Kim’s Watchmaker & Jewelers

After several more trips to Kim’s shop and several more empty promises I finally had to threaten legal action and refuse to leave his shop until my watch was returned. The watch was still in pieces on his workbench (where it had been sitting for the past six weeks) so I stood there until he finally put it back together and return it to me. The watch now has a bigger problem. Not only did he not make any repairs but he managed to glue the crown and stem together so the hands are frozen and cannot be moved. I think any hope I had of getting my watch fixed are now gone. Please read these reviews carefully. Mr. Kim earns high stars when it comes to changing a battery (which takes very little skill) But, when it comes to anything the least bit skilled or technical he’s abysmal. Take your stuff elsewhere!!!

This man is the best. He fixed the broken link in my watch in 5 minutes flat. He was also kind enough NOT to point out that my Cartier is a fake. Or maybe the craftsmen in Turkey are just that good.

He overcharged me for a battery replacement and then it stopped working 3 weeks later

Shameful. I’ve had a watch there since November 2014 — its September 2015 now — and Mr Kim has made numerous excuses for the delay and no effort to repair it or contact me about the status. I have visited every month just to check in and complain. I still don’t have it. I will be filing a complaint with the DC office of business licensing and the BBB shortly.

Mr. Kim changed my watch battery in ten minutes and for a reasonable price.

He Botched a crystal repair on a Swiss army watch. The watch got wet in the shower and the dial and inside of the watch rusted.
He even had the audacity to say that the Swiss army matches aren’t designed to get wet and tried to charge me for the repair. This guy is terrible. Read the other one star reviews.

DO NOT GO TO THIS PLACE IF YOU VALUE YOUR WATCH! I should have paid more attention to the reviews before going here but I was desperate to find a place in DC that has the proper equipment to service an Invicta Divers watch. I went in and asked if he could replace the battery. Kim said no problem and went to work. Then he tells me that the problem is not the battery, its something else. He said he’ll take a look at it and to come back at 3 to pick it up. It was 1:30 at the time. I showed back up at 3:20 and he couldn’t find my watch just like in the other reviews. I don’t usually do stereotypes but the «angry black man» immediately arrived on the scene because of the charade that Kim was putting on. He wanted time to do everything from review security footage to see what happened to the watch to calling some other customer to see if they had it. I wasn’t biting because it had only been 2 hours! So I told him that I was leaving the store either with my watch or with $ 400 to replace it. That fool tried to negotiate and wanted to give me $ 300 until I raised my voice and said «No negotiation. Watch or $ 400. Choose!!» As he wrote the check for $ 400, he asked that I not cash it for 5 days so that he could have time to locate my watch. I called him a few names that I won’t repeat here and told him that he must be crazy. But I told him that in fairness, if he found my watch, I would pick it up and return his money. In the end, the watch is more important to me. He never asked for my contact info so I’m chalking it up to the watch being gone. I left his store and went directly to Capital One and cashed his check. This dude needs to be run out of town!

I heard horror stories about this place, but my experience was fine. The prices were steep, and I waited an extra two weeks to pick up my watch, so I have no idea if it was finished on time. But the work seems good and the owner (or repairman — not sure) was nice.

Normally, I wear a digital watch whose black wristband reflects the frequency with which I’ve worn said watch for the past few years. But this past Saturday (June 13^th), I had an old analogue wrist watch (yes, the one with hands and numbers — smile) with a leather wristband in need of a new battery. My first thought was to go to Techworld downtown. After all, I had done some business with them in past years But I didn’t relish the thought of making the trek from midtown DC to downtown. So, I did an online search and chanced upon Kim’s Watchmaker & Jewelers. Happily, I discovered that it’s a short distance (one quick S-​bus ride south down 16^th Street NW) from where I live. Away I went!
Couldn’t help but notice the casual, relaxed ambience of the neighborhood surrounding Kim’s which has lots of row houses, leafy trees, well-​manicured lawns, and many people who looked as if they hadn’t been out of university for very long.
I walked into Kim’s establishment, showed him my watch and told him that I wanted a new battery for it. He took it in hand, gave it a good look over, smiled, and said he could put in the battery for $ 12. No sweat. Within 2 minutes, the job was done. I thanked Kim, was delighted to see that my watch was ticking over nicely, and told him that I would be back. (I have 2 other wristwatches — including one that was given to me as a present a couple of years ago — in need of new batteries, too.)

