Bench 04, Westminster Street, Providence
Watchmaker since 2011
Marta Ilves
I service and restore mechanical watches and small clocks, one at a time, on the second floor of a building on Westminster Street. Post yours or carry it up the stairs. It goes back with a written record of everything that was done to it and the sheet showing what it measured on the way out.
About
Who is at the bench
One person, one room, and a rule about not making old things look new.
I was twenty-six and stacking pallets in Fall River when my grandmother's watch stopped. Three shops told me it was not worth the money. The fourth let me stand behind the counter while he opened it, and I gave notice that week.
Two years of school in Pennsylvania. Three years in a Boston shop where everything came through the door without a manual. Five more on a service bench doing forty watches a month under somebody else's name. Since 2019 this room, fewer than a hundred watches a year, and my own name on every one of them.
I do not polish cases smooth. I do not refinish a dial to make a watch look younger than it is. I will tell you when a repair costs more than the watch is worth, and I would rather lose the job than pretend otherwise. Twice a year I teach six Saturdays to people who want to find out whether they could do this. On Sunday mornings I run the East Bay path and think about nothing at all.
In brief
- Trained
- Two years, Pennsylvania
- On a bench since
- 2011
- Own bench since
- 2019
- Works on
- Mechanical only
- A year
- Under one hundred
- Teaches
- Six Saturdays, twice a year
Recent work
What came in and what went back
The first photograph is taken before anything is opened, so there is always a record of how it looked when it was still yours.
Measured
What it read coming in, and going out
A watch you cannot measure is a watch somebody is guessing about.
- Rate
- -48 s/day
- Amplitude
- 172 degrees
- Beat error
- 1.8 ms
Dry, worn and running down by the middle of the afternoon. This is the 1957 automatic on the day it landed.
- Rate
- +3 s/day
- Amplitude
- 289 degrees
- Beat error
- 0.2 ms
The same watch nine weeks later, worst position to best across a spread of five seconds.
Every watch is timed in five positions after a week on the bench and two days on the winder, and the sheet goes in the box with it. A movement that cannot be brought inside these numbers gets a letter explaining why instead of an invoice.
What I do
What it costs and how long it takes
Four things, priced and timed. If what you have is not on this list I will say so in the first reply.
01 Most watches
Full service
Stripped to the plates, cleaned, worn parts replaced, oiled and adjusted, then run for a week before it goes back.
Included
- Complete strip and clean
- New mainspring
- Worn jewels and pivots repaired
- Oiled in nine places
- Adjusted in five positions
- Crystal and gaskets as needed
- Timing sheet and written record
From $420
Quoted in writing before any work
6 to 10 weeks
02
Chronograph service
The same work with the chronograph mechanism stripped, cleaned and reset. Column wheel and cam alike.
Included
- Everything in a full service
- Chronograph works stripped and reset
- Pushers and clutch rebuilt
- Reset checked from every position
- Hand fitting checked at each stop
From $850
Parts quoted separately
10 to 16 weeks
03
Restoration
For a watch that needs a part made rather than ordered. Staffs, stems, crowns, hinges and bushings turned here.
Included
- Everything in a full service
- Parts turned on the lathe
- Case and hinge work
- Photographs at each stage
- Honest advice on what to leave alone
By the hour, $95
Estimated in a range, never open ended
12 to 20 weeks
04
Estimate only
Opened, inspected and timed, with a written note on what it needs and what it would cost. No work done.
Included
- Inspection and timing report
- Photographs of the movement
- A written estimate
- Credited in full against a service
$65
Credited if you go ahead
About 2 weeks
Prices are for the work, not for the parts. Anything that has to be made rather than ordered is quoted separately and never started without a yes in writing.
How it works
Whose turn it is, from the first email to the last
Ten weeks sounds long until you see how few of them are yours.
You
At the bench
01 Day 0
You write
You
Tell me what it is and what it does wrong. A photograph of the dial and one of the case back is enough to start.
At the bench
I answer within two working days and say plainly whether it is something I take on.
