Service Terms

These terms apply to every watch sent to Surgical Watch Works ("we", "us") for assessment, service, or restoration. By submitting a repair request or signing the shipping authorization, you ("you", the customer) agree to them. Please read them; they're written to be understood.

1. Two-step authorization

Assessment first. Your signed shipping authorization lets us receive your watch, open the case, remove the bracelet or strap, disassemble the movement as needed to diagnose it, run timing, magnetism, and water-resistance tests, and photograph or video it on arrival and during service. It does not authorize repair work.

Then a written estimate. After inspection you'll receive a written estimate describing the work, parts, price, and timeline. Repair work begins only after you approve it. Your approval is a binding agreement for that scope. Estimates are valid for 90 days.

If something else turns up. Problems that can't be seen until the watch is opened are common in older pieces. If we find one, work pauses and you get a revised estimate to approve or decline. We never do work you haven't approved.

2. No assessment fee

Assessment is free. If you decline the estimate, your watch is reassembled and returned to you at your cost for insured return shipping, at the carrier's actual rate for your declared value. Nothing else is charged.

3. Parts, polishing, and originality

We are an independent watchmaker, not a brand-authorized service center. Some manufacturers, including Rolex, do not sell parts to independents.

• Genuine manufacturer parts are used wherever they're available.
• We ask before using any non-genuine part, refinishing a dial or hands, or polishing a case or bracelet. Your estimate will ask for your polishing preference, and we follow it unless you change it in writing.
• Any non-genuine part is listed on your invoice. Non-genuine parts can affect brand-service-center eligibility and resale value.
• Replaced parts are returned to you with the watch unless you tell us otherwise when approving the estimate.

4. Vintage watches and inherent risk

Older watches contain parts that may be brittle, corroded, or already weakened in ways that can't be seen until the watch is opened. Despite careful, proper work, opening, cleaning, and reassembly can reveal or cause failure of such parts, including dials and dial printing, hands, luminous material, crystals, gaskets, case tubes, seized screws, and plating. We aren't responsible for pre-existing or hidden faults, or for failure of already-weakened parts that occurs despite proper care. Vintage watches are not warranted for water resistance.

5. Service warranty

Movement service work is warranted for 12 months from the return-ship date against defects in our workmanship. If a covered fault appears, we'll correct it at no charge; you cover shipping to us and we cover the return.

Not covered: water entry, shock or impact damage, misuse, magnetization, normal wear, parts we didn't replace or service, work done by anyone else after ours, and water resistance on vintage watches. Water-resistance testing confirms the watch held pressure on the day of testing; it isn't a guarantee against future water entry, and gaskets age.

6. Declared value and limit of responsibility

You declare a replacement value on the shipping form. We insure your watch for that amount while it's in our care and on the return trip.

If your watch is lost, stolen, or damaged while in our care through our ordinary negligence, our total responsibility is limited to the lower of (a) the reasonable cost to repair or replace it with one of comparable kind and condition, or (b) your declared value (if none was declared, $500). We're not responsible for indirect or consequential losses such as loss of use, lost profits, or sentimental value. This limit does not apply to losses caused by our fraud, willful misconduct, or gross negligence, or to any liability that Texas law does not allow us to limit. Any change to your declared value must be sent in writing before the return label is created.

7. Shipping

Our prepaid label. If you choose a prepaid, insured label from us, the cost of the label is added to your invoice. Coverage applies only if you double-box the watch with padding and no brand or content markings on the outer box, hand the package to an employee at a staffed FedEx location (not a drop box), keep the receipt, and ship within 10 days of receiving the label. If a package is lost or damaged in transit, we file the claim and your recovery is limited to what the insurer pays, up to your declared value. We aren't responsible for damage caused by your packaging.

Your own carrier. If you ship with your own carrier, the watch is at your risk until we sign for it. FedEx and UPS cap their own liability on watches at $1,000 and about $500 respectively regardless of the value declared; USPS Registered Mail or third-party insurance is recommended above those amounts.

Return delivery. Watches are returned insured for the declared value with adult signature required, or held at a FedEx location of your choice for pickup with government photo ID. FedEx holds packages for about 7 days before returning them at your expense. We aren't responsible for loss or delay caused by an address you supplied incorrectly, and we don't ship to PO Boxes.

On arrival. Every watch is photographed and its condition documented on arrival. If what arrives differs from what you described, or items you listed are missing, we'll contact you before doing anything else.

8. Payment

Payment in full is due before your watch ships back. We'll send a payment link with your completion notice. Where a parts deposit is needed for a large order, it's stated on your estimate and credited to the final invoice.

9. Unclaimed or unpaid watches

We hold your watch after telling you the work is finished or the estimate was declined. If we haven't received payment or shipping instructions within 30 days of that notice, we may charge storage of $10 per month. If the watch remains unpaid or unclaimed 90 days after that notice, we'll send a final written notice by certified mail and email to the addresses you gave us. If we still hear nothing 30 days after that notice, we may sell or otherwise dispose of the watch as allowed by Texas law (Texas Property Code, Chapter 70) to recover our charges, storage fees, and reasonable costs of sale. Any money left over belongs to you; we'll hold it for you or remit it to the state if the law requires. Please keep your contact details current.

10. Ownership and our right to decline

You confirm that you own the watch or have the owner's permission to have it serviced, and that to the best of your knowledge it isn't stolen. We may pause or decline work, return the watch, and comply with any legal obligation if we have reasonable concerns about ownership, authenticity, or legality. We may also decline a job after inspection for any reason, in which case the watch is returned at our cost.

11. Cancellation

You may cancel at no charge any time before approving an estimate; you pay only insured return shipping. Once you approve an estimate and work begins, the approved amount is due, less any parts not yet ordered.

12. Photos

We photograph every watch for our records and for your condition report. We share before-and-after photos publicly only if you opted in on the shipping form, never with your name, location, serial number, engravings, or other identifying details, and you can withdraw that permission at any time by email.

13. Electronic records

You agree to receive and sign estimates, authorizations, updates, and invoices electronically. You can request a paper copy of any record, or withdraw this consent, by emailing us; if you withdraw, we'll handle your repair by mail. To use electronic records you need internet access, a current web browser, an email account, and software that opens PDF files. We keep signed records for at least seven years.

14. Governing law and disputes

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Texas. Any dispute will be brought in the state courts of [County] County, Texas, except that either of us may bring a claim in small-claims court where permitted. We'd much rather talk first: email us and we'll work it out.

15. Contact

Surgical Watch Works · surgical.watch.works@gmail.com