Meet the Man Behind the Bench: Paul Bogard, Head Watchmaker at TNS Diamonds

Meet Paul Bogart: TNS Diamonds’ In-House Watchmaker

Most watch shops hand your Rolex or Omega to whoever’s available that day. At TNS Diamonds, there’s one person it goes to — Paul Bogart, the watchmaker behind every repair that comes through the door.

Paul’s background isn’t your typical “learned on the job” story. He spent a decade training in the Swiss watchmaking tradition across London and France — the same cities and ateliers where the craft has been passed down for generations. That kind of training isn’t available at a weekend course or a two-day certification. It’s the sort of thing manufacturers guard carefully, and it’s why Paul Bogart’s work sits at a level you rarely find outside brand-owned service centers.

A customer who came into the shop put it well: “Classy emporium — polite and very agreeable staff, including Frenchman Paul from Champagne.” That detail matters. Paul isn’t just technically trained in Swiss watchmaking — he’s from that world. Fluent in French and Spanish, he grew up inside the culture that produced the watches he now services. When he opens a caseback, he already knows what he’s looking at. You can follow his work and get a closer look at what happens on the bench over on his Instagram at @paul_tnsdiamonds.

What Paul Bogart Actually Does at the Bench

Every watch that comes through TNS goes across Paul’s bench. That covers a wide range of work, and the scope matters — not every watchmaker can handle all of it.

TNS handles everything from battery replacements and band adjustments to full movement overhauls, ultrasonic cleaning, case polishing, and water resistance testing. For the more involved jobs, Paul performs what’s known as a complete service: fully disassembling the movement, inspecting every component under magnification, cleaning each part, replacing worn elements, re-lubricating to factory specifications, and reassembling before testing for timing accuracy and water resistance.

This is the work that separates a watch that runs from a watch that runs correctly. Timing a watch to pass a quick test is easy. Doing the full job — cleaning out years of degraded lubricant, replacing the mainspring, checking the escapement, verifying the power reserve — takes real knowledge and patience. That’s what Paul does on every piece that warrants it, whether it’s a Rolex Submariner or a vintage dress watch that hasn’t been touched in 20 years.

He also handles restorations. Antique and vintage pieces require a different set of skills entirely. Parts may no longer be manufactured. Movement architecture varies by era, by maker, by caliber. Getting an older watch running again without damaging original components — or compromising its collector value — demands the kind of horological knowledge that only comes from years of dedicated study and serious hands-on experience. Paul has both.

The Standard of Work You Can Expect

The difference between a qualified watchmaker and an average repair shop is almost invisible from the outside — until it isn’t. A watch can leave a careless bench looking fine and running well enough for a few months before problems start showing up. Degraded lubricants left behind, worn parts not replaced, gaskets re-used instead of swapped — none of it surfaces right away. It shows up later, in accuracy loss, in a movement wearing faster than it should, or in a service interval that comes around years ahead of schedule.

Paul’s training means he doesn’t take shortcuts. When he services a movement, it comes out clean, properly lubricated, and reassembled to the tolerances the manufacturer intended. When he restores a vintage piece, he protects the original components that carry the watch’s value — the dial, the hands, the period-correct parts collectors actually care about. Nothing gets swapped unless it needs to be. Nothing gets polished away.

For anyone who owns a watch as both a daily piece and a long-term investment, that distinction is real. Unnecessary part swaps and over-polishing are two of the most common ways a watch quietly loses collector value at the bench. Paul Bogart knows what to touch and, just as importantly, what to leave alone. That’s worth understanding before you hand your watch to anyone — you can read more about why watchmaking quality matters for collectors if you want the longer version.

In-House Means Something Here

A lot of dealers send repairs out. TNS doesn’t. Paul is on-site on Philadelphia’s historic Jewelers’ Row, which means faster turnarounds and direct accountability. If you want to know exactly what was done to your watch and why, you can ask the person who actually did it. No third party, no shipping your watch to an unknown bench somewhere, no guessing at what happened during the service.

TNS has built its name on trust and transparency — it’s a big part of why customers from across the country choose to buy and service watches with a Philadelphia shop over someone local. Having a watchmaker of Paul’s caliber in-house is a significant piece of what gives that reputation its foundation. The full team at TNS brings real depth across both watches and jewelry, but when it comes to what’s happening inside the case, it starts and ends with Paul.

Whether you’re bringing in a daily wearer running a few seconds off, a luxury piece due for its scheduled service, or a family heirloom that needs careful restoration, it goes to the same bench — and gets the same level of attention. Schedule your watch repair service with TNS Diamonds today.