03x01 - Pocket Watch

[bunniefuu]

Welcome to the Repair Shop,

where cherished family heirlooms
are brought back to life...

This is the workshop of dreams.

..home to furniture
restorer Jay Blades.

Nowadays, everybody spends
a fortune on stuff

that once it's broken,
they just bin it.

But everybody has something that
means too much to be thrown away.

And that's where we come in.

Working alongside Jay

will be some of the country's
leading craftspeople...

Every piece has its own story.

It's amazing to think that
some of my work

becomes part of that story.

I've always played with things,
I've always repaired things.

And I just love it.

There is a real pleasure in bringing
people's pieces back to life again.

..each with their own
unique set of skills.

Right tool for the right job.

They will resurrect,

revive... What a man!

..and rejuvenate
treasured possessions

and irreplaceable pieces
of family history...

Wow!

She's fantastic!

..bringing both the objects...

This is what I remember.

..and the memories that they hold...

Oh, wow!

..back to life.

Oh, my God!

In the Repair Shop today,

it's man versus metal
as Dom joins forces

with one of Britain's last
remaining master coopers.

I'm going to teach you how to do it
the old-fashioned way. All right.

Hit it.

And master saddle maker Suzie
works on an A-list antique.

Oh, it's fantastic.

Nice bit of history, and a
famous maker and everything.

Oh, it's a complete honour.
Absolute honour.

It's a sunny, lovely day.
See, now, this...

This is the life, isn't it?
No work.

I don't know about that...
LAUGHTER

Oh, hello. How are you doing?
Hello. I'm Jay.

So what have you got for us?

We have a watch. Steve,
sounds like a job for you.

Yeah, come on in. In you come.

OK, thank you. Thank you very much.

Having seen The Repair Shop at home
in the Netherlands,

Ron and his wife Toos have
travelled over 300 miles

in search of horologist
Steve's expertise.

This is the watch, and it was
a watch of my grandfather

and my grandmother.

And this is what you would call
the Albert chain. Yes.

And this is my grandmother. OK.

They were living in Indonesia
before the w*r.

After the Japanese invaded Indonesia
in the Second World w*r,

they were both arrested and sent
to the prisoners of w*r camp.

Oh, right. Yeah.

My grandfather was taken
to the Burma Railway to work there.

My grandmother was taken
to a women's camp on Sumatra.

Right. Mm-hmm.

Fleeing from her house
and being arrested,

the only thing she could take
with her was this watch.

So she sewed it in her clothes,

and it stayed there as long as she
was in the prisoner of w*r camp.

How long was she in the
prisoner...how long was she...?

Four years. Four years.

She sewed that in...
In her dress. Wow! Yeah.

I know items like this
were traded as currency.

For food. Yes, exactly. Yeah.

And not only would she
be hiding this from the guards,

but hiding it from the other
interned people, as well. Yeah.

So this means a huge amount
to you. Yeah.

There is no family history
except the watch.

This is... That's the only
photograph? This is it.

So after my grandmother
passed away in 1964,

my father got it.

My father passed away
five years ago.

So now it's... Now it's up to you.
Yeah.

How well did you know
your grandparents?

Well, I was five or six
when my grandmother passed away.

So I know her as the lady in the
chair with...smoking her cigarettes.

Have you ever seen it work?
Has it ever...? No, no, no.

I've never seen it work because
when I got it from my father,

it was in this state. right.
The hands are missing,

the glass is missing. The case
is slightly dented, isn't it?

Yeah. I'm looking at this
and thinking,

I don't want to
do it up too much. Mm-hmm.

It has to keep its provenance.
Exactly. Yeah.

This always will stay in the
family. Yeah.

We don't have children, but I have
a nephew who is...

..who is crazy about family things.
Right. So it will go to him.

Ron must now return to Holland,

taking the chain with his
grandmother's picture with him

but leaving the treasured watch
at the Repair Shop with Steve.

It's the only thing left
from my grandmother,

and the time before 1945.

I went to England for this guy,
so I'm sure he can fix it.

So I'm excited.

This is a really amazing watch,
and it's even more amazing

considering the
history that it's had.

The fact that it was
sewn into a dress

for four years in a
prisoner of w*r camp.

I think it's really surprising

that it's actually survived
in this state.

A watch this size calls
for some serious magnification.