Terrible, terrible service. My partner dropped off a watch last June to be repaired. He went in a half dozen times over the course of the year to see if the watch was ready and of course, it never was. Mr. Kim always said it would be just a few more days, that he would deliver it to our apartment, etc.– all lies. I finally went in a few days ago and refused to leave until he gave me back the watch. I had to stand in his store for 10 minutes insisting that he give it back before he finally relented. Don’t use this place if you want to get your jewelry back.

I’M NOT SAYING HE’S A THIEF, BUT I GAVE HIM MY WATCH TO FIX 2 YEARS AGO, AND HE’S **NEVER** GIVEN IT BACK TO ME.
Scenario: TWO+ YEARS AGO, I took two watches to be fixed by Mr. Kim. One (Invicta) just needed a link or two removed after sliding around my arm for too long. The other — an ESQ GIFT (from my soon-​to-​be-​husband) that needed the battery/​something repaired because it «stopped working.»
The Invicta watch was fixed practically on the spot (looking back… it’s been OVER SEVEN HUNDRED DAYS after all) and I’ve been telling time with it ever since.
The ESQ GIFT watch has LITERALLY never been seen again. At least, not by me… and potentially by Mr. Kim, but his story changes every other half-​minute, so… who knows.
This saga has taken me over 2 years. Each time he asked me to return in a week or two. Something about calling the company and sending the watch away for a missing part or something. After this long it’s hard to remember all of his «reasons.»
Finally, coming up on our two year anniversary, I decided enough was enough. I had been coming into his store about once a month since THE START OF THE YEAR 2015 and all he gave me – never the watch I wanted to GET BACK! — were excuses and firm demands for more time.
(To echo other reviewers, which now have me even more boiling than I had been about this: he never knew the situation… never remembered my name… referred to the watch that was missing as «invicta» — as in the other watch I was quite often wearing on my wrist when coming in seeking the other watch (the one he was supposed to have been fixing for years)…each time I would walk in he would start LOOKING FOR THE WATCH… the thing he told me he needed the extra week or two to do (two weeks prior) because he was «so busy.»…he gave me excuses about how he’s a one-​man operation and that the watch was brought in «so long ago.» He never seemed concerned or to comprehend that he had essentially stolen/​lost my sentimental property and that he had any involvement in the situation being what it was. (???) Had I seen all these reviews, I definitely wold’ve nipped this in the bud a long time ago, but I think part of me didn’t want to wade into Unilocal!until the situation was «resolved.»)
So last week I went in and told him, you’re just going to have to compensate me for my watch you can’t find.
This is what happened:
1. «Give me more time. I just need more time. It’s here. It’s here. It’s here. Come back in one week. I just need one week.»
(MY response: «No, it’s been over two years. You obviously have no idea where my watch is. And you obviously don’t care that you’ve been wasting my time walking in this store every month since the year began and you never return my watch.»
2. «I just need more time. I won’t charge you for the repairs.»
(Me: «Um, that’s a joke, right? Why would you charge me? Why would I pay you? You have lost my watch for years and have no idea where it is. I would never pay you for this «transaction.»)
3. «What do you want me to do?»
(Me: «Well, I’d like for you to give me my watch back. The same thing I’ve wanted you to do for LITERAL YEARS. If you don’t have it – which it’s clear from you looking around right now that… you don’t — you are going to have to pay me for the watch.»
4. «Just be reasonable!»
****He didn’t seem to get the irony of his red-​faced, fairly-​angry demand of me.
I told him how much I wanted for the watch. (And trust me, it wasn’t full price I was requesting.) He started to try to negotiate. That only made me more angry about the situation. Who knew that could be possible! With Mr. Kim — anything’s possible! (Unless you want your property returned. :-|)
****During this time a customer came in behind me and they had a quick exchange where he – surprise! — asked her to come back later. She mentioned she didn’t really have time… as I left with my «contract», she came to me outside and said she had overheard our conversation. She confided in me that he had lost one of her watches from December. RED FLAG, PEOPLE!!!
I hastily drew up a contract for Monday saying that he would give me all of the money I asked for if he didn’t find it OR he would give me the newly-​located watch + $ 100 for my troubles over THE YEARS.
Monday rolled around. I walked in. He continued to have no idea who I was (which makes me wonder how often he has to yell at his customers for his errors) and even less of an idea where my watch was.
He told me to come back in a week.
*Seriously, he must have dinosaur eggs…
He told me he needed 20 minutes. :-/​
I told him no. We had already discussed this and he signed a deal with me on Friday. If you don’t have my watch, just give me the money. He continued to waste time «looking around his shop.» Finally a customer came in behind me and he extremely reluctantly wrote me a check for the full amount.
I mobile deposited it and am happy to say that it actually was cashed.

