It’s About Time

Tried THREE different watch repairs today. This one was able to get my Diesel watch opened, cleaned and battery changed! And quickly. Price is pretty much what you would pay anywhere else.

I goofed up something on my watch trying to change the battery. Walked in and had it fixed while I waited for a very low price. Good to know repair shops like this still exist.

First: Leo (the gentleman whom helped us) informed me that there is no longer a Ronley’s and it is only «It’s About Time…» now. So, the Ronley’s Unilocal page and this are one and the same.
I gave my girlfriend an engagement ring that I ordered online. Since she didn’t know what her ring size was, I had to estimate and have it resized if necessary. I gave it to her on Friday and it was too big. So, the next day I called Leo to inquire about cost and time frame. He said $ 35 and about 2 days. We brought it in Saturday at 11am. When he asked when we needed it by, my girlfriend said as soon as possible. Leo said he would have it done by the end of the day (much sooner than the over the phone estimate). The hours posted for the shop are 10 – 6 on Saturday, so, when 6 came and went we were a little bummed, but understanding that we had requested a short turn around. To our surprise, Leo called at 7:30 to let us know that it was ready. He stayed well past closing to accommodate us and delivered for the agreed upon $ 35! Great and professional service!

Don’t know who Phil is, but Leo was super efficient and nice. He replaced the battery on my low-​end TAG very quickly and efficiently without trying any kind of upsell or wanting to take it in. I was literally in and out in 7 minutes (according to my parking meter). Warning — his in-​store hours are very limited — 4.30−6pm some of the days of the week. He told me he’d been there for 50 years!

Came here to size a watch before work and had to have it done really quickly. Due to its close location to my house I came here… they charged me $ 15!!! I had to ask 2x how much because I thought he made a mistake. I’ll stick with the watch place on Haight that only charges $ 5.

expensive place, charged $ 15 for replacing a watch battery. scam.
chinatown is a lot better.

Not entirely sure what kind of rating to give them, but… I had a strange experience with them the other day. Kind of a long story…
While unpacking from my recent move to the city, I found a relatively newer Movado Sport watch that had been acting up for the past few years and figured it was time to get it checked out. It would sporadically keep time here and there but would often simply stop for days at a time. I had the battery changed out a couple of times in the past, but my regular battery guy finally told me — ‘it’s not the battery, something is wrong with your watch’. I Unilocaled ‘watch repair’ near me in SF and found this place.
I took it in, explained the issue to the guy (‘Phil’) and he told me to leave it with him for a few days so he could figure out what was wrong with it. I get a call from him three days later telling me he knows what the problem is:
Phil: «Your watch has corrosion inside. It needs to be cleaned. It will cost $ 185.»
Me: «$ 185? Are you sure?»
Phil: «Yes. It’s a nice watch and $ 185 is not much for a watch that costs over a thousand dollars.»
Me, knowing that I only spent about $ 300 on it more than 5 years prior: «That’s a lot more than I was expecting. Let me think about it, I will call you back.»
Earlier, when I was in the store, I noticed that he had a lot of used watches and used jewelry for sale… not having much attachment to the watch and having bought it for less than double what he wanted to charge me to fix it, I called him back. This was the exchange:
Me: «Hi Phil, $ 185 is just too much for me. I’m sorry I just can’t do it.»
Phil: «What did you expect? This is a really nice expensive watch and it costs $ 185 to fix. It has corrosion inside.»
Me: «I just can’t afford that right now. But you really seem to like it and I noticed you had a lot of used watches for sale — how about I sell it to you?»
Phil, flustered: «Er, um, well, er, how much do you want for it?»
Me: «Well, your a watch guy and you just told me it’s really nice and it costs over a thousand dollars, how much will you give me for it?»
Phil: «I don’t think I could give you more than $ 40 for it.»
Me: «$ 40? You just told me it’s a nice watch and costs over a thousand dollars. Alright, never mind on the sale… I’ll be there to pick it up tomorrow.»
Phil: «Are you sure you don’t want it cleaned?»
Me: «Yes, I’m sure. I can’t afford that amount. Please have the watch ready as I will not be able to pick it up for a while after that.»
Phil: «OK»
The following day I go to pick it up expecting to pay $ 20-​$ 25 for the assessment but Phil is not there, it’s some other guy. I stand there for 10+ minutes while he finishes up a conversation with a friend before he acknowledges me. I hand him my stub and he goes to the safe and pulls out my watch. The case is still open and he says to me «the watch guy isn’t here right now and this watch is not put back together, can you come back later»? I say to him «Not really, I talked to Phil yesterday and it is very difficult for me to come back later. I told him I was coming in today and needed my watch when I came in because it is difficult for me to come in.» He goes really slowly, looks at the watch, looks at the notes, asks me a bunch of questions about the watch itself, scratches something off the inside, looks at the watch, notes, watch, notes, watch, notes… debates on whether or not he should give it back to me for literally 10 minutes. He then asks me if I need a new battery and I told him it had a new battery when I brought it in. He puts a battery in, closes the case, watches it for a few minutes… he then tells me that there’s no charge and hands the watch to me pretty much exactly like I brought it in. I start to pull out my wallet but he says ‘it looks like it’s working right now, but there’s no charge.‘
It’s been more than a month and my watch is still working. I have no idea what was done or why, but it’s working.
I give this place a 3 star because I really don’t know what really happened. On the one hand, I wonder if Phil was just trying to convince me to pay $ 185 for a non-​problem on an expensive watch. And then to offer me $ 40 for a thousand dollar watch? It made me really suspicious. On top of that, why wasn’t the watch ready when I came back in to pick it up? Was Phil going to try to further convince me that I needed it cleaned? If he left it open for a pertinent reason, why didn’t he call me back to tell me what the issue was or call to check up on it? Why didn’t the other guy know anything about what was going on and why was he able to fix it for free? It may have just been a fluke.
In any case, I’m making a lot of inferences on what happened but the whole experience has left me with a bad taste. These guys clearly know their stuff. Although I have a working watch and didn’t pay a dime for the repair, I’m not sure I would trust these guys to give me an honest assessment, which sucks. Take your watch there but be mindful.

