Xupes journal sits down with our newest recruit Megan Young, Head of Workshop.
Today we kick off the 'Inside of the Xupes Workshop' series with an interview with our Head of Watch Servicing, Megan. We find out what the average day from the bench looks like in our in-house accredited servicing department whilst also getting to know Megan personally.
Tell us a bit about you.
My name is Megan Young and I was born in Holland, Huizen in 1993. I was brought up with my Dutch mother and English father so I am bilingual by nature. I also speak German, having lived there for a short period of time as a young Watchmaker. In my spare time, I enjoy playing the piano and guitar, as well as helping my partner who is a film-maker. As you can imagine I am a huge watch lover and enjoy networking and meeting new people from any country and any industry.
What drew you to watchmaking?
Ever since I was a young girl, I was always fixing everything at home and was even nicknamed the ‘handyman’ by my Dad. This is where I first discovered my passion for engineering. My dad still prepares a job list of things to fix in the house every time I visit him!
When I was 13, my school organised a ‘careers day’ so we could be introduced to potential future occupations. It was here where I met a wonderful teacher who introduced me to the world of watchmaking. After, I visited the craft school where the teacher taught and was so intrigued with all of the little parts and movements inside a watch, almost like a big puzzle, that I knew from that day I wanted to be a watchmaker.
Tell us about your experience?
I started with a sales job in a local-jewellers and picking up extra weekend shifts working at the local car wash on Sundays. These jobs helped to pay for my watchmaking studies. My watchmaking career officially started when I was 17 years old when I moved to Geneva to work for Frederique Constant. I spent a lot of hours working in production and assembling the same watch parts every day until I gained enough experience in the aftercare department where I serviced the watches that were sold.
After this, I moved to Germany, Hamburg, where I worked in the main workshop for Wempe. Wempe is one of the biggest retailers in Germany that have expanded worldwide with many boutiques. In 2014 I was offered the chance to move with Wempe to London, where I worked as a watchmaker and looked after the customers that came in for service and with any issues with their timepieces. After working for Wempe for 5 years I was then approached by Harrods to help them build their first on-site workshop for watches.
After designing and building the workshop team in Harrods I then took up the opportunity to join Xupes as Head of Servicing.
Throughout my career, I have also achieved many accreditation's with brands such as; Patek Philippe, Rolex, Hublot, Panerai, Cartier and Baume & Mercier.
Talk us through a typical day in the Xupes workshop?
At the beginning of the week, the workshop servicing team discuss all repairs of any watches we have taken in, what the status is, how many we have, what we need to chase and any other outstanding matters. During the day we usually get a lot of enquiries, assist the sales and purchasing team with technical advice, stay on top of customer requests and ensure all of our watches in stock are in the best possible condition.
What makes the Xupes servicing department stand out?
The experienced and passionate people in our team is what makes us stand out. The team is very precise and takes a lot of care in what they present. We also have an extreme focus on the technical aspects of our work, this is evident in our customer approach and the quality of our servicing. We always put the customer first, making sure they are impressed with the product as well as the service and turnaround time that they receive with Xupes. I am working on a number of exciting projects in how our servicing department operates so keep an eye out in the near future for some exciting changes!
Image: Checking the hand setting and tolerances on a Patek Philippe Nautilus 3800/001
Image: Servicing Calibre 335 SC – checking all components, play in the train gear and regulating.
And finally, what is your favourite watch?
This would be a Glashutte Senator or PanoMatic. My favourite brand is Glashutte, I love this brand as their quality of the movements and finishing is excellent. They design their own movements to a very high standard, make their own dials and have their own watchmaking school. They are in my opinion very underestimated, which makes them even more special and unique.
