By 'repairs', I mean anything from identifying and fixing a faulty movement that doesn't run, runs erratically or runs but doesn't strike, to repairing or making a new part for the movement. I don't mean restoring the case, which is a separate matter and dealt with on a separate page.
Sometimes, of course, a clock stops for reasons other than it needs servicing. If you have bought an antique clock at auction and it's clean and correctly oiled but simply refuses to run for more than a few minutes, it might just be set up incorrectly. To check, visit my SETUP page where you'll find lots of free advice on setting up a clock. Ebay is a very good source of clocks that don't work, and of fakes, and marriages between different clocks! Or perhaps you bought one by post and it was mishandled in transit - 400 day clocks are especially vulnerable. Maybe you have inherited a clock but it has a broken minute hand or you have no key for it. I have been known to solve some problems for as little as a £10 donation to charity so I'd be delighted to try and help. If you're unsure about anything and can't bring it round, email me a picture with your phone number and I'll get back to you with a price within a few hours. If you run an antiques business and don't specialise in clocks, I can still help but please don't expect a 'trade discount' on the prices above as there is no profit margin for me to allow one. However, if you have several clocks that need attention, you can save on collection/return costs.
No repair to a clock movement is a simple matter but it's often possible to diagnose the cause of common problems from the owner's descriptions and photographs and that comes with training and experience. Many repairs can be fairly routine after you've established what's wrong, such as replacing a mainspring or a suspension spring, reaming and re bushing a worn pivot hole, redressing and polishing pivots, dressing and resetting escapement pallets or straightening bent teeth of a wheel. But they're not unskilled diy tasks - removing a mainspring from a fusée could leave you with shredded hands queuing outside the local A&E, or worse if you don't address the risks and use the right tools.
To give you a reliable guide for common clocks, I have devised a fixed price menu which you will find by clicking on PRICES (or the Prices button on the right of my Home page).
Wherever possible, I try to work with the existing parts rather than replacing parts with modern ones and re bushing every hole there is, whereas some restorers generate additional income through unforeseen "extras". Others will quote a low price for a cleaning service and then dunk the entire movement in a bowl of paraffin or petrol for an hour. It might get a stubborn clock going for a few months but that's not a service; how can you possibly grease a mainspring if you don't remove and open the barrels, or peg out pivot holes and burnish pivots if the wheels and plates aren't dismantled? What happens to the cleaning fluids that get inside the barrels if they aren't removed and dried?
Many repairers go the other way by recommending a major overhaul while repairing something relatively minor. Regardless of whether it extends the life of the movement between services by a few more years or renders it a little more accurate, that approach seems so disrespectful to the original maker. And I'm not in horology to make a living anyway so I don't have to be so profit-minded.
My aim is to get your clock going again in a manner sympathetic to the way it was made for the least cost to you, and to carry out a full service as professionally as you'll find anywhere but more economically. The downside might be that you have to wait a little longer if my spare time is short. But I will never compromise quality of service just to turn clocks round more quickly.
Email me at repairs at horologica.co.uk (following the usual format and protocols if you're using Hotmail, Gmail etc) describing your problem with some photographs and I might be able to see what's wrong or make a reasonable guess from the type of clock you have and the problem you're having with it.