Watch Shop

History of Watch Shop

Watch Shop was founded in 1991 by Sham and Kishore Naib as an online retailer of brand name watches. Based in Reading, the company has one showroom located at its headquarters, which aims to stock as many of the internet listed items as possible in order to provide a physical shopping experience for customers who wish to try before they buy, but the majority of business is conducted via online purchases.

Since its inception, Watch Shop has become the UK's leading online watch retailer and is the official stockist for many high street and designer brand names. The company's success lies in its dedication to providing good customer service, fast and reliable delivery of orders, and its ability to keep prices as low as possible compared with high street shops, due to the savings made on not having store overheads.

In 2014, Leicester-based Aurum Holdings, owners of Goldsmiths, Watches of Switzerland and Mappin and Webb, acquired Watch Shop, keeping father and son founders Sham and Kishore Naib in their roles within the company. Aurum Holdings was founded in 2007 and has very rapidly built up a successful business that managed to quadruple its turnover from £6 million to in excess of £24 million within just four years. Aurum's CEO Justin Head is service focused; employees within Aurum's companies, from those on the shop floor up to those in management positions, are all encouraged to share his vision of allowing excellent customer service to drive sales.

Aurum's investment and trading reach is intended to bring new opportunities to Watch Shop while still allowing the popular family run company to maintain its standards of good customer service and high quality brands at great value for money. This acquisition is very recent so it is not yet clear in which direction Aurum will take the company as it grows the business.

Brands

Watch Shop offers products online in a large number of high street and designer brands, including:

• Accurist
• Armani Exchange
• Bench
• Bulova
• Calvin Klein
• Casio
• Citizen
• Diesel
• DKNY
• Emporio Armani
• Firetrap
• Fossil
• G-Shock
• Hugo Boss
• Ice Watch
• Juicy Couture
• Karen Millen
• Lacoste
• Lipsy
• Marc by Marc Jacobs
• Michael Kors
• Oasis
• Radley
• Rotary
• Seiko
• Sekonda
• Shark
• Speedo
• Ted Baker
• Tissot

Departments

Watch Shop has a range of online departments, including the following:

• Alarm
• Aluminium
• Analogue
• Ana-dig combo
• Automatic
• Backlight
• Best sellers
• Boyfriend
• Cheap/value
• Chronograph
• Compass
• Cuff
• Designer
• Diamond
• Digital
• Divers
• Expandable
• Jewellery
• Nurses fob
• Oversized
• Pocket watches
• Quartz
• Radio controlled
• Skeleton
• Slim (thin)
• Solar powered
• Sports
• Waterproof
• Wind-up

Opening Times

Watch Shop is an online retailer with a single showroom in Reading which has the following opening hours:

Monday to Saturday: 09:30-17:30Sunday: 11:00-17:00

Sales phone lines are opening at the following times:

Monday to Friday: 08:00-21:00Saturday: 09:00-21:00Sunday: 10:00-19:00

Internet shopping is available around the clock.

Customer service phone lines are open Monday to Saturday, 09:00-17:00.

Delivery Information

Standard delivery is free of charge on all UK and EU orders, and guaranteed next day delivery is also free on orders over £60. Delivery confirmation is emailed once the order has been processed and orders are trackable. Free standard delivery automatically applies to all orders under £60 but this can be upgraded at checkout to next day delivery for a charge of £2 or to delivery by 9am for an extra £6. Orders placed before 4pm are dispatched the same day and standard deliveries usually arrive within one or two working days. International shipping is also available, the cost of which is calculated at the checkout. Click and collect is also available into your local Goldsmiths store, which is also owned by Watch Shop's parent company, Aurum Holdings Ltd.

Returns Policy

Watch Shop has a 30 day returns policy during which items returned in as new condition with all packaging, instructions, guarantee and accessories will be eligible for a full refund. Returns should be made by post using Royal Mail Special Delivery and must be accompanied by a completed returns form from the bottom of the original order invoice. Most refunds are processed on the day of receipt at Watch Shop, but there is a maximum processing time of 14 days. Upgrades on delivery and returns shipping costs are not refundable and exclusions to the returns and refunds policy include pierced jewellery (unless faulty).

Security & Reviews

Watch Shop's online payments are processed over a secure SSL connection and Sage Pay is used to authorise card transactions. This means that customer payment details are protected and ensures prevention against fraud. Card details are not stored. The website is tested regularly to protect against potential attacks by hackers and for PCI compliance.

Watch Shop has received excellent reviews from customers on Trustpilot (https://www.trustpilot.co.uk/review/www.watchshop.com), so shoppers can be confident of a positive experience when buying with them.