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September 2025 by Jon cetulio
Michael was very helpful and knowledgeable! Also very speedy and easy to talk to. Would recommend.
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August 2025 by Karen D
They did not open at 10am as stated on the door and website! I have been waiting for 25 min and only need a battery replacement. Guess Time Zone operates in a different Time Zone. Will try another place after they have wasted my time.
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May 2025 by William Bowling
I brought my watch in a month or two ago for a full service; front Crystal replacement, all the gaskets replaced, gears lubed, watch tuned, and battery replacement. I was told it would take about a week. I got told a day later it was ready. I had to come three days in a row because they closed early each day. Besides that I had to come back a week later because I couldn't pull out the crown to adjust the time. The apprentice used a screwdriver to pop it out and I commented that it was very stiff to adjust the time. I was told this was due to the new gaskets. Last week the time was off again but when I tried to adjust it the crown fell off. I came in today because I was told there would be a warranty and what I was told by the owner after being interrupted several times was that they never touched that part. If they never touched that part how did they change the gasket? Or did they not change the gasket? Either way I paid $300 for them to brake my late grandfather's watch. I'm very disappointed in the service provided and now need to find a watchsmith that can repair my grandfather's watch.
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January 2025 by Tyler Cranford
Michael is a gem. Fast and extremely dexterous watchmaker, helpful disposition, thoughtful, and funny. Made my day.
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December 2024 by Brittney
I had a great experience! He was super friendly and incredibly fast when it came to taking out the links in my watch. The owner is hilarious and made the whole visit enjoyable. Highly recommend their service!
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November 2024 by MARTIN GREENBERG
Quite possibly the rudest and most condescending individuals in the service industry. Horrible attitude and thinks he is better than anyone and everyone. I thought possibly I was over reacting, but after reading so many other negative reviews of his... it's very apparent that the owner is the common denominator and does not even deserve 1 star. 99% of my reviews are 5 star so buyers beware.
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August 2024 by jim cunningham
I have been going to the time zone for 25 years. Michael has fixed or cleaned numerous watches for me, including my grandfathers Elgin pocket watch, a Swank wrist watch I bought in the 1960's, and many others. They all work flawlessly now. Being that I went to school with Leo Hamel, you would think that I would go there, but Time Zone's prices were much better and so was the service. Michael is a true professional with a wealth of knowledge about all time pieces. I notices that he only gets 1-star or 5-star reviews. I can tell by the tone of the 1-star reviews, that most of these people thought they knew more about how their time piece than Michael did. So they got offended when he told them what was really wrong with it. If you were going to argue with him about what was wrong with your time piece why didn't you just fix it yourself.
So Michael, thanks for half a lifetimes worth of service and friendship. You are truly a good man!
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April 2024 by Miriam Lauff
Rudest man ever. Not only that, but he’s a snake. I took in an antique timepiece just to see how much it would cost to repair it and he went off on how special it was and there were only two people in the whole world who would be able to fix it - him and some guy in Switzerland. I took it to another watch guy who basically laughed and said he was just trying to make money in repairing it - he was gonna charge me like $1200 to repair it. Ridiculous. In any case I was also thinking about buying a beautiful wall clock there, but I’m not giving my business to somebody like that. Now looking for another place to buy a musical clock .
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February 2024 by Kim R.
I entered the store to have a watch battery replaced. In front of me was an elderly woman who asked about repairing her clock. He was rude, arrogant, and very impatient with her. He told her to hurry and make up her mind as he had lots of repairs on other clocks to do. He took my watch, put the battery in, and charged me $20 for 60 seconds of his time. The lady was still standing there. He said to me, "See you next time". I said, "Never again will I do business with you!"
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February 2024 by Soji Thomas
Fantastic service! Helped restore a sentimental watch and gave great recommendations on a new dive watch
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January 2024 by Tina Ho
He told me the price of battery change and I agree on that but he proceeded to charge me double after he finished he finished. He also told me it will cost this *amount of money* to adjust the time on the after he change the battery. SO PLEASE DON’T EVER COME HERE.
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December 2023 by Mike S.
I absolutely don't mind paying extra for a knowledgeable professional and quality service. However, service includes the interaction with customers and my interaction with this business owner (?) was far from pleasant. In the 5-10 minutes I interacted with this business owner (?), he appeared angry and not approachable. He made what sounded like politically charged statements, specifically regarding "illegals" who are entering California. Politics aside, it was totally unprofessional. Based off other (more relevant) things he said to me about his job, I am assuming that he is knowledge and did a "good" job of replacing my watch battery (which is why I gave 2 stars and not 1). Overall though, even if the job was done correctly, I will not be returning as a customer.
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December 2023 by James Kenney
Michael Helmi was super helpful and was fun and energetic! Great experience and I learned a thing or two about watches and how they are made. See you in two years Michael!
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December 2023 by Tom W.
We had a clock that needed a simple repair and no sooner did we walk into the business than the owner barked out an exorbitant price for the repair, without even giving us a chance to tell him what was wrong. He said it would be a week to get it fixed. When we looked at each other for a moment to decide on going ahead he immediately blew us off and went to a customer who had just walked in. He was as rude and arrogant as any businessperson I've ever dealt with. We left and went to Time and Treaures on nearby La Mesa Blvd and got our clock fixed on the spot in ten minutes for half the price. The Time Zone owner wanted to replace the whole movement, which turned out to not even be the problem. Avoid the Time Zone Grossmont Centre and save yourself some money, time and irritation.
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November 2023 by R D.
Went to Time Zone today and inquired about having a watch repaired and was met with anger from an arrogant person who thought he was the only one in the world who could complete the job. Maybe it was his way to say he did not want to work on my prized possession but I was made to feel like i did not matter and he was the only one with necessary skills and take it or go away. I went away.
