Is there a watch sitting somewhere in your home right now that belonged to someone you love? There almost always is. I want to tell you about one of them. A client came in last spring with a small gold watch in a velvet pouch. It had been her mother&
It is good for auto-calculations and analyzing a fixed data set. It is not built for daily record keeping. One accidental keystroke in the wrong cell corrupts your data. It is no longer a source of truth. A database is what powers every app. A proper repair tracking system keeps
Do you take photos of every watch that comes in for service? If not, you should. Why a before and after matters: → Some customers inspect their watches under loupes when they get them back. They will spot a hairline scratch and ask if you did it. Without a photo, you
As your shop gets busier, you start to see real volume. It's not because there are more watches to fix — there are always watches to fix. It's because the community is recognizing you as a good watchmaker. Customers' friends and family are sending people your
Do you clean out the top of your bench everyday, or do you just leave it ready to roll the next day? For me, I like to start the day with a clean slate. I pick the tools I'm going to use that day and pull them out
The 80/20 in Watch Repair Take a look at your bench right now. What's sitting on it? If you run a shop long enough, you start to notice a pattern. There are the high-end complicated pieces (the perpetual calendars, the chronographs, the vintage movements that need a
On the bench, one might think watchmaking is a very monotonous job. It can be. Especially when all you do is work on the movement. One thing that helps me get the job done quick (or at least seem to) is listening to audiobooks. I've gone through plenty
Do you know your average turnaround time? How long it takes for a customer to approve an estimate? How many watches you actually complete in a week? These aren't nice-to-have numbers. They're the data that lets you run your shop instead of react to it. Take
and on the bench, that's especially true. One of the best ways to protect your time is to build a system: a predictable, repeatable workflow for every service that comes through. Without one, you're guessing. You can't see where time is being lost, because
If you're choosing a watchmaker, here's one question that tells you almost everything. How long does the watch stay on the bench after the work is done? Not during the service. After. A watch that has just been serviced will almost always run. That's
As a watchmaker, how much of your day is actually spent at the bench doing work only YOU can do? I'd bet it's not 100%. Ordering parts is a perfect example. With a system like Watchmaker App, you just enter the part numbers. From there, anyone
A quick note to every watchmaker who's earned their skills the hard way. The reality You've spent thousands of hours perfecting the art of watchmaking. Every skill, every tool, every technique — earned. Your hands know things most people will never learn. And yet, somewhere between the