About Us
Work done slowly,
on purpose.
Ayutthaya Chronos is a one-bench workshop in the heart of Thailand's historic city. We work with watches that matter — inherited pieces, maritime instruments, and dress watches from another era.
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How the workshop came to be
Ayutthaya Chronos opened on U-Thong Road in 2011, in a narrow shophouse that had previously served as a map printer's workshop. The building suited the work — north-facing light, thick walls, and a quietness that the main street rarely offered.
The founder, Wanchai Thongsri, trained in Chiang Mai under an older horologist who had spent his career working with military-issue pocket watches and railway chronometers. That background shaped the workshop's emphasis: pieces with a history deserve treatment that respects what they are, not what they might become after cosmetic work.
Over the years, the workshop has attracted pieces from across Thailand and from owners living abroad — English-speaking expatriates, collectors who found the address through recommendation, and families who inherited something they wanted to understand before deciding what to do with it.
The workshop has remained deliberately small. We do not employ staff who take in work and pass it to someone else. Each piece is handled by the same person throughout — assessed, worked on, and returned by one set of hands. This is not an efficiency choice; it is a quality one.
Our mission is straightforward: to give watches the time they need. Not every piece that arrives requires restoration. Sometimes a careful examination and a frank conversation is the most valuable thing we can offer. We are comfortable saying when a piece is better left as it is.
"The watch was made to last. Our job is to help it do that."
— Wanchai Thongsri, Founder
The People
A small team, a focused practice
Wanchai Thongsri
Founder & Head Watchmaker
Over twenty years at the bench, specialising in vintage wristwatch movements and marine chronometers. Trained in Chiang Mai; now based in Ayutthaya full-time.
Nattapon Piboon
Movement Technician
Handles movement cleaning, oiling, and escapement work across the range of calibers that arrive at the workshop. Joined in 2017 after completing technical training in Bangkok.
Siriporn Khamthai
Client Liaison & Documentation
Manages incoming enquiries, condition reporting, and photographic documentation. Ensures that owners are kept informed at each stage of the work.
How We Work
Standards we hold ourselves to
Condition assessment before any work
Every piece is examined and described in writing before the bench work begins. This forms the baseline against which any changes are measured.
Photographic documentation
Restoration work and marine chronometer servicing are photographed step by step. The record is provided to the owner alongside the piece on collection.
Owner sign-off before irreversible steps
Dial refinishing, case polishing, and component replacement require your explicit agreement. We stop and contact you; we do not proceed on assumption.
Secure handling and storage
Pieces waiting at the bench are stored in individual trays in a locked room. We do not hold more concurrent work than we can track carefully.
Honest pricing and scope
Estimates are written and agreed before work starts. If the scope changes — because the movement reveals something unexpected — we talk to you before the cost changes.
Client information kept private
We do not share details of what pieces we hold, or who owns them, with any third party. Client information is kept in a simple written register, not cloud-hosted software.
Our Values
What watchmaking means to us
Watchmaking at this level is not a fast trade. A marine chronometer disassembly alone involves handling several hundred components, some of them smaller than a grain of rice. The patience the work demands is not a drawback; it is what makes the outcome worth having.
We believe that a watch is worth repairing properly or not at all. A hasty service — lubricants applied without full cleaning, worn parts left in place — does not extend a movement's life. It postpones the work while the damage continues. Our approach takes longer precisely because we do not cut steps.
Ayutthaya has always been a place where things are measured against deep time. The temples here have stood for centuries; the walls carry the marks of weather and conflict without apology. We find that sensibility fitting for a workshop whose work is to help things last.
We welcome enquiries from owners who are not yet sure what their watch needs. An assessment is the right starting point — it may conclude that the piece is fine as it is, or it may reveal that specific work is overdue. Either result is useful, and neither obligates you to proceed further.
Start Here
Bring a piece in for assessment
The first step is a short conversation. Tell us what you have and what you've noticed, and we'll let you know whether — and how — we can help.
Get in Touch