It's got some dings in the case.

The mechanism is fairly...

..gunged up, actually.

It certainly needs a
jolly good clean through.

Whenever you get that eye out,
you know I'll want to have a go!

Can I have a look at what
you're seeing? There you go.

Thank you.

Oh, wow.

So can you see why it's not working?

There is power getting
through there.

So I think with just
a good overhaul,

maybe some work to the escapement.

So will all of that, see this
kind of dirt mark around there,

that will go, then, yeah?
Some of it will.

Some of it? Not all of it. OK.

Because we want to leave some
of the history. Yeah.

And have a little hand
in the middle?

Yeah, straighten these hands up,
put a seconds hand on.

It really gives me great
satisfaction to actually

take a clock or a watch that's
important to somebody... Yeah.

..and you're keeping it alive,

keeping it going
for future generations.

Yeah. You've got to have a passion
or a love to do this type of work.

It's absolutely a passion.
You want to go the extra mile,

cos you...you do go the extra mile.

Assessment complete,
Steve's made a decision.

This watch is too
small and too precious

to work on in the Repair Shop barn,

so he's taking it off site
for specialist cleaning.

I really need to strip it down to
check and see what the problems are,

because these mechanisms
are so fine that any dust

that's falling out of this old,
thatched barn could affect it.

It really needs to be in
that clean environment.

Next, a rusty antiquity which
should feel right at home

in the rural setting
of the Repair Shop.

Hiya.

Carolyn and Carl have travelled
over 200 miles from Derbyshire,

bringing with them a much-loved
object from their old family farm.

So what do we have here, then?
Right.

This is my grandmother's
butter churn,

which I inherited in about 2000,

and it was originally in my
granny's old house

that I grew up in.

And inside is the original paddles,

and then also, the big handle.

My granny used to milk
the cows in the morning

and then we used to come in,
and I just remember

pouring the milk in here
and then I would turn it

and we'd make butter.

I was fascinated by this and,
you know, at five years old,

you can't really read what it says.
You can't quite work it out, yeah.

But it is quite fascinating and
it's just lovely. It's beautiful.

Does that say Champion Churn?

Used by the...

Can't really read. No.
Could you read that?

Champion butter makers.
Butter makers of...

England and Scotland.

Ah!

Granny and Mummy moved
to the farm in about 19..39?

'38, '39? Just before the w*r. Wow.

Obviously in the w*r, we had to make
our own butter. Yeah.

And they would probably have
made it just for the family,

or just for the people on the farm,
or just locals. I don't know.

When do you think
she last used it?

Well, I remember using it,
probably the late '60s, early '70s.

What would it mean to you
to have this restored?

Oh, it would be amazing. It
would be really, really amazing.

It would be like
going back in time, for me.

What it would really do,

it would take me right back
to me and my granny.

And, um...

I'm very like my granny.

And when I think about her,
I get a bit upset, but...

We were very close and she taught
me an awful lot in life,

and I just sort of would like to
be a bit like her, really.

Don't want to state the obvious,

but what would you like us
to do for you?

I would love you to get
it working properly

and actually looking like it
would have done when it was made.

I think my whole family would just
really appreciate it, as well,

because I've got three children
and it would be handed down to them.

It would always stay in the family.
Teach them how to use it, too.

And I could teach them. Yeah.
I think all the old ways are lost.

You know, none of us know
how to make anything any more.

It's all done for us and we can
buy it in the supermarket.

It would be great to just...

..an old-fashioned way
of doing it would be great.

And I'm sure your granny
would be really happy

to see that you're taking care of
it and keeping it in... Yeah.

..keeping it on.

This means a lot Carolyn, to
have this back in the family.

If I could pass it on to my children
and give them the benefits

that I had from my grandparents
and my parents,

then I think my life
would be perfect.

What do you reckon?

I'm just quite concerned about these
cracks going down the sides. Yeah.

And cracks in the bottom...
On the bottom, as well.

All the wood is...
Not very milkproof, is it?

Not waterproof at all, no.

See, it's missing a strap
here, as well,

which is probably part of the reason
why it's all started giving way.

It's only once Dom has stripped
the butter churn of all its
metalwork

that he can see the
extent of the job ahead.

First thing we really need to do
is see if it's got any leaks,

so I'm going to fill it up with some
hot water and see...

