Watch after-sales subcontracting
You keep the client relationship. We take the return flow, from diagnosis to delivery.
Get in touch →CLD Design SA handles watch returns in Plan-les-Ouates, downstream from the brands, retailers and workshops that lack the internal capacity to absorb that flow. A piece arrives registered and documented, and leaves inspected and packaged. The client keeps the relationship with its own customer and receives an intervention report.
The five stages of a return
Every return follows the same sequence, whatever the origin of the piece. Nothing is started before the client approves the diagnosis.
- Receipt and diagnosisThe piece is registered on arrival and photographed. Its condition is assessed under the binocular microscope, then recorded in a written entry report listing the work envisaged.
- DisassemblyMovement and case are dismantled. Case components go through ultrasonic cleaning before any rework.
- RestorationDefective components are replaced. Depending on the condition of the case, polishing or satin finishing is carried out in the workshop, with nothing sent to a third party.
- Reassembly and adjustmentReassembly to original specifications, dial and hands refitted if required, functions and rate adjusted.
- Inspection and returnInstrumented water resistance test, full functional verification, final visual check, then packaging and dispatch. The intervention report accompanies the return.
Frequently asked questions about outsourced after-sales service
What is after-sales subcontracting in watchmaking?
An external workshop takes charge of the watches returned by the customers of a brand or a retailer: diagnosis, restoration, inspection and dispatch. The client keeps the commercial relationship and the warranty; it delegates the technical execution and the workshop logistics. The model avoids tying up watchmakers and a test bench for an irregular volume.
Who outsources their after-sales service?
Three cases recur. An independent brand whose return volume does not justify an internal workshop. A manufacture whose after-sales service is overloaded at a production peak. A retailer or a subcontractor that must return a watch in working order but does not handle every case operation in-house.
What does the end customer see?
Nothing from us. We appear neither on the documents handed to the end customer, nor in the exchanges with them. The piece comes back packaged and ready to be returned. We never disclose who we work for, and we sign a non-disclosure agreement on request.
Which operations are covered?
The full case and assembly scope: watch jewellery, polishing and refinishing, case assembly, sapphire or mineral crystal bonding, movement assembly, casing, water resistance testing and final inspection. They are carried out in the same workshop, which removes the transport between suppliers and shortens the return loop.
How is traceability maintained?
Every batch has its own file: entry registration, photographic inventory, diagnosis report, work carried out, inspection results. The file is available on request. The same point of contact follows the batch until it is returned.
Is the work carried out in Geneva?
Yes. All operations are performed in the Plan-les-Ouates workshop, in the canton of Geneva. No stage is sent on to a third party. For brands seeking the Geneva Seal (Poinçon de Genève), awarded by the Timelab foundation, the assembly, casing and inspection carried out on site meet the label's territorial criterion.
Let's discuss your return flow
Tell us what you need; we reply within one working day.
CLD Design SA · Chemin du Pré-Fleuri 15 · 1228 Plan-les-Ouates, Geneva
+41 22 794 37 64 · info@cld-design.com · IDE CHE-370.688.199