Vintage Watches Restoration
Timepiece Ltd. is a world expert in the restoration of vintage watches. In our spacious workshop located in the center of Israel, we have all the machinery, tools, equipment and know-how necessary to restore all horological components. We have drawers filled with hundreds of thousands of spare parts - staffs, wheels, stems, over 10,000 original GS crystals and others - to accommodate any service required. In the rare event of a seemingly unavailable part, we can manufacture one.
In our shop we try to bring you the best of the vintage essence of the 1920s - 1970s; Swiss vintage watches and American vintage watches - mechanical only, with a nostalgic feel and timeless design. If you would like to learn more about what we are doing, take a look at our short silent documentary "Rebirth of a watch" and follow us on Instagram for images of our work in progress!
One of the niches covered by us is the restoration of dials, often referred to in the industry as 'dial refinish'. For several decades until the early 20th century most watch dials were made of enamel. The application of enamel requires a lot of expertise and repairing enamel dials is not a simple task.
The main story of the dial refinishing business started with the appearance of the mass produced metal dial and it dates back to the early 1920s. The metal made dial, mostly brass or silver, is far easier to restore than enamel - first by treating the surface with chemicals and natural coatings and then by restoring the original print with a special paint or cold enamel.
Our workshop has a vast collection of prints which are identical to their original counterparts, over 5,000 different varieties to be precise, and we make new dies identical to the originals en masse, once a year, to enrich our already varied selection.
Some of our printing plates, as well as other equipment, are completely original and date back to the early 1930s. While working on vintage watch dials, we use the same traditional surface refinish techniques that were developed by the Swiss and American watch industries in the early 20th century. Such techniques include the famous 'Hamilton Butler' finish which is a hand brushed finish over silver, and the Swiss 'Argenté' - an off-white pearl tone surface with high gloss finish.
PLEASE NOTE:
Despite popular demand and except for rare cases, we do not accept restoration jobs from customers.
In our shop we try to bring you the best of the vintage essence of the 1920s - 1970s; Swiss vintage watches and American vintage watches - mechanical only, with a nostalgic feel and timeless design. If you would like to learn more about what we are doing, take a look at our short silent documentary "Rebirth of a watch" and follow us on Instagram for images of our work in progress!
One of the niches covered by us is the restoration of dials, often referred to in the industry as 'dial refinish'. For several decades until the early 20th century most watch dials were made of enamel. The application of enamel requires a lot of expertise and repairing enamel dials is not a simple task.
The main story of the dial refinishing business started with the appearance of the mass produced metal dial and it dates back to the early 1920s. The metal made dial, mostly brass or silver, is far easier to restore than enamel - first by treating the surface with chemicals and natural coatings and then by restoring the original print with a special paint or cold enamel.
Our workshop has a vast collection of prints which are identical to their original counterparts, over 5,000 different varieties to be precise, and we make new dies identical to the originals en masse, once a year, to enrich our already varied selection.
Some of our printing plates, as well as other equipment, are completely original and date back to the early 1930s. While working on vintage watch dials, we use the same traditional surface refinish techniques that were developed by the Swiss and American watch industries in the early 20th century. Such techniques include the famous 'Hamilton Butler' finish which is a hand brushed finish over silver, and the Swiss 'Argenté' - an off-white pearl tone surface with high gloss finish.
PLEASE NOTE:Despite popular demand and except for rare cases, we do not accept restoration jobs from customers.