Watch and Jewellery Repair Editing and Proofreading Services

Somebody brings in their grandmother's watch. It has not run since 1987, it is worth perhaps sixty pounds and it is worth everything, and the honest position is that opening it may reveal a broken mainspring that no longer exists as a part, that the dial may not survive cleaning, and that the movement may never run reliably again. All of that has to be said before the case back comes off.

We edit what watchmakers, jewellers and repairers produce — intake records and risk disclosure for sentimental items, assessment and estimate documentation, parts availability and obsolescence explanations, what-can-and-cannot-be-restored guidance, valuation and insurance documentation, timescale and interim update information, terms of business and liability for customer items, resizing, remodelling and stone-setting documentation, uncollected item terms, and aftercare and servicing interval guidance. Our editors work on the disclosure made before anything is opened.

The intake disclosure for a sentimental item is the most delicate document in this trade, and its failure is a general disclaimer about antique items. A customer who has been handed a ticket saying old items are repaired at the owner's risk has not been told what might happen to their grandmother's watch. We write these so the risks are named specifically before the item is opened — the parts that may not exist, the dial or enamel that may not survive cleaning, the case screws that may shear, the crystal that may not be replaceable, and the possibility that the movement will run and then stop again; so the difference between making it run and making it reliable is stated plainly, since a customer who wants to wear it daily needs a different conversation from one who wants it to tick on a shelf; so the honest option of leaving it alone is offered, given that a non-running heirloom is sometimes better than a partly restored one and only the customer can weigh that; so the estimate is staged — a fee to open and assess, then a decision — because nobody can quote a movement they have not seen and pretending otherwise leads to bad news mid-job; so the value position is separated from the sentiment, with the commercial value stated once and without pressure; so the record of the item's condition is taken with photographs of the dial, the case and the movement; and so the timescale is honest, including that a part may be sourced for months or never. Disclosures written this way let somebody make a decision they will not regret.

Everything you send is treated in confidence, including intake records, valuations and customer correspondence. We are editors rather than watchmakers, valuers or insurers, and we offer no view on repairs, parts or value. What we can do is get the risks said before the case back comes off.