..see what happens, basically.

Just slosh in the water
around inside, just to try and...

Yeah, you can see, look.
It's leaking like a sieve.

There's...all round the bottom,
all these joints,

it's where the wood's dried up,

where it's not been used
for 70 years,

it's been sitting just, you know...

The wood shrinks as it dries out,
so we need to rehydrate it

by submerging it in water,
and it should all swell up

and hopefully seal up
a lot of the gaps.

To do that, we're going to put it
in this big barrel,

fill that up with hot water and
just leave it in there overnight.

Next to arrive at the Repair Shop,

Tom Pfister needs help with
a well-travelled trunk.

Bring it over, we'll
put it on the bench there.

On the table? Yeah.

This is one for Suzie.

Hello. I'm Tom.

Lovely to meet you, Tom.
You, too.

Oh, this is fantastic.

The Repair Shop is becoming
something of a family affair.

Master saddle maker Suzie
is Steve's sister.

Oh, this is lovely.
What do we have here?

My great-grandad's trunk. Really?

That's right.

The lettering on the side,

HFP, stands for what, exactly?

Oh, Henrico Frederico Pfister.

And what did he use it for?

Well, he used to travel a lot.

So, I mean, he went to India
and all over the world.

Why was he travelling so much?
He was an expert in grain.

And he went to India to advise...

..I think Calcutta government, or
the Indian government, on cotton.

All sorts of stuff. I mean,
he went to Greece, Italy, Spain...

So a well...well-travelled case...
Yeah, I mean, all over the world.

He went everywhere. So that's
why we see all these dings

and scratches and whatnot. Yeah.

And what make of case do we have?

It's a Louis Vuitton. Really?
Yeah, yeah.

He was a wonderful case maker,

because people were beginning
to travel a lot more

and so they started making cases
for their specific type of travel.

Some of them would
have ironing boards in them,

or chests of drawers in them.
Absolutely phenomenal.

So each piece is fairly unique,

but it was commissioned for
that particular person

and what their style of travel was.

And it ended with my...one
of my two great-aunts.

She gave this to me.

I sort of found it in the pantry,
buried under saucepans. Oh!

And did you know what it was, then?

Did you know...? Well, she did say,
"Oh, Louis Vuitton!"

SUZIE LAUGHS
Oh, right!

These locks are pretty special.

These are known
as unpickable locks.

Oh, there's a challenge! Yeah!

Better not lose...
There's a challenge!

And every one's slightly different.

You wouldn't happen to have...?
I actually found it. Oh!

Look at that. Brilliant!

HINGE SQUEAKS

So we've got a spare handle, here?
We have. It's...

Oh, it's broken off here. Yeah.

Do you have any idea
how that happened?

I do know exactly
how it happened. OK.

My oldest son gave it a tug.

We were moving house and he... OK.

And then he got shouted at. Oh! Oh!

THEY LAUGH

When you have an article like this,

and then you have the
story of who it belonged to,

it's a wonderful way of reminding
future generations of your family

who that person was. Yeah.

The story all revolves around this
case, and it's a beautiful case.

It's been in the family for...

..well, over a century now.

So it means my son who
ruined the handle can...

..he can pass it on to his kids.

It's a bit of history, isn't it?
It is.

It was always a bit...nerve-racking,

thinking that, you know,
as the years go by,

it's going to get into
a worse and worse state

and be irreparable.

I feel excited to see
how it's going to come out.

I mean, it's nice to see somebody
who knows what they're doing

who can repair it for me.

This is a really nice piece,
isn't it?

Oh, it's fantastic.
Nice bit of history,

and famous maker and everything.

Oh, it's a complete honour.
Absolute honour.

This actually looks thick leather.

Yeah, it is thick.
It's about 3mm thick. Right.

But you couldn't just have
a case made of 3mm,

of this size, to go through
everything it has to go through.

It needs a frame, it needs a form.
Right.

So it's mounted on to wood,

and these studs go into the wood,
holding everything together.

And then the handle,
I'll be able to renovate that.

We can re-use that. Oh, can you?
Yeah.

You don't have to make
a new one altogether? No.

But the keepers here,
that hold the handle in,

they're going to have be remade.

Shall we get over to your bench
and... Yeah.

..you can make a start?
All right, that'd be fantastic.

