Finding new life in old watches
Time To Go’s mission is to preserve and restore vintage timepieces, focusing on attractive but affordable brands from the golden era of mechanical watchmaking that don’t always get the attention they deserve.
My goal is to get these mechanical marvels out of drawers and put them back on wrists where they belong, providing attractive and fuctional counterpoints to an increasingly digital world.
Newly restored watches for sale are posted regularly on my shop, so check back frequently. You can get a sneek peek of upcoming restorations by subscribing to the Coming Soon channel from my blog, or get notified of new watches for sale by checking the New Arrivals channel. If you are looking for something in particular, please contact me.
Thank you for your patronage. Purchasing these little pieces of history helps me to bring more vintage watches back to life!
Featured Watches
I apply meticulous effort to ensure that the vintage watches I work on are attractive, accurate enough to serve as practical timepieces, and reliable enough to be worn and enjoyed for many years to come. The typical restoration process includes:
Full disassembly, cleaning, reassembly and appropriate lubrication of the movement using 5-7 different Mobius synthetic lubricants for specific applications.
Replacement of broken or worn out parts. Depending on the situation replacement parts may be brand new, new “old stock,” used parts in good condition, or parts from a donor movement.
Adjustment and regulation of the movement (5 positions), including fine balance and hairspring adjustments if needed to achieve good timekeeping performance.
Very Gentle cleaning of dial and hands. Re-luming of hands with color-matched super-bright lume if called for.
Crystal replacement or restoration/polishing
Thorough ultrasonic cleaning and light buffing of case parts
Where warranted, full restoration and re-plating of plated metal parts, including cases.
All of this work would cost many hundreds of dollars at a typical watchmaker or jewler, which helps to explain why more affordable watches from the vintage era are often neglected. However, as this is a passion project for me – something that I very much enjoy doing rather than a career – I am able to keep costs very reasonable and provide tremendous value for buyers.
More about
my process and mission
Pictured: A rare Le Phare 108 VCC Pocket Watch Chronograph movement from the early 1920s. Part of my personal collection
This early 60s Gruen has been given a “light touch” restoration focused almost entirely on the A. Schild 17 jewel Swiss movement, which has been given a full service to assure solid performance and timekeeping. The dial hands and case have been left in original condition, with a clean chrome finish and a nice patina on the dial and hands. The one exception is the crown, which has been replaced as the original was missing.