Our story
A workshop built around the long view.
Retort Horologie was founded on a straightforward idea — that watches worth wearing are worth repairing properly, and that doing fewer things carefully is better than doing many things quickly.
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Founded in 2009, still in the same street.
Retort Horologie opened in 2009 at 55 Jalan Sultan Ismail, at a time when the nearest competent watch repair options in Kuala Lumpur required either a long journey or a blind trust in someone you had never met. The founding principle was simple: bring together the tools, the parts network, and the patience to handle complications that most workshops decline.
Over the years, the scope of work has remained deliberately limited. We concentrate on mechanical and automatic movements — the kind with mainsprings and gear trains, where the repair demands direct understanding of how the mechanism works rather than plug-and-play module replacement. Complex complications sit at the centre of what we do well.
We are a small team. That is by design. When you leave your watch here, a single person handles it from intake to completion. There is no hand-off between departments, no translation of notes, no risk of a quiet assumption being made by someone who did not hear your original description of the problem.
Our mission
Repair that extends a watch's useful life.
A well-made mechanical watch, maintained properly, can function across generations. The work we do — whether extracting a broken stem or resynchronising a perpetual calendar — is oriented towards that longer horizon. We are not in the business of performing repairs that need repeating in three years.
That means sourcing parts to specification rather than accepting close substitutes. It means replacing gaskets and o-rings as part of any service that opens the case, not as an optional add-on. It means telling you when a watch needs more extensive work than originally requested, rather than returning something in a marginally improved state.
"We would rather take on fewer watches and finish each one properly than maintain a fast throughput that leaves quality to chance."
— Workshop Principle, Retort Horologie
How we work
Values that guide the bench
Candour
If a repair is not within our capability, we say so. If your watch needs work beyond the original scope, we explain what we found before touching anything further.
Thoroughness
Every watch is assessed fully before work begins. We use timing equipment, pressure testing, and visual inspection systematically — not selectively.
Restraint
We do not polish cases unless asked. We do not replace parts that do not need replacing. The watch you collect should feel like itself — repaired, not re-interpreted.
Honest timelines
Turnaround estimates reflect actual working time and parts sourcing. We do not pad them as a buffer, nor compress them in ways that affect the work.
Documentation
We keep a written record of work performed on each watch. If your watch returns to us in future years, we have a reference point for what was done and when.
Single-point responsibility
One technician handles your watch from assessment to completion. Questions about the work go to the same person who did it.
The people
Small on purpose.
Three people. A combined four decades in horological work. Each handles a defined area of the workshop's output.
Ravi Ananthan
Founder & Lead Technician
Eighteen years working on mechanical movements, with a particular focus on calendar complications. Trained in Switzerland and returned to KL to open the workshop in 2009.
Sook Ling Tan
Crystal & Case Specialist
Handles all crystal and case-related work. Brings careful technique to sapphire fitting and pressure testing, having spent twelve years in a watch manufacturing environment before joining the workshop.
Ahmad Faruqi
Parts Procurement & Client Intake
Manages supplier relationships and parts sourcing across the region and beyond. Also handles all initial client communication and intake assessments, ensuring nothing is lost in translation before work begins.
How we work
Standards at the bench
Timing verification
All mechanical movements are tested on a timing machine after service to confirm rate accuracy across positions.
Pressure testing
Every watch opened for crown or crystal work undergoes a dry pressure test before return. Gaskets replaced as a matter of course.
Written intake records
Condition documented on arrival and departure. Photographic record available on request. Findings put in writing before work begins.
Parts traceability
Components sourced from established suppliers. Specification matching documented. No generic substitutions without explicit client approval.
Background
Horological work in Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur's watch-owning community encompasses a wide range of collecting habits — from entry-level automatics acquired during travel to inherited pieces with sentimental weight well beyond their market value. What most of these watches share is a need, at some point, for intervention from someone who understands how a mechanical movement works at the component level.
Retort Horologie occupies a specific position in this landscape. We are not a brand service centre, nor a general-purpose repair shop that handles electronics and batteries alongside mechanical movements. The workshop's focus on complications — perpetual calendars, chronographs, and other multi-function mechanisms — reflects where formal training and fifteen years of accumulated practical knowledge sit most usefully.
The Jalan Sultan Ismail address places us within reach of the city's business districts and is accessible from major transit points without difficulty. For clients from outside Kuala Lumpur, postal handling is available with documented intake procedures and full condition reporting before any work proceeds.
We're easy to reach
A conversation costs nothing.
If you are unsure whether your watch needs repair or what kind of work is involved, feel free to get in touch. We will describe what we would need to assess and what the process looks like from there.
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