Very nice and quick. I came in to get a watch band link removed – it took about 7 minutes and he charged $ 10. I’d definitely go back for similar tasks.

THIS GUY IS A CRIMINAL. I took a pair of diamond earrings, a pair of gold earrings, and a topaz ring here to be fixed. Month after month he told me that he had to order parts for the earrings, which had unique screw backs, or that he had ordered them but that they were delivered to his brother’s store (?) in Tysons. I regret leaving them with him and should have just taken them back. I unfortunately let a year pass like that, however, at which point I went to just get the jewelry back but he could not find it. I told him I would be back in a week… the next week the jewelry was still lost. That repeated a few times. I threatened to sue him, to call the cops, he kept telling me he would find the jewelry… he never has. I’m sure it is sold to someone else at this point and I will be filing a police report.

Another month has passed and the two working watches that I dropped off in December are still broken.

I needed to replace the battery on my skagen snapback and didn’t have the tools. $ 12 for a replacement. I went in at 2pm on a Saturday and was the only customer — in and out in five minutes — great stuff, and he’s a friendly chap.

Avoid for engraving!
I took an item here to be engraved, and Mr. Kim assured me it would take 10 days. Two weeks later he says another week, followed by another excuse after that. Finally after a month I told him I didn’t want him to work on it and that I would pick it up that day. When I arrived he was in the middle of engraving the item, against my wishes. When I came back an hour later the engraving was complete but was not straight! It was in fact very crooked and looked pretty bad. He did a poor job and charged me a lot ($ 1 a character rather than $.25 I saw at other places I was going to take it). Avoid this shop for any engraving whatsoever.

Had read the reviews and Kim’s seemed like a good place for a first watch repair in dc.
I had previously taken this watch to a jeweler in union station who wanted to charge me $ 20 for just a link — so I refused.
This time my battery finally died and I had dropped the watch resulting in a pin falling out.
Made it to Kim’s on around 5:30, place looked closed but fortunately the gentleman was there.
He was able to replace the battery for $ 12, replace a pin and remove a link for $ 10.
This all happened within 5 mins.
That is exactly what I was looking for.

I’ve been here twice to change watch batteries. Reasonable price for the area and it only took less than 5 min for him to chance the batteries.
It’s a very small place but for simple tasks like battery change, it is a good place for those who live or work in the area.

I should have trusted the reviews and found someone else. However, I was in a time crunch, so I had Mr. Kim engrave a silver baby cup for my godson. Terrible mistake. The letters were not in a straight line, and when I commented on this, Mr. Kim said, «Well, it’s not a huge mistake. You only have to pay $ 20.» I told him that any mistake was intolerable and that I was not going to pay at all. I took the cup and left.
The engraving is bad, but what bothers me the most is that he did not even apologize or offer to replace the cup. He simply did not care and treated me as though this was my problem.
Horrible experience.

«BEWARE.» That’s what the exiting customer said to me as I passed her entering this shop. I should have known from that, and the numerous bad reviews, that this is a shop to be AVOIDED.
I wanted the stainless-​steel bracelet changed out on a vintage Rolex Explorer I. Mr. Kim took my watch, placed it crystal down on his workbench, with no cushion or pad or cloth, and began pressing down on it with a screwdriver to push in the spring bars and release the bracelet. A perfect way to scratch the hell out of it, and absolutely unbelievable to see in a professional watch shop.
When I asked him if he could put a pad under the watch, he took the paper napkin from his lunch and put it under the watch, and told me that he had a lot of experience. Well, apparently it’s possible to have a lot of experience but not learn from it.
I took the watch and left and will never go back.