Fixing time

A WATCH is more than jewelry: with its inner workings, it keeps track of one of the secrets of the universe: time itself — and it sits intimately on your wrist.

Mig Reyes, who earned a degree in Horology at Birmingham City University (and graduating with first-class honors), is now back in the Philippines after a stint in the UK, and has built a watch service center up to Swiss standards. It took a year for him to put it up, importing all the equipment by himself, and it opened in October this year.

During a tour of the San Juan studio during the official opening on Nov. 23, Mr. Reyes showed BusinessWorld his customized table (with an added shelf, padded for his elbows’ comfort), a drawer full of watch parts, a timing machine, a Greiner cleaning machine, an automated pressure tester, and a fireproof vault insured for up to P500 million, among others. All of his equipment was imported from Switzerland and Germany: “It’s something that you cannot get off the shelf,” he said.

His studio also comes with a big glass window: arguably one of the most important parts of his studio, because his work is predicated on trust.

“What they (the clients) needed was transparency, good security, and they needed to talk to a watchmaker,” he said. “We show proof to the customers why it needs to be serviced.”

A collector since the age of 13 (his first watch was a Seiko), he got to observe gaps in the country’s watchmaking industry. For example, service centers would take the watch to the back, and the clients wouldn’t see what repairs are being done to the watch, or if they’re really being cared for.

Second, good watchmakers work on a referral basis, and learned their craft through apprenticeship (instead of formal training). “I didn’t see good-enough watchmakers in this country,” he said. “What I’ve learned is something I teach,” he added, noting that the other watchmakers under his watch (pun intended) are people he has trusted since his collecting and buying-and-selling days; and who receive training from him. “One of my goals is to make sure that the skills of watchmakers here will improve.”

But what did he learn from Birmingham that he couldn’t get anywhere else? “Only the real watchmakers have the real experience of what it takes to be a very disciplined person,” he said. He recalls waking up early in the morning: drinking alcohol the night before is discouraged, and so is coffee, the better to prevent shaking while working with delicate instruments. To this day, he starts the day with hand exercises. “It’s a discipline instilled within you, over a matter of time,” he said.

He took what was then a hobby, studied it deeply, and now defines it his path. “Mechanical watches — there’s always craft in it… and it’s something that you pass on to the next generation.

“It’s a symbol of who was wearing the watch… it’s the personal journey you have with the watch. It doesn’t matter how expensive your watch is. It is always your journey with the watch.”

His services can cost from P500 for a battery replacement to P20,000 for full service. That includes diagnosing the watch’s problem, a water pressure test, then stripping it for a visual check, along with polishing. The service center also offers restoration and authentication services. Services can take from four to five hours to three to four days, and the service’s length and its price will depend on the complications and parts needed (all original).

Personally, his most expensive watch is a Patek Philippe 5712. We wanted to ask what the most expensive watch was he had worked on, but we settled on sentimentality. He once worked on a 1959 Rolex Datejust passed down from father to son, he said. The watch had not moved in 30 years, because the owner couldn’t trust anybody else to do it. After passing through Mr. Reyes’ hands, the watch started working again. “But now, it runs perfectly, and he wears it,” he said of the owner.

“It gives me that sense of completion, after fixing a watch,” he said. “I’ve done something right.”

Set an appointment with Watch Solutions at 0917-831-6820 or through Mig@watchsolutionsph.com. Watch Solutions is located at Unit 809, BTTC Center, San Juan City. — Joseph L. Garcia