03-02-2017, 06:38 PM
Look no farther than Pollak Watch Service, 14429 Cedar Road, right in Cleveland. (fixwatch.com)
I'm in NYC and walk right past Central Watch in Grand Central every day. They're nice, and they've done no damage to my equipment over the years, but I don't think they want to be in the mechanical watch repair business. They want to sell watch batteries and bands, and maybe secondhand watches, at very high markups. If I were them maybe I'd rather be in that business too.
As far as repairs go, they quoted me thousands of dollars to repair an old watch that was worth perhaps $350 on a good day. Then they quoted me $600 to repair a 1940's vintage watch worth less than $350 that Pollak fixed for about $100 through the mail. Pollack also replaced a crystal on a different watch at a reasonable price that I don't recall.
I own a set of watch tools that easily get me into any watch I own for battery or band replacement so I have no reason to patronize Central Watch any more.
I'm in NYC and walk right past Central Watch in Grand Central every day. They're nice, and they've done no damage to my equipment over the years, but I don't think they want to be in the mechanical watch repair business. They want to sell watch batteries and bands, and maybe secondhand watches, at very high markups. If I were them maybe I'd rather be in that business too.
As far as repairs go, they quoted me thousands of dollars to repair an old watch that was worth perhaps $350 on a good day. Then they quoted me $600 to repair a 1940's vintage watch worth less than $350 that Pollak fixed for about $100 through the mail. Pollack also replaced a crystal on a different watch at a reasonable price that I don't recall.
I own a set of watch tools that easily get me into any watch I own for battery or band replacement so I have no reason to patronize Central Watch any more.