Ready? Thanks.

Before Suzie can begin restoring
the case,

it needs to be made
safe to work on.

The hinge holding the lid on
has completely collapsed,

so she needs to make a replacement
using new leather.

This is the really nice way

to cut an equal strap
all the way down,

instead of having to mark it with
a ruler and then cut by hand.

The gauge is holding the leather
in place whilst I'm cutting.

Got to do a straight edge.

Which is from...right,
you lay your...

If I hold this up. Yeah. All right?

You want me to my side? I do, yeah.

OK. Yeah.

Once it's on, it's on.

And I'm now going to put some...
Get some tacks.

When I nod my head, you hit it.

SHE LAUGHS

Don't make me laugh!

The pedigree of this vintage trunk
has piqued Jay's interest.

So this is a Louis Vuitton case?
Yeah. I haven't seen one of these.

They don't sell something
like this any more, do they?

No, you don't find them every day.
They're fairly rare.

So, this here...
KNOCKS ON CASE

..that's wood, isn't it?
Yeah, it is wood.

They would normally use pine or ash,
something like that.

All of the studs have the maker's
name on. I do like this a lot.

This is nice.

So what have you found out
about him?

Well, I found out that
he was quite a workhorse.

He started his life working around
about 15 years of age,

when he left home at 13. Yeah.

And he walked for two years
to Paris and he got a job.

You said he walked? He walked,

and ended up in Paris
and got himself a job

as an apprentice box maker.

Went on to set up his own business

and ended up getting a commission
from Napoleon's wife.

Oh! So that elevated his position.
His status, then, yeah?

Yeah. He moved up the ranks.
He certainly did.

OK. So if he was good enough to
make a case for Napoleon's wife,

then everybody would want him.
Absolutely.

They'd be like,
"Hold on a minute..." Yeah.

That was his break.
That was absolutely.

And then later, his son developed
the Louis Vuitton logo,

and the brown with the
gold LVs on it. Yeah, yeah.

That was his son,
that developed that.

So you see cases with that on.

And in today's world,
you'll see that, as well. Yeah.

So this is the original,
though, isn't it? Yeah.

This is, like...this is
done by Dad. Yeah.

This is a wonderful piece.

Back at his bench, Steve's
resuming work on the pocket watch

that had spent four years
hidden in a dress

in a World w*r II
prisoner of w*r camp.

He's now ready to rebuild the watch
and has called upon Cindy Welland,

a specialist dial restorer.

I'm just tracing
all of the numerals.

So if anything disappears
during the cleaning process,

I've then got a to-scale
replica of it.

The most important thing
is that we keep as much of it

as original as possible.

Conserving it,
rather than restoring it.

Give this a gentle clean.

I'm going to use a diluted solvent,

and if we're lucky,
this discoloration will come off

without causing too much
damage to the numerals.

Just takes time and
being very gentle.

I think we're going to be
quite lucky.

The solvent is taking off the dirt
and not taking off the ink

that the numerals are painted with.

They seem to be
staying on quite well.

Clean-up mission accomplished.

As Steve begins the rebuild,

Cindy must painstakingly
hand-paint the numerals

that measure mere microns across.

I've finished. Hey, fantastic!

I'm quite happy with it now.

The numerals stand out.

That is really, really good.

And the minute ring
is just incredible!

It was tricky.

I think that is brilliant.

You can still see some of the
discoloration, but... Yeah, yeah,
yeah.

And I think, because you haven't
cleaned it all off and shone it up,

I think that actually, you know,

that's going to keep the
integrity of the piece.

I think they're going to be
so pleased with this.

I'm chuffed to bits with that.
Good. So well done.

Over at the metal workshop, Dom
has been joined by Alastair Simms

to help with a 160-year-old
butter churn.

Hey, you must be Alastair.
How are you, Dom?

Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you,
too. Thank you for coming down.

No problem.
Come and have a look.

Alastair is one of Britain's
last remaining master coopers,

skilled in the ancient trade
of making casks, barrels

and other containers out of
steamed wood, bound with metal,

a craft that has been around
since the Roman times.

I think it looks really, really
good, I think it looks watertight.

OK. So I think what the next
thing to do is to make some hoops,

which are the bands that
fit on here. Yes.

Cos obviously,
you've got two missing. Yeah.

