PTRC is owned and operated by the grandchildren of Joseph Perlmutter. We are the third generation of a family dedicated to serving the watch repair needs of our customers. Here is our story:

In 1911 our grandfather, a young immigrant watchmaker, found his way to Toledo, Ohio after failing to find work in Henry Ford's factory in Detroit. At first Joe worked alone, at one time setting up his workbench in a bank lobby.  When replacement parts could not be purchased he made them.  At one point early in his career he traveled to the coal mines in Pennsylvania taking in watches for repair from miners heading into the mine at the beginning of a shift.  When the miners returned to the surface at the end of their shifts their repaired watches were ready for them.

Around 1914 Joe opened the City Watch Hospital in downtown Toledo. The City Watch Hospital was
a small store that sold a variety of watches and clocks along with repair services. Over the years the
business grew.  The first out-of-town facility, opened during the Great Depression, was located in Gimbels Department Store in Altoona, Pennsylvania.  Following this early success hundreds of additional locations were opened in major department stores coast-to-coast, regional repair centers were established in major cities and a watch parts business was established in Toledo.  Even though many of those department stores no longer survive, our businesses do, operating in fourteen states coast to coast.

PTRC is the newest member of our family of businesses.  Its repair facility, known as the Toledo Shop, was built in fully renovated space in 2007.  The shop is located in a building that has served as the home office to our family businesses since the mid 1950’s.

The Toledo Shop meets current standards of the US watch repair industry and of Swiss watch manufacturers.  It is staffed by certified watchmakers as well as watch technicians.  Its state of the art testing equipment includes pressure testers which can test to a depth of 1250 meters and electronic timing devices that help the watchmakers adjust timepieces to factory specifications. The shop’s cleaning and polishing rooms are separately ventilated to keep dust in the air to a minimum, while modern air filtering in the repair area of the shop further minimizes dust. 

At PTRC the highest standards of traditional craftsmanship are joined with a state of the art facility and excellent customer service. We are here to serve you and we welcome the opportunity to do so!