Darbini Watch Repair Shop: Posted Rolex Prices, Open Sundays

Most watch repair counters make you ask for a quote. Darbini Jewelry, at 300 E Colorado Blvd, Suite 179, in Pasadena, does something rarer: its watch repair website prints a Rolex overhaul price list, model by model. A Datejust is $450, a Submariner $495, an Air-King $599. The shop also takes watches seven days a week, so a Sunday afternoon drop-off is possible. That makes it the easiest Pasadena counter to budget for before you leave home.

Darbini traces its trade back to 1940, when, in the family's telling on darbiniwatchrepair.com, Asatur Darbini sat behind his jeweler's bench. The U.S. retail store opened in Pasadena in 1991. Today the business runs two websites: darbinijewelry.com for engagement rings, bracelets, and engraving, and a separate watch repair site devoted almost entirely to Rolex. Both point to the same suite at the Colorado Boulevard shopping center and the same phone number, (626) 795-3828.

Customer reviews on the watch site keep returning to one name: Oscar, the watchmaker behind the counter. Reviewers describe bringing in a 25-year-old Rolex President with an intermittent fault, a 1972 Bulova cocktail watch, and a Rolex with a cracked acrylic crystal, and they credit him with explaining whether a part could be repaired or had to be replaced. The site says the shop has a dedicated, full-time watch technician on site.

The price list is for an overhaul, which Darbini defines as disassembling, cleaning, lubricating, and timing the hundred-plus parts of the movement. Listed figures include Datejust ladies or gents at $450, Day-Date gents at $495, Explorer and Explorer II at $495, GMT II at $495, Sea-Dweller and Milgauss at $495, Yacht-Master at $495, Datejust Oysterquartz at $550, Daytona at $595, and Air-King at $599. Vintage Daytonas are estimate-only.

Parts are extra. The site says that if parts are needed to guarantee proper function and timing for at least the next five years, they are charged on top of the listed overhaul. It also says the shop uses only genuine Rolex parts. So read the posted figure as the labour floor, and ask at the counter whether your watch needs a mainspring, crystal, crown, or gaskets before you sign off.

If your watch is not a Rolex, the jewelry side still handles everyday work. Darbini Jewelry's watch repair page lists battery replacement, cleaning and polishing, crystal repair and replacement, band repair, stem and crown repair, gasket replacement, inspection, overhauls, and water resistance testing. No prices are posted for those jobs, so ask for the figure at the counter before the watch goes in the back.

Every case should be pressure tested once it has been opened, the watch site says, because the gaskets are what keep water out. The shop is careful with its wording here: it pressure tests before returning a watch, but it does not call any watch waterproof, and water damage is excluded from its warranty. Treat a fresh service as water-resistant, not dive-proof, until you have checked the rating for your model.

After a service, the site gives one useful instruction for mechanical Rolex owners. Unscrew the crown to the winding position, turn it clockwise about 20 times, then screw it fully back down against the case before you wear the watch. That last step matters: a crown left unscrewed is the most common way a freshly tested watch lets in water.

You can bring a watch in Monday to Saturday from 10:30 am to 7:00 pm and on Sunday from 11:00 am to 6:00 pm, and the shop says it closes on major holidays. Those late weekday evenings make an after-work drop-off realistic. If you live outside Pasadena, the site offers a free insured USPS shipping label, with coverage up to $100,000, so you can mail the watch in and approve the work by phone.

The warranty is the one point to clarify in person. One section of darbiniwatchrepair.com describes a one-year guarantee from the date of repair, while the FAQ refers to a longer period. Ask which term applies to your job and have it written on the receipt. Keep that paper with the watch's box, because Darbini says the guarantee is void if anyone else opens the case afterward.

An honest judgment: if your watch is a Rolex out of factory warranty and you want a predictable bill, Darbini's published menu is a real advantage over shops that only quote after opening the case. You know the floor before you leave home and can compare it with the brand's own service. If your watch is a complicated non-Rolex chronograph or a rare vintage piece, use the counter for an estimate, but compare it with a specialist before approving major work.

Suite 179 sits inside the open-air shopping center between Colorado Boulevard and Green Street, a short walk east of Old Pasadena's brick-lined alleys. After the drop-off, walk south through the courtyards to the Pasadena Civic Auditorium and its Italian Renaissance facade, or head north a few blocks to Pasadena City Hall, whose domed tower and courtyard garden are open to visitors on weekdays.

Metro's A Line stops at Memorial Park station, about a ten-minute walk north-west of the shop, which makes a car-free drop-off easy if you live along the line. If you drive, the shopping center has its own parking structures, and the evening hours mean you can combine a pickup with dinner in Old Pasadena. On a weekday the walk from the station through the old brick alleys takes no longer than finding a parking space.

Darbini Jewelry, 300 E Colorado Blvd, Suite 179, Pasadena, CA 91101. Phone (626) 795-3828; email sales@darbinijewelry.com. Watch drop-off hours: Monday to Saturday 10:30 am to 7:00 pm, Sunday 11:00 am to 6:00 pm, closed major holidays. Rolex overhaul prices on darbiniwatchrepair.com run from $450 (Datejust) to $599 (Air-King), with parts extra. Mail-in service uses a free insured USPS label covering up to $100,000.