So we've got some hoop iron. We can
make two new hoops to go on there.

So it's 49 inches.

Piece of hoop, and then...
Do you want me to just cut that off?

Yeah? I've got a grinder.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
no, no. I've got a grinder!

I'll just chop it off
with a cutting disc, no?

No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

I'm going to teach you how to do it
the old-fashioned way. All right.

What, with this? Yeah. Go on, then.

I'm standing back here!

See, that's less noisy
than your grinder.

Yeah, that's impressive.

That's a big old hammer, my God.

There's three sizes of
cooper's hammers.

Apprentice's is 3.5lb,
then there's a 5.5lb standard...

This is more than that, no? 5.5.

That's the heaviest of 'em.

What we're going to do,

we can see where the hoops
have been.

And then what we do,
we'll mark it.

Piece of chalk.

And that's where the rivets
are going to go.

What size drill bit do you need?
Don't need a drill bit.

Just need the rivet
and a hole in there, look.

Surely we need to drill a hole,
first? No, no, no, no.

Put that on there, like that. OK.

Hold it like that. Oh, my word.

So now we know where that's
going to go,

we can trim the end off.

I see, now, that's set. Yeah, sure.

So you've seen... With the chisel.
You've seen it done once.

Hit it.

Next job, to line them up and make
sure that they're perfectly square.

My God, that's great.

That looks strong,
even with just one.

Yeah. There's one more, then.

No, go on. You're going to do it.

OK. Yeah.

How's that look?
Better than your one? No?

Yeah, I'll let you off.
It probably is!

LAUGHTER

Next, Alastair fits the hoop
to the churn

and eases it down over the barrel
with accurate strikes of the hammer.

It's been an education.
I've learned so much from him,

having a go at the rivets, and just
looking at his tools, and the...

Everything he's got is so specific

and he's, you know, it's...it's
beautiful, working with him.

True, true craftsman.
It's been really good fun.

That's great, it's almost down,
isn't it?

Thank you very much.
Thank you.

Thank you.
Pleasure working with you. You, too.

Steve's nearly finished putting
the microscopic components

of the w*r watch mechanism
back together.

I'm just putting the final,
more delicate parts in.

Quite nervous about doing this,
actually, because I find these jobs,

doing such small jobs,
quite difficult.

I usually work on clocks,
not watches.

So to do such an important watch...

..is quite pressurized.

With the workings rebuilt, all
that's left is to see if it ticks.

Just going to pop a little bit of
power on now,

and see how we get on.

And hopefully...

This is the sort of moment of truth.

If the mechanism doesn't
whir back into life,

Steve will be back
to square one.

Ah! That's good. Really pleased.
Really, really pleased.

So that's really good,
because actually, it means

that there wasn't anything
drastic wrong with the watch,

and it was just dirt and grime
that was holding it up.

I'm just going to
pop the hands on now.

These hands just push on...
friction type.

OK, we've got a slight problem,

is it's, um...stopped.

OK.

Well, that's a relief.

It was just the seconds hand
touching the dial.

Thank goodness for that.

The seconds hand is actually
attached to

a very fine part of the mechanism,
and the slightest bit of friction

actually will stop the watch.

So it's very important that
that doesn't touch the dial.

So very pleased that's all it was.

With the mechanism up and running,

Steve can begin to fit the delicate
watch back into its casing.

The watch isn't the only project
that's testing the Repair Shop team.

Suzie's trying to remove the studs
that hold the torn handle

on to the antique
Louis Vuitton trunk.

But they're proving
a little stubborn.

Hi, are you having fun?

Well, I'm a little stumped.

Um... These upholstery studs

are engraved with Louis Vuitton,

so I want to be able to
re-use them.

The problem is
it's not wanting to pull out.

So I'm getting the feeling the pin
goes through and is possibly

bent back in the wood.
Oh, really? Oh, my word.

But I don't want to force anything.

So... if you can get
some sort of claw or something

or something to close on to it,

and then you can twist it, maybe,
and see whether it'll come out.

Obviously I don't want to damage
any of the leather around it.

Do you want to use
my little electric hand drill?

With a dental piece on it?

To... Oh! Yeah.

Yeah, if you've got something that
will go in there.

Yeah, that'll soon whizz that off.
That would be perfect.

