Mid-City Clock Repair Shop With a 1-Year Warranty: JP Clocks

JP Clocks Antique Repair at 4912 Venice Blvd., one block east of La Brea, is the Mid-City clock repair shop for antique clocks, music boxes and automatons, and it gives free estimates in the store or by phone when a clock can be judged that way. Every clock repair comes with a 1-year warranty, and the shop offers pickup and delivery, so an heirloom does not have to ride across town in your back seat.

The About page tells the founder's story. Jesus Pantoja, the JP of the name, spent nine consecutive years learning to repair and restore clocks and watches of all sizes, then opened his own one-room shop in a small parking lot off Melrose Place. The site says that address led to work for Hollywood celebrities who shopped the antique dealers nearby.

He later moved to a space on Sunset Boulevard between the old Samuel French bookstore and the Bonhams auction rooms, and in 2016 bought the Venice Boulevard building, which gave him a larger showroom and repair shop. The site says the clock repair business has been established in Los Angeles for over 20 years and the shop still works from the Venice Boulevard building today.

The services page divides the work into overhaul and restoration. An overhaul means the movement comes out, is fully disassembled and cleaned ultrasonically, worn bushings are replaced, and the movement is lubricated and put back together. Restoration goes further and can include refinishing the case, the face and the hands, plus enamel dial restoration for damaged porcelain dials.

The policy that matters most to collectors is written plainly: the shop does not change the face, hands or parts before discussing it with the customer. For an antique clock, original hands and an original dial hold much of the value, so that promise is worth hearing out loud when you hand the clock over.

The shop offers free estimates in the store, and by phone when the problem can be judged that way. A phone estimate works best for a clear fault, such as a broken mainspring or a strike that has fallen out of sequence.

For a walk-in, bring the clock with its pendulum and key wrapped separately, and for a weight-driven clock, label the weights left, center and right. The building has a showroom at the front, so it is easy to see the shop's own restored clocks while your piece is looked over.

The warranty page gives a 1-year warranty on all clock repairs, with two exclusions: mishandling of the clock and broken mainsprings. The second exclusion is common among clock repairers, because a mainspring can fail without warning whatever the quality of the work, and it is fair to ask whether a new spring is part of your quote.

The same page states that while a clock is being repaired the shop is not responsible for damage from fire, theft or earthquake. In Los Angeles that last word is not a formality, so if the clock is valuable, check that your homeowner's or collection insurance covers it while it is off the premises before you drop it off.

The bench goes beyond clocks. The services list includes music boxes, automatons and singing bird boxes, and the shop says it belongs to the National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors and the Music Box Society. Few repairers in Los Angeles take on singing birds, whose bellows and tiny cams need the same patience as a fine clock movement.

Appraisal is another service. The site says the shop is often called on to price pieces for estate sales and auction houses, and that it bases valuations on recent auction results for similar items. If you have inherited a clock and want to know whether it deserves a full restoration, ask for a valuation along with the repair estimate.

JP Clocks provides a moving service for grandfather clocks within Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura and Riverside counties. The warranty and shipping page says tall-case clocks can be delivered within 200 miles of Los Angeles, and the shop will help you set a clock up over the telephone once it arrives. Beyond that distance, a professional packing company is needed.

The shop also rents clocks for home staging, film, television and stage productions, which suits its location between Hollywood and Culver City. The showroom stock covers American, Austrian, Danish, English, French, German, Swedish and Swiss clocks, plus electric flip clocks from the 1940s to the 1960s, so a set dresser can usually find a period piece here.

The shop sits on Venice Boulevard just east of La Brea Avenue, in the flat, mixed stretch of Mid-City between Hollywood and Culver City. Drive or ride north on La Brea for about two miles to reach the Miracle Mile, where the La Brea Tar Pits and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art face Wilshire Boulevard and make a full afternoon after a clock drop-off.

Closer in, Little Ethiopia on Fairfax Avenue between Olympic and Pico has a short row of Ethiopian restaurants and coffee shops for an early lunch. Metro bus lines run along Venice Boulevard and La Brea Avenue, so the shop is reachable without a car if you are only bringing in a small mantel clock or a music box.

Address: 4912 Venice Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90019, one block east of La Brea Avenue in Mid-City. Estimates are free in the store and by phone when possible. Every clock repair carries a 1-year warranty, excluding mishandling and broken mainsprings. Pickup and delivery are available, and tall-case clocks can be moved within Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura and Riverside counties.

The site does not list opening hours, so phone ahead to arrange a drop-off time. Services: overhaul, restoration, enamel dials, music boxes, automatons, singing birds, appraisals and clock rentals. Parts, hands and dials are not changed without discussing it with you first.