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About Me
Me and my bench



 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Me at work at my bench


Hello!  My name is Christopher Maugham.  I was born in the middle of Accutron production in 1970 in New Brunswick, New Jersey.  I grew up, went to school, yada, yada, yada...

My interest in watches started when I was only 10 or 11 when I was given a LeCoultre Day and Date wristwatch:

At the time I was only allowed to wear it during special occasions, but when I did I felt like someone special.  As I got older I became aware of the wide variety of vintage timepieces.  We often took family outings to outdoor flea markets where I saw many watches I didn't know anything about.  As I got older and had some of my own money to spend I bought my first "Complete Price Guide to Watches" and I absorbed everything it had to teach.  Before long I was going back to those flea markets and buying watches.  It was always a great thrill, but my collection had no direction.  I had some favorites such as my Hamilton Sidney:
(which I will wear regularly until I die) and an unusual Accutron which no Accutron collector I met in these early travels had ever seen before:
As my collection grew I realized I was in need of a watchmaker to service some watches I had purchased that were not running quite right.  Being a poor college student meant that there was no way I could afford to pay for quality repairs.  Being mechanically inclined I purchased a good set of screwdrivers, an ultrasonic, cleaning solutions, oils, etc., and  a book titled "Watch Repairing as a Hobby".  In no time I was overhauling my own watches, but when this Accutron that I had bought began to perform poorly I found that there was nothing I could do.  I took it apart, cleaned it, lubricated it, reassembled it, yelled, screamed and blasphemed but to no avail.  I didn't have the secrets to this mysterious monster.  Of course I blamed the watch, and all Accutrons, as finicky and unreliable.

Over the years I had many great watch purchases and other adventures.  I was working as a goldsmith and frequented going out of business auctions of jewelry manufacturers and retailers.  I bought a great many jewelry and watch tools and at some point ended up with an Accutron test meter.  I thought I would defeat this monster for sure now.  However, without a single notion of how to use this new tool to my advantage the watch was again dismissed and relegated to the junk drawer. 

I often purchased boxes of watches to get something I wanted, but there always seemed to be another of those damned Accutrons in each box.  Eventually I had a junk drawer dedicated to these interesting looking, but unreliable watches.  Regardless of what I had read about Accutron accuracy and reliability in the NAWCC Bulletin I continued to ignore these watches.

Then providence delivered to me a fellow collector with just as a directionless collection as mine, save for the fact that he had Accutrons that did indeed run reliably.  He didn't repair them, nor did he know anyone who did.  He just bought them because they were running well and he liked them.  We spoke at length about my frustration and this test meter I had but didn't know how to use.  He then said, just get yourself a service manual for Accutrons.  A simple enough concept, but I had never seen one for sale anywhere.  To make a long story short (too late) he had service manuals for 214's and 218's and he loaned them to me so I could photocopy them.  Before long I had all those junk Accutrons running and keeping time more reliably than I ever thought possible. 

Now, in 2001, I have been repairing watches for 12 years.  I don't offer any other repair services other than for Accutrons because there are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of qualified mechanical watch repair persons.  I like to be different and to be challenged.  I want to have to think to find a solution to a problem.  So at times I am angry and frustrated with a watch, but the satisfaction of seeing it keep Accutron time again keeps me coming back for more.

This is a hobby for me and I have spent as much as 10-12 hours labor on a watch for a $125 fee because it is the results that I find most rewarding.  I was a Goldsmith for 11 years and was only the 14th person in the country to become a Jewelers of America, Certified Master Bench Jeweler.  I left it behind to return to college after a lower back injury made 8 hours a day of bench work too painful.  I graduated in May of 2003 from Penn State with a Masters Degree in Mechanical Engineering.  We relocated to south Florida in the summer of  2005 where I now work full time as the Manager of Product Development for a rapidly growing manufacturer of Titanium products. 

I want to thank my wife, Pami.  Without her kindness, love, support and understanding she would have kicked me and the smelly, noisy and expensive hobby of watchmaking out long ago.