Steve drills away the leather
to try and uncover the stud posts,

so that Suzie can work out
how to remove them.

Yeah, I think a little more here.

I really want to expose
whatever is in there.

But to no avail.

It's really stuck, isn't it?
Really, really, really.

If I pull it any more,

it's just going to destroy this.

Having had no luck prising
the studs from the front,

Suzie's attacking
from the other side.

In order to replace the handles
on the outside,

they're held on with these studs
that go all the way through the wood

and they're burred
on the other side.

I have to drill out
the back of the stud,

and in order to get to
the back of these studs,

I've had to carefully take out
all of the linen

that lines the case making sure that
I don't damage that in the process

because I'll be putting that back.

So it's a case of me getting inside
the case to drill the back out.

There we go.

I use my handy-dandy little magnet,

I'm just going to remove
these filings

so you can see
there is the original stud.

After I've drilled out the rivets
from the back,

I have to release them
from where they've lived

for the last hundred years.

I have two out already.

I have another eight to remove.

Just very gently get in behind it.

This has ended up taking a lot more
work than I initially thought

but it's OK. You just keep peeling
away,

remembering somebody made this case,
so we can remake it.

And just taking my time.

You never want to rush it.

You don't feel the pressure of time.

Gently does it.

Perfect.

With the studs finally removed,

Suzie now has a clean surface
to work with,

so she can start bringing
the leather back to life.

This case has become very dry
and biscuity.

It just literally
wants to crumble away.

So I'm just using
a glycerine saddle soap

which will actually seal the finish,

so there's no chance of anyone,
when they rest their hand on it,

pulling away the top layer
of the leather here.

And you can see, it's still...
The dirt is just coming off.

Suzie's got hours of leather
conditioning ahead of her,

if she's going to get this Victorian
trunk looking its best again.

With the butter churn now watertight
and bound by its hoops,

Dom can begin work on the metal
parts of the churning mechanism.

They've been blasted, stripped,
and now they're bare metal.

And now we're going on
with the paint,

which is a super hard-wearing
satin black finish.

Next, the lettering.

Whilst taking
the butter churn apart,

there was evidence on all of these
cast items with text

that they had remnants of yellow.

So I've matched the yellow
to this enamel paint and I'm just

filling them back in.

This is really fiddly.

I heard there was some painting
going on here.

You all right, Jay?
How's it going?

Are you breathing there?

I'm kind of holding my breath.

THEY LAUGH

You've got a steady hand,
I'll give you that. Thank you.

You're not shaking. Thank you, no.

You know why I'm here,
you know I want to have a go.

I haven't finished this one yet.

It's got the biggest letters of all.

All right. What I'm going to do
is go for the end first.

I always like working backwards.

Oh, wow!

That's good, it's good.

Breathe.

Can't hold your breath!

Don't shake.

Keep steady.

C... That C's not as good as your C.

It looks more like a G, now,
don't it? Yeah.

Man! You know what,
I was doing so well.

Got the Champion "Ghurn" now. Ghurn!

No, it's good, it's really good.
Yeah? I'm impressed.

You know what, that's hard.
It's really hard.

Thank you for your help.
You're welcome, sir!

I've painted, polished,
cleaned, replaced,

fixed the barrel

and it's now finally time
to just bolt it all together.

It's been a very long process
to get everything to this point

and I'm really looking forward
to seeing it back in action.

It's been a challenging repair
for clockmaker Steve,

working on the minute pocket watch,

which had seen turbulent times
in a World w*r II prison camp.

Here's the time keeper. How we
doing, Steve? Yeah, good, thanks.

Got all the mechanisms done.

It's ticking beautifully,
look at that. Oh, yeah.

But you know what,
I need to look through that.

You do. It's that way, innit?
Oh, it's that way!

Oh, wow!

With the watch completed...

Oh, look at that!

..Steve's now got the important
mission of hand-delivering

this valuable heirloom
back to its owner.

So, I've actually got to get going.

Have a safe flight.
Well done, Steve.

Ron's 82-year-old mother
is too frail to travel.

So Steve has come all the way
to the Netherlands.

I'm really looking forward
to seeing their reaction to it

working well
and looking so great.

And also just the thought that
it's had the most amazing journey

and this is just another part of it.

I'm very excited at last
to see the watch back.

