John Alabaster Watch & Clock Repair

I bought a smart watch and could not get one of the band pins to stick. John was able to do in 3 minutes what I could not do in 2 hours. When I asked what I owe, as I felt I should pay for his expertise, he said don’t worry about it. When it comes time to buy a real watch I will be headed back to John.

I definitely recommend this watch repair shop. Michael succeeded in getting my little Swiss clock to work again after other shops in the area refused to even take a look. I’m very grateful and wouldn’t hesitate to use their services in the future.

I dropped my Oris watch on our tile floor and the second hand fell off and was sliding around on the watch face.
This morning my wife and I went to Alabaster’s and they fixed it in 5 minutes and only charged me $ 10. It would have cost me $ 200+ to send it off the factory service center and it would have been gone for a month or more.
Alabaster’s has friendly and fast service!

This is an outstanding shop. Great service, knowledgeable and reasonable prices.
Easy parking and convenient location.
They have repaired two of my vintage watches… will definitely use them again.

The second hand of my Citizen WR200 was not lining up at 12:00 to start the timer. I took it to Alabaster thinking it would need a cleaning and adjustment. Tim was working and he showed me how to simply adjust the second hand myself – no charge, and I learned something new!

I have three clocks, one antique 1920’s, one replica of a Dutch hanging clock and a grandfather clock. The first two stopped working more than a decade ago. The last one, the grandfather clock, we purchased from the Vienna Clock Shop but any attempt at getting them to come out and service it was met with utter rudeness. I was told that if I hadn’t had it serviced in 14 years it wouldn’t do any good now. So when that clock stopped running I decided to give John Alabaster a try. Their website said they’d come onsite to service grandfather clocks and so they did. Michael came one night after work and fixed the clock and serviced it for a very reasonable price. He also took the other two clocks with him and fixed those for about half of what the Vienna Clock Shop estimated for their repair. I’ve had some problems since with the antique clock which I inherited from my grandparents and is very fragile. Michael has been nothing but wonderful either having it at the shop to work on it or come by our house to adjust it. I can’t say enough good about this business!

I have had John work on my Rolex Explorer 2, Omega Seamaster, Bell & Ross, vintage Heuer Monaco, and Omega Speedmaster. Each and every time the service has been impeccable. Fantastic craftsmanship. Excellent customer service. Great prices. I would recommend John to anyone.
On a side note, I have personally witnessed John working with what I would consider to be «difficult» customers. I once watched him explain how to an elderly man how to set the time on his watch. Even though the customer couldn’t understand the easiest of instructions, John took the time to make sure that the customer was happy.
If you are lucky you can also get John to share some old Rolex stories.
If I could give 10 stars I would.

Great service and unique expertise. If you ever need any watch repair get down and see John. A master of his trade.

Wife dropped her very old Hamilton wrist watch on the floor and the minute hand fell off the post. Brought it in to reattach the Hand and have the movement looked at. The gentleman uncased it, reattached the hand, and gave the movement a quick look for damage. «balance spring looks good, no charge», he says. In and out in ten minutes.
Cool shop. Friendly watchmakers. I look forward to coming back!

I took my Tag Heuer Aquaracer watch for a battery. 15 minutes later I had a new battery for the price of $ 10.00. Very pleasant service. Last time I took this watch to the jeweler I bought it from, and the watch was away for 2weeks and it cost $ 50!!. Get your watch batteries here!

Unbelievable in this day and age that a company can be so wonderful! I took my Dad’s solid gold Omega to them after Tysons Watch and Jewelry Exchange wrecked the heck out of the back of it by replacing the battery. Tysons told me also I needed a new movement for $ 550.00. The apprentice at John Alabaster was polite and low key and suggested that perhaps the new battery was causing a problem. They watched it for a couple days to be sure it was okay and then called me to pick it up. Stupid Tysons had put the wrong size battery in!!! All it needed was a $ 10 correct size battery.
PS My regular jeweler sent me to John Alabaster so I guess they have a good reputation among the jewelry community.

Very impressed! John Alabaster has been in business for over 40 years. His knowledge is world class; through his original training at Rolex and his countless watches and clocks he has rejuvenated. His level of honesty and integrity are rare to find in business.

I’ve used this business only to replace watch batteries on two of my watches but they did a great job doing it. Fast, friendly, and great price. This is my second time replacing my battery on my watch. I’ll def go back and get a cleaning on my older Tag Heur watch.

very nice company very nice people that work in here brought in my watch to fix the band the gentleman took my watch to the back did it for free handed it back to me and said it’s on the house super cool people they definitely know their stuff highly recommend them and by the way my watch was a $ 15k Cartier

Thanks Michael for your Customer service! I recently bought a Maurice Lacroix from another shop in Vienna and I wanted to have it checked out by John Alabaster because I had a feeling something was wrong with it. John looked at the watch and then told me what was wrong with it. I was able to return the watch with a full refund from this other place because I had knowledge of what was wrong with it. It if wasn’t for Michael and John helping me out I would of been stuck with a $ 1900.00 watch and costly repairs on top of that.

Stay away! They dented my Movado watch changing the battery but offered to «buff it out.» When I picked it up, it was a totally different watch! They refused to admit the error. The model was similar (even said «we checked — model is $ 250») — mine was $ 400). The bangles were more ornamental than mine. The associate revealed his hand to me by talking about finding the model number on e-​Bay and other clues. He told the owner a totally different story than what occurred. The owned listen to his story that covered his tracks and not mine. Net net — I lost my favorite watch. And the worst part — horrible, rude customer service as if I made up the story.

I brought a watch here for repair because another watch store I went to, caused a malfunction during a simple battery replacement. Within minutes, the young man behind the counter fixed the problem free of charge. The older gentleman was very kind and friendly with all the patrons. I believe he’s from England.
Anyway, I will be taking all my watches here from now on because of their proven competence and customer service. One minor repair they helped me with has now made me a customer for life.

I’ve had this watch for years, and I don’t like just anybody changing the battery. John and his helper are experienced and their prices are fantastic. Honest and decent service at a good price.

I have a more than 70-​year-​old watch that belonged to my great grandmother that I recently needed tuned up to make it work again. Mr. Alabaster was trained by Rolex and has been running his shop in the D.C. area for decades. When I brought in the watch, he instantly popped it open and identified the problem, his nimble fingers having obviously performed this action more times than they could count. His manner and obvious skill immediately instilled confidence in me, and I left the watch in his hands.
The watch needed a thorough cleaning to work properly, which cost $ 95. I have not had it cleaned before, but I understand that this is pretty standard for antique watches. It also took about three weeks, but then again, the watch was done when the shop said it would be, which is what counts. I would definitely use Mr. Alabaster again for delicate watch or clock repairs.