COMPANY NODE
A workshop that
takes notes.
Every watch that passes through Escapement leaves with a written record of what was found and what was done. That is the standard we hold ourselves to.
← Back to HomeOUR STORY
How Escapement came to be.
Escapement opened on Silom Road with a single intention: to be the workshop you could hand a watch to and trust it would be handled carefully, looked at thoroughly, and returned with a clear account of what had been done.
The name comes from the part of a mechanical movement that regulates the release of stored energy — a small, precise mechanism that everything else in the watch depends on. We chose it because it describes the kind of attention we think every watch deserves: quiet, measured, and without drama.
Bangkok has no shortage of places to leave a watch. What we found missing was the documentation — the written note that travels with the piece, the honest assessment that tells you what you are working with before money changes hands, the restoration report that stays useful for decades. Those are the things we built the workshop around.
We work on mechanical and automatic movements across a broad range of marques. When a piece falls outside our scope, we say so before taking it in rather than after. When the work is straightforward, we describe it plainly. When it is complex, we agree the scope in stages so nothing moves forward without your knowledge.
MISSION
What we are here to do.
To carry out honest, well-documented watch servicing and restoration — work that extends the useful life of a piece, respects its history, and leaves its owner better informed than before they came in.
VALUES
- Candour. We tell you what we find, including when what we find is that the watch needs more work than you expected.
- Documentation. Every service produces a written record that stays with the watch for its lifetime.
- Restraint. We do not do more to a watch than it needs, and we do not refinish surfaces that carry the patina of use.
- Continuity. Our records are designed to remain legible and useful long after the work is done.
THE BENCH
The people who do the work.
Thanat Nopwong
Master Watchmaker
Seventeen years working on Swiss and Japanese mechanical movements. Leads all archive-grade restorations and writes the final assessment reports.
Pimwadee Lertrak
Movement Technician
Specialises in standard services, water-resistance renewal, and timing measurement. Produces the service logs for all workshop pieces.
Arun Kongklan
Client Liaison & Documentation
Manages intake, client communication, and the archive of all workshop records. The first point of contact for any enquiry.
STANDARDS
How the workshop operates.
Written intake receipt
Every watch taken in receives a written receipt describing its condition at the moment of handover. This forms the baseline for all subsequent work.
Timing verification
Movement timing is measured before and after any service. The results are recorded so you can see the effect of the work on the watch's performance.
Pressure testing
Any service involving gasket work includes a pressure test. The rated specification and test result are logged in the service record.
Photographic records
Restoration work is photographed at each significant stage. Images are archived and included with the bound report on completion.
Staged scope agreement
For restoration work, scope is confirmed in stages. No significant step proceeds without your explicit agreement, so there are no unwelcome surprises.
Secure custody
The workshop is on a managed-access floor. All pieces in care are logged by intake number and stored securely throughout the service period.
THE CRAFT
What working on mechanical watches actually involves.
A mechanical watch movement is made up of several hundred parts, many of them smaller than a grain of rice. The escapement — the mechanism the workshop is named for — is a lever and wheel assembly that releases the mainspring's energy in controlled increments, creating the tick. When a movement runs fast or slow, the rate of that release is what gets adjusted.
A standard service involves disassembling the movement completely, cleaning each part ultrasonically, inspecting for wear, replacing worn parts and oils, then reassembling and regulating to within the movement's specified tolerance. Done well, it extends the working life of the watch by another several years. Left undone, old oil degrades and causes friction damage that becomes expensive to address later.
Water resistance is not a permanent property. The gaskets that seal a case degrade over time, especially in Bangkok's humidity. Renewing them and pressure-testing the case is a straightforward procedure that makes a significant practical difference for a watch worn near water.
Restoration work is different in character. The question is not just whether the movement functions correctly but whether the piece is returned to something close to its original condition without disturbing the evidence of its history. That requires a considered approach to every decision — what to clean, what to leave, what can be sourced in period-correct form and what cannot. It is slow work by nature, and we do not try to speed it up.
NEXT STEP
Ready to bring a watch in?
A short message is all it takes to get started. Tell us about the watch and we will come back to you with an honest initial view.
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