Everybody will be excited
to see it restored

in its original appearance.

This watch is the only item
connecting Ron to his ancestors.

It survived the horrors
of a prisoner of w*r camp,

kept hidden by Ron's grandmother
sewn into her dress for four years.

But the rigours of its journey had
left the watch broken and battered.

After surviving the w*r,

it should be in one piece again.

Eagerly anticipating
the return of the watch

is Ron's mother Catarina,
and his nephew Martin,

who'll eventually inherit
the timepiece.

DOORBELL RINGS

Ron. Hey, hello, Steven!
Nice to see you. Come in.

Thank you very much.

This is my family.

Hello! This is... This is a moment
I've been looking forward to

because I know how much this watch
means to you all.

I am very excited for this moment.

Oh, man, that looks great. Wow!

And the movement is working.
That's great.

That's great. It's wonderful.

Thank you. Yeah, that's really
wonderful. You did a great job.

Beautiful.

This has been the most wonderful job
to work on

because I knew
what this meant to you,

and I know what an amazing history

this watch has had.

Thank you. I can't thank you enough.

Bless you.

It looks great. Thank you.

Beautiful.

You did a beautiful job.

Thank you very much.

I'm very, very happy.

And I'm sure my late husband
will like that too.

Thank you so much.

Reunite the watch and the chain
with Grandmother.

Absolutely.

Fantastic. That looks great,
that looks complete now.

It's complete, isn't it? That's
the picture of your grandmother.

Yeah. It's the end of the road,
isn't it?

It's...

It's his memory for his grandmother.

Yeah.

And my dad. It's home again.

Thank you very much. Yeah.

Thanks.

It was an emotional moment for me

because I loved my mother-in-law
very, very much.

And I knew what a difficult time
she had.

I think this watch is a symbol
of courage.

And, for us, very important.

Back at the Repair Shop,
Suzie's nearly finished work

on the designer case.

There's just one finishing touch,

something that all Louis Vuitton
cases of the time would have had.

An overstrap that secures the trunk.

This is going to be the tab
that goes through the buckle.

I just...nip off these corners,

then you point the end like this -
helps to feed it through.

Suzie uses her arsenal

of specialist leather-work
tools to trim...

Just put it on the edge there
and run it gently along.

..edge and crease the strap,

before sewing
the two pieces together.

This is my awl and these are
just surface marks.

So the idea is to follow that angle

and push it straight through.

I'm using two needles.

Bring the needle through, go back,

one stitch,

before coming forward.

Put the needle
on top of the thread.

And draw it up.

Finally, the challenge of making
a new strap look like an antique.

The strap needs to be distressed

to blend with the age of the case,

and gravel is wonderful for creating
all sorts of scratches

and indentations
that will make it look like

it's had a bit of a life.

Yeah, it's coming up great.
Liking that.

This trunk travelled the world
in the Victorian era.

But those journeys had taken
their toll.

It was up to Suzie to ensure
it lasts another 100 years

so that owner Tom
has a lasting legacy

of his great-grandfather, Enrico.

Hi, Tom! Hello!

It's good to see you again.
Yeah, you too.

How we doing, mate, you all right?
I'm all right, I'm good.

What did it look like when you
brought it in here? It was trollied.

Bits were falling off of it.

It was a little tired.
Yeah, it had seen better days.

Are you ready to see it?
I certainly am.

Stand back.

Oh, wow!

Amazing job.

It didn't come in originally
with its overstrap. No!

So I was able to make a new strap

and make it look like it had been
round the world several times. Yeah.

And then you remember the handle
that side which was broken?

Oh, God, yeah, well done!

And then the back...

Do you remember it was split
all the way along here? Yeah...

So I made a leather hinge.

What would Enrico think of this
now that he could see it

in its former glory?
He'd be amazed, really.

I like to think
he'd be pretty chuffed.

We're going to keep
sort of family records in it.

Oh, that's a lovely idea.

Yeah, that's perfect.

Thank you ever so much.
You're very, very welcome.

It was a pleasure and an honour
to work on a lovely piece.

We'll take it out to Tom's car.
Nice one, Tom.

Thank you. All right. Cheers, mate.
We'll be round in a moment.

The trunk means a hell of a lot
to me.

It's one of the few things
I've got from my ancestors.

Looks great.
Looks better than great.

