COLUMBIA — Kathy Jenkins is the operator of a new business — and an apprentice there at the similar time.
Jenkins is the operator of Watch Fix Station, with opened in August just off Garners Ferry Highway at 761 Greenlawn Push.
She talked John Gawronski, a watchmaker of 30 years’ working experience, out of retirement to be part of the new undertaking.
Gawronski used to very own The Wristwatch Doc, a repair service small business positioned in Forest Acres and afterwards in Cayce. Now he is a pleased staff, operating away at a brightly lit desk area with specialised machines and countless numbers of elements in close proximity to to hand.
“She is the boss,” Gawronski explained.

He experienced operated the look at shop, fixing most types of watches relationship back to the 1800s, for 18 a long time. But a very long health and fitness crisis of cluster migraine complications shut him down in 2018 and landed him in the healthcare facility.
The substantial-magnification eyewear needed for the operate was off-restrictions all of a sudden, for the reason that it may cause new headaches.
Soon after his well being improved, Jenkins bought him to help start the new enterprise. “She talked me out of retirement,” Gawronski mentioned.
He functions as the in-dwelling watchmaker executing repairs and is schooling Jenkins to do the identical intricate do the job.
Jenkins, whose history is in jewellery-creating, presently requires treatment of the extra standard responsibilities at the store, this sort of as restoring Rolex watchbands and changing batteries.
In a pair of years, she expects to study the whole services of a watchmaker.
That places her into a trade with a extensive record, just one that has been male-dominated — and just one with few impartial operators.
View Fix Station is the only small business in the state with an in-house watchmaker accomplishing a spectrum of repairs, Gawronski claimed. Other jewelers and retailers will mail a observe, even 1 valued at 1000’s of pounds, off for repairs to a manufacturer.

Gawronski can repair them in his store, many thanks in huge portion to thousands of lbs . of watches and areas that he accumulated above the yrs. He has bought out much more than 100 other watchmakers as they shut their firms to build a massive inventory of historic parts.
The business has more than 10,000 watches that can be employed for mend components, in addition about a person ton of different springs, gears and other loose areas.
“If you bring in your 1940s Elgin that’s a windup and it needs to be serviced, not only can we maintenance it with the unique parts from the 1940s, we do it in-house,” Jenkins explained.
There are probably 300 impartial watchmakers in small business in the United States, Gawronski said. Most people today in the subject are employed at premium pay out to perform for one particular organization.
The enormous shop of pieces on hand is key to trying to keep an independent company jogging because several organizations will not share their areas. They would somewhat have the buyer ship them the watch — or just invest in a new a single, Gawronski said.
A client recently introduced them a parent’s Bulova enjoy from the 1940s soon after taking it to 12 distinct spots in search of mend work. No a person experienced the ideal components, Jenkins claimed, and numerous of them encouraged converting the check out from mechanical to a modern-day battery-run quartz look at.
Jenkins and Gawronski, on the other hand, experienced on hand a dozen variations of the Bulova movement, the watch’s main mechanism. “We could have designed them a new one,” he reported.
Is there need for restore of regular watches in the age of the fitness tracker and smartwatch? Certainly, they say.
Millions of watches are out in the market nonetheless, and even now becoming offered.
Many men and women earlier mentioned the age of 35 continue to are in the behavior of donning a observe, and some younger people are finding up watches as a collectible item or piece of jewellery they like.

They opened their doors in mid-August and already are flooded with fix requests. Any sizeable repair past replacing a battery is using about 3 months to finish.
They have watches in stock they want to restore and set for sale, but they have so a lot of repairs to do that there is no time, Jenkins stated. The situations at the entrance of the retailer remain empty.
Quite a few customers trying to find restore do the job are like the Bulova operator, bringing in a enjoy that may not be costly but has benefit to them because of spouse and children connections.
“Even if they will not use it every working day, they however want them,” Gawronski mentioned.