OUR STUDIO
A Studio Built Around
Considered Work
Cempakamy Horoshop is a small watch repair and restoration practice in George Town, Penang. The studio was established to offer attentive, unhurried bench work to owners who care about the pieces they wear.
← Back to HomeHow Cempakamy Horoshop Came to Be
Cempakamy Horoshop opened its doors at 47 Persiaran Gurney in George Town with a straightforward intent: to provide watch owners in Malaysia with a place that approaches each piece on its own terms. The studio was not set up to handle volume. It was set up to handle things properly.
The founding of the studio grew out of years spent observing what happens when watches pass through workshops that are either too busy or insufficiently attentive to the particularities of each reference. Dials refinished when they should have been left alone. Cases overpolished beyond the point of recovery. Hands replaced with the wrong profile simply because the correct one required more sourcing time. These are not dramatic failures — they are quiet ones, and they accumulate.
The studio's position from the beginning has been that the right amount of work is not always the most work. Sometimes a piece needs only a precise adjustment. Sometimes it needs nothing at all except a careful inspection and an honest report. The studio is equally willing to carry out extensive bench work or to decline it, depending on what actually serves the owner and the watch.
George Town was a natural home for this kind of practice. The city has a long relationship with craft and attention to detail, and its community of collectors and enthusiasts — many of whom have pieces with real history — deserves a studio that takes that history seriously.
Today, Cempakamy Horoshop works across three defined programmes: hands and markers, a postal drop-off service for owners elsewhere in Malaysia, and a specialist programme for precious metal cases. Each programme has a stated price and a clear scope. Owners know what they are agreeing to before any bench work begins.
Those Behind the Bench
Marcus Hew
Principal Watchmaker
Over fifteen years of bench experience, with particular focus on vintage Swiss references and precious metal case work. Marcus founded the studio with the intention of doing fewer things with more care.
Lim Tze-Wei
Restoration & Dial Specialist
Tze-Wei's background in conservation informs every dial assessment at the studio. She leads decisions on lume retention, hand sourcing, and surface conservation across incoming pieces.
Nadia Rashid
Client Liaison & Postal Programme
Nadia manages intake documentation, the postal drop-off programme, and owner correspondence. She ensures every piece in the studio's care has a clear and current record attached to it.
How the Studio Operates
Several principles govern how work is received, carried out, and returned. These are not aspirations — they are how the studio actually functions, day to day.
Photographic Documentation
Every piece is photographed on intake and prior to return. The owner receives copies as a standard part of the service record.
Written Estimates Before Any Work
No bench work proceeds without a written estimate and the owner's explicit agreement. The scope and price are stated clearly before anything begins.
Controlled Storage
Pieces awaiting or in the middle of bench work are held in a stable, humidity-controlled environment. No piece leaves or enters the studio unrecorded.
Pre-Work Condition Assessment
Each piece is examined in full at intake — not just the area where the owner has noticed an issue. The assessment is shared with the owner as a written note.
Conservation-First Ethos
The studio does not refinish dials, does not over-polish cases, and does not replace components where the originals can be preserved. Owners who want restoration without erasure find this suits their priorities.
Owner Data Discretion
Intake records, serial numbers, and owner details are held privately and are not shared with third parties. Records are retained only for as long as they serve the owner's interests.
Watch Care in Malaysia — A Particular Kind of Work
Watch repair in Malaysia operates across a wide range of settings — from large jewellery chains offering quick-turnaround servicing to a small number of independent practitioners who work at a different pace. Cempakamy Horoshop sits firmly in the latter category, and that positioning is deliberate.
The watches that come to this studio tend to carry significance. Some are family pieces. Some are references with collector interest. Some are simply well-made objects that their owners want to remain in good order for many more years. In each case, the approach is the same: understand the piece first, then decide what — if anything — it requires.
The studio works on Swiss, Japanese, and other international references. It does not specialise by brand, though the work on precious metal cases draws on a specific understanding of alloy behaviour, surface hardness, and the way older gold cases wear differently from newer ones. Hand and marker work requires sourcing knowledge — understanding which calibre a hand belongs to and where appropriate replacements can be found without resorting to generic substitutes.
For owners outside Penang, the postal drop-off programme provides a structured path to studio-quality work without the need to travel. The programme is used regularly by collectors in Kuala Lumpur, the Klang Valley, East Malaysia, and by Malaysians living abroad who want their pieces attended to during a visit home. The programme pairs with any bench service the owner selects and operates under the same documentation standards as direct studio intake.
The studio does not make claims about speed. Work is completed when it is done correctly. Owners who need a watch back within a specific timeframe are encouraged to discuss this at the time of enquiry — the studio will indicate clearly whether the timeline is feasible rather than commit to something it cannot deliver.
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A Question or an Enquiry
Whether you have a specific service in mind or simply want to describe your watch and ask what the studio recommends, the studio welcomes that conversation.
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