OUR STORY
A workshop built on
patience and precision
Jewelplate was founded with a simple idea: that watches worth wearing are worth caring for properly, and that good repair work takes the time it takes.
Back to HomeWHO WE ARE
The Jewelplate story
Jewelplate opened in Mai Khao in 2011, in a rented room above a hardware shop on Mukkala Road. The founder, Khun Wanchai, had spent the previous decade working for a Swiss-brand service centre in Bangkok before deciding he wanted smaller scale — fewer watches per week, more time per watch.
The name came from his grandfather's trade. The old man was a silversmith who applied thin decorative plates to jewellery and watch cases — patient, exacting work that left no margin for hurry. The name stuck, and so did the approach.
Today the workshop handles three services and nothing else. Battery replacements and water-resistance checks for everyday quartz pieces. Full movement overhauls for mechanical watches that have been running uneven. And end-to-end vintage restorations for older pieces where the history matters as much as the movement.
Phuket draws a steady mix of residents and long-stay visitors, many of them carrying watches that haven't been serviced in years. We see a fair number of pieces from the 1950s through the 1980s — chronographs, dress watches, field watches, dive pieces — and we treat each one as the specific object it is, not a category.
WHAT GUIDES US
Our values in practice
Transparency before any work starts
We look at the watch first and explain what we find in plain language. No jargon, no pressure. You decide what happens next.
Respect for original character
We do not buff dials or re-lacquer cases unless explicitly asked. Wear tells a story, and it's not ours to erase.
Honest timelines
Mechanical service takes two to four weeks. Vintage restoration can run six to ten. We say so up front and update you if anything shifts.
A record with every job
Each completed service comes with written notes on condition observed and work performed. Vintage restorations include a photographic record.
THE BENCH
People behind the work
Wanchai Chantarasombat
Founder & Lead Watchmaker
Over two decades at the bench, with a decade in a Bangkok service centre before returning to craft-scale work. Handles all mechanical servicing and vintage restoration assessments personally.
Praew Kamolrat
Watchmaker & Parts Sourcing
Trained in Chiang Mai and joined the workshop in 2017. Leads quartz servicing and battery work, and manages the supplier network for period-correct vintage components.
Anong Thipchom
Workshop Coordinator
Manages intake, client communication, and handback documentation. Ensures every owner is kept informed from the moment their watch arrives to when it leaves.
HOW WE WORK
Workshop standards
The processes below are not marketing copy — they describe how work actually moves through the workshop.
Intake assessment before commitment
Every watch is examined and quoted before any disassembly. The owner approves scope and price in writing before work begins. No surprises at collection.
Secure storage throughout
Watches in service are kept in a climate-controlled, locked cabinet. A paper log records every movement in and out of storage. Insurance covers items under our care.
Water-resistance testing on appropriate pieces
Cases designed with water resistance are tested after reassembly using a dry pressure gauge — no wet testing that might push moisture into the movement.
Timing regulation across positions
Mechanical movements are regulated over several days in multiple positions before handback. We record the daily rate and include the figures in the condition report.
Parts provenance tracking
For vintage restorations, every sourced part is documented with its origin. Where a period-correct component is unavailable, we discuss options with the owner before fitting anything else.
Photographic records on restoration work
Vintage restorations are photographed at key stages — before, during disassembly, movement components, and after. Owners receive the full set alongside the written report.
ABOUT THE CRAFT
Watch repair in Phuket — what the work actually involves
Mechanical watchmaking is a discipline where scale matters. A mainspring measured in hundredths of a millimetre, pivot holes that hold lubricant by surface tension alone, escapement geometry that determines whether a watch gains or loses two seconds a day or twenty. The work requires magnification, purpose-built tools, and accumulated familiarity with individual movement calibres.
At Jewelplate we work on Swiss, Japanese, and German movements from the mid-twentieth century to the present. A full service on an automatic movement — strip, clean in an ultrasonic bath, dry, inspect each component, replace worn parts, reassemble, lubricate at the correct points in the correct quantities, close, regulate — takes a trained watchmaker a full working day at minimum. The multi-day timing observation that follows is not optional; it is how you know the regulation held.
Vintage restoration work adds complexity: dials that crack if touched carelessly, crystals cut to shapes no longer stocked by anyone, case alloys that respond poorly to modern buffing compounds. We approach each piece as a problem in practical history as much as mechanics — what was the original specification, what has happened to it since, and what can be done now that respects both.
Phuket's climate is relevant. High humidity accelerates gasket degradation and encourages moisture ingress into crowns and pushers. A watch worn regularly in and around the sea needs its gaskets inspected more often than the manufacturer's general guidance suggests. We mention this at every battery change because owners often do not know, and the difference between a watch that floods and one that does not is frequently a ฿200 gasket replaced at the right time.
BRING YOUR WATCH IN
Questions about your watch?
We are happy to take a look and tell you what we find before you decide anything. Drop us a message or call the workshop.
Contact the Workshop