Henry would be proud.

Enrico would be proud.

It's ready to go, let's do it.
Let's take it over.

All the hard work is over
on the butter churn renovation

and Dom is finally at the stage

where they can put it
through its paces.

Is this watertight?

Fingers crossed. It should be.

Food historian Kathy Gilder
has come to give Dom and Jay a hand

at good old-fashioned butter making.

Hello, Cathy. Hello!
To me that looks like milk.

It's cream. It's cream?

So you would separate the cream,

which is the fatty bit at the top
of the milk, from the milk.

Milk goes somewhere else
to make other things.

Cream is going to be
for your butter.

So how long does the process take?

Anything from ten, 20 minutes...
Oh, cool.

..to two hours. Excuse me?

Of spinning this?
Of spinning round, yeah.

What, two hours of spinning? Yeah.

Let's hope it's not leaking then,
or we're going to have a big mess!

That is proper cream, innit?

It's nice and thick.

That's looking good.

No leaks.

And you can hear the slosh. Yeah.

When it starts to turn... Yeah?

..the slosh will diminish.

So you know that
the fat is going to coagulate

and you'll get the fat solid,
or the mass,

separating from the liquid,
or the buttermilk.

It's all right, actually,
there's no leaks. No!

Not yet.

Think that's enough? Well, we'll
have a look. Can we have a look?

OK, so... Oh, wow!

That's butter. Look at that!
We're nearly there,

you just need to agitate it
some more on the inside.

Really quick, like that, yeah?

This is tough.

It's a good work-out, isn't it?

This is a proper work-out.
Keep going.

You can see it changing now,
can't you?

Even I can see it's changing,
actually. Really?

Yeah, it is.
Bet you're just saying that.

Keep it going.

Can you hear it? I can hear it.

Excellent! Look at that.

Oh, my...

There we are. Look at that!

That is proper butter.
Yeah, it's hard. It's great.

Guys, you've got to taste this.
This is... We've made butter!

You've been taking your time!
He's ready with the bread!

Been looking forward to this.

Nice!

Well done.
I've never had butter like that.

It tastes different. It does.

It's absolutely gorgeous.

This butter churn
holds fond memories for Carolyn,

who was taught to make butter
by her beloved grandmother

nearly 50 years ago.

It's not worth a lot to anybody
out there in the big world,

but for me it's where
memories, stories,

I can hand it down to my children

I can tell my children
those stories.

I'm nervous for you, I know how much
it means to you. It does, yeah.

Hello. How you doing, mate,
you all right?

So what are you expecting to see?

I'm just expecting to go back
in time

and seeing this amazing butter churn
that I had when I was about five.

So it would be amazing,
when I was this big!

So let's see what this young man's
done for you. OK.

Oh, my God! Oh, wow.
That's unbelievable.

SHE LAUGHS

Oh, my God!

That is absolutely fantastic.

That is not what I was expecting
at all. That is unbelievable.

That is amazing!

DOM: All of this,
remember, we couldn't read...

No, it was, you couldn't even
make that out.

Thank you so much.
You're welcome, you're welcome.

Thank you so much.

It's absolutely beautiful.
You're welcome.

Don't want to cry, but oh, my God!

Is it as you remember?

It's better.

Oh, bless you. Well done,
mate, well done. Just amazing.

I didn't even know what to expect.

But you couldn't read this,
you couldn't read that,

you couldn't see this. The detail is
incredible. It didn't even turn.

It actually works.
We made some butter.

No, really, I'm not joking.
Oh, you're joking!

Look, these are yours,
if I remember rightly.

Oh, they are, yeah. That's yours
as well. That's just how it was!

Fantastic. That is amazing!

So all in there is where
that butter's come from.

Incredible. I can't believe that
you've done this.

It is just far in excess
of my expectations.

Granny will be so proud.

Yeah, she'd be looking down
smiling to herself,

going, "Oh, she's got some work
to do now."

It's nothing like I expected at all.

It's better, bigger, more...

Just overwhelming.

It's great to see what it would have
looked like all those years ago.

It must be, what, 150,
160 years old? Yeah, easily.

And to see the butter!

Oh, my gosh, I can't believe that
they made butter out of it.

Join us next time

as more items receive
the Repair Shop treatment,

and a new lease of life.
Wow!