Client testimonials

Client experiences

What people have
found here.

A selection of accounts from clients who brought their watches to us. We have not edited these for polish — the words are their own.

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450+

Watches serviced

Since 2009

4.9

Average satisfaction

Based on client feedback

15+

Years in operation

Same address, same standard

97%

Client return rate

Returning with a second watch

Client feedback

In their words

WC

Wei Cheong Lim

Petaling Jaya

My grandfather's dress watch had sat in a drawer for three years after the crown snapped inside the case. I was nervous to take it anywhere. Ravi explained the extraction process clearly, showed me the broken stem on return, and the watch ran properly for the first time in years. The care taken was obvious.

Service: Emergency Stem Retrieval · March 2025

NR

Nadia Rahman

Bangsar, KL

I had a sapphire crystal installed after my watch took a knock on a door handle. What I appreciated was that Ahmad walked me through the sourcing timeline before work started — it took five days for the right crystal to arrive, and I knew that from day one rather than chasing for updates. Clean result, no marks on the case.

Service: Sapphire Crystal Installation · February 2025

SK

Suresh Krishnamurthy

Mont Kiara, KL

Brought in a perpetual calendar that had been stopped for about eight months. Ravi was straightforward that resetting the mechanism would take time because of the testing involved — he wasn't going to rush the midnight changeover verification. Took four days. The calendar is running correctly now across all displays.

Service: Perpetual Calendar Adjustment · January 2025

TN

Tan Beng Hui

Subang Jaya

I sent a watch by post from Subang. The intake documentation they sent back was genuinely thorough — photographs of every side, a description of the mineral glass scratching, and a note that the crown-tube gasket would be replaced as part of the crystal service. That level of communication is not something I expected.

Service: Sapphire Crystal Installation · March 2025

AZ

Azri Zulkifli

Kuala Lumpur

The thing I valued most was that they did not touch anything before telling me what they found. I came in for a crown issue, and during assessment they found the movement was running fast. They explained it, quoted separately for regulation, and waited for my answer before doing anything. That kind of process matters to me.

Service: Emergency Stem Retrieval · February 2025

PL

Priya Leela

Damansara Heights

My perpetual calendar had been stuck on the wrong month for over a year. I had avoided bringing it in because I wasn't sure anyone would handle it correctly. Ravi clearly knew the complication well — he explained the corrector sequence logic in terms I could follow, and the result speaks for itself. Would return.

Service: Perpetual Calendar Adjustment · January 2025

How repair work unfolds

Three repair accounts

Case study 01 · Stem Retrieval

A broken stem inside a vintage dress watch

Situation

The owner wound the crown on a 1970s manual-wind piece and felt it give way. The crown and about two-thirds of the stem came free; the remaining segment lodged against the movement's setting lever. The watch could not be wound or set, and there was concern the fragment might shift into the gear train.

What was done

The case was opened and the fragment located using magnification. It was extracted using fine-tipped tweezers without touching the lever assembly. A period-appropriate replacement stem was sourced from our parts inventory. The crown tube gasket was replaced. A matched crown was fitted. All positions tested.

Outcome

Watch returned winding smoothly across all positions, keeping time to within +4 seconds per day on the timing machine. Owner collected the watch with a copy of the timing result. Timeline: 3 working days from intake to collection.

Case study 02 · Crystal installation

Mineral-to-sapphire upgrade on a dive watch

Situation

The owner had purchased a dive watch secondhand with a heavily scratched mineral glass crystal. Rather than replacing like-for-like, they wanted to upgrade to sapphire. The case had a slightly non-standard diameter that meant off-the-shelf crystals would not fit without modification.

What was done

Diameter was measured precisely. A sapphire crystal was sourced to specification from a supplier in Japan — this added four days to the timeline, communicated on day one. The crystal gasket was renewed, the sapphire pressed in using calibrated tools, and a pressure test performed at the watch's rated depth specification.

Outcome

Crystal seated cleanly with no case marks. Pressure test passed at rated depth. Owner noted the improvement in legibility immediately. Total timeline: 7 working days including sourcing. Case condition on return matched intake photos.

Case study 03 · Perpetual calendar

Calendar resynchronisation after a power outage

Situation

The owner had restarted a perpetual calendar watch after it ran down during travel. Not knowing the correct procedure, they advanced the hands through midnight multiple times to reach the current time. The calendar was showing an incorrect month and the date was not advancing at midnight as expected.

What was done

The calendar's current mechanical state was mapped by advancing slowly and reading the disc positions. The leap year indicator was found to be one year ahead of its actual position. The mechanism was advanced through the full corrector sequence — a process requiring approximately 90 minutes of careful incremental steps — to reach the correct date and verify the chain.

Outcome

Midnight changeover tested across five day transitions with all displays advancing correctly each time. Owner collected the watch with written confirmation of the current calendar state. No mechanical issues found during the process — adjustment only. Timeline: 4 working days.

Visit or write to us

Contact Retort Horologie

Phone

+60 3-2714 8265

Email

[email protected]

Workshop

55 Jalan Sultan Ismail
50250 Kuala Lumpur

Workshop hours: Mon–Fri 10 AM – 7 PM · Sat 10 AM – 5 PM · Sun Closed

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