Clock Repair Shop Since 1947 in Serangoon: Cheong Ann

There is a small irony in the name: Cheong Ann Watch Maker no longer works on watches. The family shophouse at 4 Lim Tua Tow Road, Singapore 547714, in the Teck Chye Gardens row near Serangoon, has spent the last quarter of a century on clocks alone, from octagonal schoolhouse clocks to grandfather clocks taller than most customers. It was founded in 1947, and the third generation now runs the bench. If an heirloom clock has stopped and nobody else will touch it, this is where Singaporeans tend to end up.

The name was coined by Shawn Lim's grandfather, who founded the business after the war and serviced watches as well as clocks. His son David took over in 2000 and decided to drop watches entirely. As he told SilverKris in 2017, the history of clocks goes back hundreds of years, while wristwatches only became popular at the turn of the twentieth century, and he reckoned Cheong Ann was the only shop in Singapore specialising in antique clocks.

Shawn joined in 2015 after deciding university was not for him, and he grew up in the shop, where his parents handed the children clocks to dismantle to stop them running around. By 2020, The Peak reported, he was mostly in charge, with David supervising and stepping in on certain restorations. In 2024 the family set up a company, Cheong Ann Pte. Ltd., registered at the same Lim Tua Tow Road address, and its annual return for 2026 was filed at the end of April.

The commission the family is best known for is the grandfather clock at Raffles Singapore, described as the oldest piece of furniture in the hotel. David first repaired it in the 1990s, and during the hotel's recent restoration both father and son were called back to work on it again. It is a tubular clock: the chimes come from long brass tubes rather than bells, rods or gongs, which is the sound Shawn told The Peak to listen for. He has said the best feeling in the trade is bringing back a clock that no other watchmaker could fix.

That job sums up the shop's niche. Shawn has pointed out that a collector can own endless watches, but a household usually has only two or three clocks, chosen carefully and often inherited. The work here is restoring those clocks, not quick battery swaps. Expect conversations about a striking train that has fallen silent, a chime that has drifted out of sequence, a pendulum that will not keep its beat or a case that has suffered in Singapore's humidity.

Walking in feels like stepping into a storeroom of time. Clocks cover almost every inch of the walls, grandfather clocks stand along the sides, and on a warm afternoon the only sounds are an electric fan and the occasional chime from a case somewhere at the back. Some of the clocks are customers' pieces waiting for collection; others are for sale. The front counter doubles as a workbench, so you will often find one of the Lims bent over a dismantled movement with his spectacles pushed back.

Shawn has been the one pushing the business online. He started the shop's Instagram and Facebook pages, put money into social media advertising, and has spoken about adding e-commerce and running workshops. The Instagram account, theclockmakerson, is the easiest way to see recent restorations and the clocks currently on sale. In a 2022 interview with the Singapore National Co-operative Federation, he compared the job to playing doctor to the clocks.

Call the shop before you travel; this is a two-person family business, and a grandfather clock is a big thing to move only to find the shutter down. For a wall or mantel clock, remove the pendulum and key, wrap the case, and carry the movement upright. For a longcase clock, ask on the phone how they want it handled, because the weights, pendulum and chime tubes all come out before the case can move safely. Describe the fault on the call: whether it runs, strikes or chimes.

There is no published price list, and repairs are assessed clock by clock, so the first visit is really a diagnosis. Heritage restorations take time, partly because parts for old movements often have to be found or made, and the shop is careful about who is allowed to work on what. David's standards are notoriously high; in 2017 he said Shawn still had a long way to go before he could retire, which is about the most reassuring thing a clock owner can hear.

Lim Tua Tow Road runs off Upper Serangoon Road, and Serangoon MRT station, on the North-East and Circle lines, is about a ten-minute walk away. The station sits beside NEX, the large mall where you can sit down for a meal or a coffee after handing over the clock. Taxis can pull up close to the shophouse row, which is the better option with anything heavier than a mantel clock.

The roads around the shop are lined with old two-storey shophouses that still hold family businesses, coffee shops and small eateries, so it is worth wandering for a few minutes rather than heading straight back to the train. For a sit-down dinner nearby, Serangoon Gardens, with its circus of hawker stalls and restaurants, is a short taxi ride north. Ask Karpo in the Karpo APP for a supper spot around Serangoon Gardens if the visit runs late.

Cheong Ann Watch Maker (昌安鐘錶), 4 Lim Tua Tow Road, Teck Chye Gardens, Singapore 547714. Instagram: theclockmakerson. Founded 1947; run by David Lim and his son Shawn Lim. Specialises in repairing, restoring and selling antique and vintage clocks, including grandfather clocks; wristwatches are no longer serviced. No price list is published, so each clock is quoted after inspection. Nearest MRT: Serangoon (North-East and Circle lines).