News and Updates
Apologies, my family and I are still ill with a sickness bug. I will now be closed until the 2nd November.
Please note, I will be closed on Monday 25th November.
Dear customers,
After a successful trial last month, I am continuing with my new opening hours:
Mondays: 9:30am - 4:30pm
I apologise for the limited opening days, but at the moment Mondays are the only day I will be able to reliably be open. Thank you again for your patience.
Dear Customers, it’s been over half a year since my last update. Unfortunately since then, my wife’s health condition has continued to deteriorate. While she still has some good days each week, the frequency of the days where I need to stay home with her have increased. Looking back at my records I can see that on average I have only been open about 40％ of my advertised hours over the last few months. I’d like to apologise for the frustration I know this has created for customers trying to visit the shop.
In addition this has led to further delays with my efforts to work through the queue of overhauls that are booked in, as whenever I am able to open the shop I am soon flooded with customers bringing in the small repairs that accumulated while I was closed.
At this time I am uncertain what the future of the business looks like, but I know I want to keep to my existing commitments to customers. To that end I will be closing the shop to the public for the month of August so that whenever I am able to work, I can focus on the overhauls I already have booked in. Visits to the shop to collect work will be by appointment only. For the few customers who have some small repairs waiting to be collected, or for any repairs under guarantee, please contact me via email or whatsapp and I will arrange an appointment to meet you.
At the end of August, I will reassess my circumstances and provide another update. I apologise to customers looking to have small repairs carried out this month, I hope you can understand my need to close.
Yours sincerely,
James Swift
Dear Customers. Over the last three months my family circumstances have changed considerably. My wife has some long term health conditions which have recently worsened, and with the arrival of our new baby I am needed at home to care for my wife and children much more than I had anticipated. This added onto the month of work I missed while in hospital has caused me to grow further and further behind on my estimates for how long it will take to complete clock repairs. I am trying to squeeze in time to go to work wherever possible each week, but I regret to say that there will be significant delays in completing the jobs booked into my queue. If any customer wishes to cancel a repair due to the delay I will fully understand, please just let me know. I apologise to all customers affected by this delay. Rest assured that I am still working through the queue in order, albeit very slowly at present, and will get to your repair as soon as I am able.
Dear customers. I'm pleased to report that we have been able to return home with our new baby. Our thanks to all the staff at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and our local nhs staff for their amazing care and support. My wife and our daughter are doing well, although in need of continued care.
I have cautiously returned to work today, while I try to balance my family responsibilities with my commitments to my customers. Please note my new opening hours: Monday to Friday, 9:30am to 2:30pm. I will do my best to be open during these hours, although there will likely be occasions where I have to close for hospital visits or to help care at home. In such cases I will update the website to provide as much notice as possible. Thank you to all my customers for your continued patience.
Dear customers. I've been closed since mid last month while my wife has been in hospital. I'm now pleased to say that our baby girl has been born healthy, although quite premature. She has been in the NICU since birth, and my wife and I have been staying over on the mainland with her. I'm afraid that the shop will need to remain closed for a further few weeks while I care for my family. I apologise for the delay this will cause to the return of clocks in my work queue. I will update the website once I am able to reopen.
Due to health problems in my family, my opening times will be a little unpredictable at the moment. My apologies for any frustration this may cause.
Please feel free to send me a WhatsApp message or email [email protected] to check if I am open before you set out.
I have updated my opening hours to reflect the times I am most likely to be open.
Over the last two years the length of my list for clock servicing has steadily increased from about 2 months wait - to now over 14 months! I have simply been unable to keep up with the amount of work coming into the shop. Until now I have been allowing customers to book clocks into the queue, then bring the actual clock in later when they have reached the head of the queue. Now however, I feel that I need to pause taking on any new jobs until I have caught up significantly with the work I already have to hand. If your clock is not already booked in and assigned a job number, please don't contact me asking for a quote at this time. I will update the website when I am able to start taking on new jobs again.
Since January we have been using a system to photo-document the repairs we carry out for future reference (for instance when providing support via phone), and it has already proved to be very helpful. From today, I'm please to let you know that receipts/invoices will contain a passcode which customers can use to access their photos online, via the My Photos page.
Today Michael started his well earned retirement after over 46 years repairing clocks and watches. He wishes to thank all our customers for their valuable custom and friendship over the years.
My father has kindly left the business to me, and I'll do my best to make him proud. Thank you Dad for all the training, guidance, and friendship you have given me over our 16 years together.
As we announced earlier in the year, I will be specialising the business to focus on clock servicing and repair. We will still continue to accept watches for smaller jobs like replacement of straps, cells, crystals, movements, and crowns. Please phone before sending any items to us to ensure we still offer the service you require.
Thank you to all the customers who have written or stopped by to wish my father well in his retirement, and for your words of support in my new role running the business.
James Swift
Please note, our email address has changed to [email protected].
Please note that we no longer service or repair anniversary clocks (ball clocks).
We have just completed changes to our website to freshen up it's look and make it mobile-friendly. A much larger percentage of internet users are visiting this website from mobile devices than ever before, and we feel it is important to make the site as user friendly for them as possible. All of our original content has been maintained, the site just has a new theme.
Before sending your watches to us, please note that we do not do valuations, restore dials or polish / refurbish / re-plate cases and bracelets. We are repairers rather than restorers.
Many clock and watch repairers around today repair only expensive or modern brands. We are different! Even if your "Old Faithful" clock or watch is a very old one or a very inexpensive brand, we realise that such items often have real value to you, because of their association either with you or one of your relatives. We are happy to repair any such items, depending of course on the availability of spare parts, etc..
We are no longer able to offer this service to our customers. All watches received by us will, of course, have their case seals inspected and renewed if needed. However, the effectiveness of any such seals can no longer be guaranteed.
We are always looking for donations of any old clocks, watches, parts or tools that are about to be thrown out - they are of very real use to us, no matter what the condition! We will gladly pay postage or arrange collection where possible. So please keep us in mind when clearing out that loft, ok?
James Swift will be joining us as a member of staff on July 2nd working as a trainee horologist and general factotum. James is also our webmaster and has just finished the creation of our new website.
