansion band watch while we waited. Extremely reasonable cost. read more

I went into the Clockworks with my Seiko watch that I'd had for years. The case was worn to the point that it had sharp edges and the band was in not much better shape. My original intent was to replace the watch. David said he could provide me with a new case as well as an original watch band. It wasn't an overnight process but he came through for me and the watch looks just like it did the day I originally purchased it back in the 70's. I have since purchased another everyday watch from him and I keep the Seiko for special occasions. In person David does have a sharp sense of humor but I have never experienced it to the point of rudeness. read more

Clockworks have been servicing my chronograph work for several years, we always talk watches,and the manufacturers. Even though, it is not an expensive watch, he cares for it like it is worth thousands of dollar. I teased him about moving to this new location. On this visit, he told me to take my wrist watch else where, because, he has been at this location 6 years, and have not seen my watch before. But he installed the battery that died out in the watch before he moved. And there is a jeweler in the shop now, he is very fun to talk to. The owner is nearing retirement, and had to replace my battery again! read more

There aren't a lot of music box repair shops out there so when I discovered the Clockworks in Lake Bluff, I decided to give it a try. I figured they looked like they knew what they were doing and probably had good service given the location. The piece I was having restored had a lot of sentimental value which I brought to them in early September of 2010 for service, explaining that I hoped to have it ready for Xmas for a sick family member. They assured me it would be no problem as there were not any major fixes to be done. Throughout the Fall, I called them at least a half dozen times with no reply. Finally, they called to say it would cost about $200 and would in fact be ready for the holiday. Nine months and countless un-returned phone calls later, it was finally finished. The person for whom I intended the restored piece for has already died and I'm to pay them $200 for what amounts to about $50 in work. They were totally unapologetic explaining they have a backlog of 6 months (which they never told me about) and that's just the way it is. They never answer the phone and then when your piece is ready for pickup, they practically harass you to come get it. Perhaps if I had a $10,000 restoration project, the service might have been different. If you're an average customer having a small project done, look elsewhere. Places like this make me bitter. read more