02 Week 1
It travels
You
Post it insured for what it would cost to replace, in the packing I describe. Or carry it up the stairs on a Thursday.
At the bench
I confirm the day it lands and photograph it before anything is opened.
03 Week 2
The estimate
You
Read it and say yes or no. No is a normal answer and costs you nothing further.
At the bench
It is opened, timed and inspected, and you get a written estimate with photographs of the movement.
04 Weeks 3 to 8
On the bench
You
Nothing at all. I write if the estimate has to change, and I never work past it without asking first.
At the bench
Stripped, cleaned, worn parts made or fitted, reassembled, oiled and adjusted in five positions.
05 Weeks 8 to 10
On test
You
Nothing. You get the timing sheet by email before it is packed.
At the bench
It runs on the bench and on the winder for a full week and is re-timed at the end of it.
06 Week 10
It goes home
You
Pay on the invoice, then wear it. Come back in five years, or sooner if it starts gaining.
At the bench
Packed, insured and posted with the written record of everything that was done to it.
Nothing moves without a yes from you in writing, and no estimate is ever exceeded without a second one.
The bench
What the work is done with
Right now
Where the list stands this week
Updated on Mondays. When it is full it says so rather than quietly taking your money.
Open for commissions
Two slots left before the end of the year, then the book takes the desk back.
Open, taking work from November
Two weeks from the day it lands
A 1963 flyback and a wall regulator
House calls in Providence and the East Bay only
Six Saturdays from March 7
December 20 to January 5
The board is rewritten whenever something ships or a slot opens.
References
People who came back
A first job proves nothing. A second one is the only reference worth printing.
I sent her my father's watch expecting to be told it was scrap. She sent back photographs of the inside of it before she touched anything, and a price that did not move. Three watches later I still get the photographs.
Daniel Okonjo Cranston, Rhode Island- First watch
- 2020
- Watches since
- 3
- Most recent
- 2026
She talked me out of a restoration once. It would have cost more than the watch and she said so in the first email, which is the reason everything I own now goes to her.
Hannah Weiss Brookline, Massachusetts- First watch
- 2019
- Watches since
- 5
- Most recent
- 2025
Ten weeks felt like a long time until the box came back with a timing sheet in it. I have had watches serviced by big names and never once been shown a number.
Ray Delgado New Haven, Connecticut- First watch
- 2022
- Watches since
- 2
- Most recent
- 2026
Two shops turned the clock down because it meant a house call. She came out on a Saturday, took the movement away and hung it back true, and it has not lost a minute since.
Priya Raman Fox Point, Providence- First watch
- 2021
- Watches since
- 4
- Most recent
- 2026
Questions
What people ask before they send anything
How do I post it?
Write first. I send packing instructions and a label, and I would rather you waited three days for those than sent a watch loose in a jiffy bag, which has happened. Insure it for what it would cost to replace, not for what you paid.
What happens if it is worse than you thought?
You get a second estimate and a choice. I have never once carried on past a figure without asking, and about one job in twelve comes back with the honest answer that it is not worth doing.
Do you work on quartz or smart watches?
No. A battery I will change for anyone standing in front of me, but a quartz movement is a part you replace, not a thing you repair, and I would be charging you for my curiosity.
Will you polish the case?
Only if you ask twice. Polishing removes metal and softens the edges a case was made with, and it cannot be undone. I clean every case and I true a damaged edge; I do not make an old watch look new.
Why does it take ten weeks?
Because one person does all of it, and because a serviced watch runs on the bench for a full week before it is packed. Most of those ten weeks are waiting for a turn, not work; the work itself is about fifteen hours.
Is it water resistant afterwards?
New gaskets go in on any case designed to take them, and I pressure test to a figure I will put in writing, usually well under what is printed on the case back. Nothing sixty years old goes swimming on my say-so.
Training
Fifteen years of benches
The full record, including the years that had nothing to do with watches.
At the bench
Contact
Tell me what you have
What it is and what it does wrong is enough. I will ask the rest.
It is with me. I read every one myself and answer within two working days.