I grew up with my dad changing the batteries for my watches and while I did learn how to do it myself, I didn’t get a kit. So for the first time ever, I had to get them changed in a shop. Fast service — I got three watches’ batteries replaced and the service was great.

So I bought a geek watch that holds a flash drive on line. It had a flawed design with a non-​standard pin size that kept on breaking or coming apart. I took it to many shops and all frowned and said there was nothing they could do.
It’s About Time thinks outside the box and made me a longer pin to fix the watch. Pretty amazing service for a reasonable price. They saved my watch from the trash bin.

12 dollars to remove 2 links from a watch band. 2 minutes of work.
15 dollars for a watch battery.
Place is way overpriced and overall just has a shady vibe. For simple things like band adjustment, just go to China Town instead!

So frustrated right now. I work at UCSF and had about 5 watches that all needed batteries and one that needed a new wrist band so I thought I could find something around UC and do it on an early lunch hour. I got there at 10am (where Unilocal and the sign on their door said they opened) and it was locked up tight (steel gate, and a little clock showing they would return at 10am). Ok, a few minutes late maybe. 10:15, 10:30, 10:45am — no sign of life at all. I asked the hairdressing business next door if they normally open at 10 like their sign says and she kind of shrugged and told me «maybe they are in there — knock loudly on the door» (really???) So I did out of desperation. Nothing. I left without my watches getting batteries and totally pissed that these seemed pretty much natural behavior. There was another guy waiting with me too who decided to get coffee and come back. I know that there could have been an emergency or something but the hairdresser’s reaction to my question told me everything I need to know about this business. EEK! Methinks not to the 2^nd power on this one. BTW — Ronley’s Jewelers is the same as «It’s about Time» although on Unilocal they are listed as two busineses.

This place is great! Went in for watch battery change, done in 5 minutes flat for $ 20. The guy even set the correct time for my watch when he was done.

My watch had stopped, so I headed for the store fairly late in the day, and to my very pleasant surprise I got it fixed right away, and under 10 minutes, by a very friendly man. Loved the great service.

I want to say how awesome this business is! I hardly ever need to get any watches fixed, thanks to smart phones, but when I needed a new battery on my hard to open Michael Kors watch, the owner at this business was able to complete the switch in under 10 minutes!!!
I first ended up at an «expert» watch repair place on Noriega and 19^th and the woman at that store was unable to get my watch open!!! Expert? Hahaha! I don’t think so. Such false advertisement! I Googled another watch repair place and the next business near me was «It’s About Time».
As soon as I walked in, I was immediately greeted by the owner with such a fantastic personality! I told him my situation with the other watch place and by the time I was finished telling my frustration about how the woman, who was supposedly an expert and couldn’t open my watch to switch out my battery, he was done switching out my watch battery!
I will definitely tell all my techno geek friends about this place, not only for great customer service, but fast service as well!

$ 100 to fix my watch, I got my battery changed, I thought the price was way too steep for fixing a band.

Came in to get the battery on my dad’s watch replaced. He had it done in about five minutes and with a smile the whole time! This is now my go-​to place!

Brought 2 watches here 1. a sports Timex watch just had a battery replacement and 2. a cool looking watch that only cost $ 8 that I bought in Japan. After replacing my Timex battery it just quit on me after a month! What the heck? I even took it to a Timex store. Well, apparently it shorted and I probably shouldn’t have paid for the battery. Thanks for saving me from buying another battery! Whew. Like he said, the guy at Timex isn’t a watch maker, but a guy who replaces batteries and sells watches.
My pin on my other watch came out so they were able to replace it and change the battery. Obviously the watch is worth more than $ 8 to me. Thanks!

Phil did a great job cleaning and repairing a 1960’s Rolex that I wear all of the time. His pricing is very reasonable and he finished the job quickly and as promised, despite being more extensive than initially thought. The watch looks fabulous and works, well, like a Swiss watch is supposed to work! Thanks Phil and I will definitely be back on my next trip to San Francisco.

I don’t know why people think $ 15 is pricey for a battery replacement. They used to charge me $ 25 in Miami and $ 20 in Napa.
Anyway…
I took my watch to get the battery replaced and 5 minutes and $ 15 later, I was out of there. And my baby… well it tells me what time it is now. I am SO excited! And at Cartier they told me it would take them 3 weeks for me to get it back. Pshhh…

Phil is a watchmaker, not a watch breaker.
He adjusted my watch and changed my battery and reset the time all for $ 20. And he even made nice conversation for all 5 minutes I was there.
I will be back for my other watches!