I can only give this shop a weak recommendation at best. I had issues with the quality of the work and, especially, with the length of time Bert, the owner, took to accomplish the repair. I had him repair a Swiss mechanical watch with "complications", that is, it has a day/date function and a chronograph function. The first repair on the day/date function was satisfactory but only lasted a little more than a year before the watch broke down again. I took it back for repair, and he kept the watch for over four months before completing the repair. I called and called, and he kept saying it would be next week, but it dragged on for months. Then when I picked the watch up and brought it home it stopped working in the middle of the night, just around the time when the day and date were changing. There was still something wrong with that function. I took it back, and he was very gracious about saying he would fix it and give me a quick turnaround. Well, it took him another three and a half months. I had the same experience calling and calling and he kept putting me off. Late in this experience he jokingly told me "I lie" with respect to his promises on timing. I finally told him I was going to just pick up the watch, ask for a refund, and take it somewhere else. He asked for another day or two and I gave it to him. Then when I called, of course he said he wanted another day or two. I told him I was coming in an hour for the watch. I did, got the watch, and it seems to work, but the whole ordeal was not worth it. Bert was also no longer gracious about the repair. He pointedly said he wasn't charging me (well, I had already paid for a repair that didn't fix the problem), and he made a reference to the very first repair I had done and tried to tie this to that with a comment about the "warranty" running out. I am not sure whether he was just forgetful or disingenuous, but I was put off. I just thanked him and left. He clearly has trouble with complicated watches, and there is no excuse for taking almost eight months for this repair. If I need another repair, I will find an authorized repair place through the manufacturer. Presumably it would be more expensive, but I hope more reliable and faster.
Update: The watch stopped working a week or so after I picked it up. I took it back in, and Bert diagnosed the problem as the second hand and hour hand hitting each other. He asked for some time to fix it, so I left and made another trip back later in the day. He had fixed it but told me it might happen again. This latest experience just confirms my conclusion that Bert is not a superior repair person for this kind of watch. Perhaps he is all right with simpler timepieces, but for fine Swiss mechanical watches with any complications, I think you are better served with a factory authorized dealer. read more