My name is Gustavo Peker and I am the owner of Del Mar Watch and Clock Repair in San Clemente. A little background about me, I’m a native of Argentina where I learned watch repair and watch making since an early age shadowing my father, Jacobo, a master watch maker who founded in Buenos Aires the only watch making school of South America at the time.

“My father, Jacobo, helped me so much, and taught me everything I know, and everything I have is because of him, and so my wish is to honor his memory by continuing my trade in watch making.”

The watch repair business isn’t what it used to be because of disposable watches – “we change a lot more batteries these days” – but there is still a call for my skills as we still do a lot of repair work on old watches with sentimental value for their owners.

We keep hundreds of watches that we use only for parts, since many watches we see are not made anymore. When we can’t find an original part or fashion something from a similar part, we can make it from scratch. Working with the tiniest of screws, some smaller than the head of a common ant, We ca repair six to eight watches a day. Our clientele it’s mostly from the San Clemente area but we also serve customers with unique time pieces from all around the country.

 “They know what they are doing here and they are fast – they’re old school for sure,” said Phyllis Nelson of San Clemente, a frequent customer.