A good repair person is like your right hand – It is always there. So is Bob Watkins. Through the years, about 20 so far, he has kept my Hasselblad equipment and view camera lenses in top working order, with fair pricing. I try not to submit a rush repair, but when I am pressed for time, Bob comes through on time!
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Dave Chare
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I want others to know that I had great service from Diane Graham-Henry (Arcaswiss@aol.com) and Bob Watkins at Precision Camera Works. I emailed ARCA-SWISS about a problem with a ballhead. Diane emailed me back within a few minutes and asked for more information, which I provided. Within an hour she came back and recommended that I email Bob. I had the same quick turnaround and a story short – I had a rebuilt ballhead back within ten days from the time I put it in the mail.
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Tom Isgar
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Just wanted you to know that I was speaking to the regional Hasselblad representative at a function we both attended last week. I told him that I had been using you for my Hasselblad repairs and he gave you an enthusiastic endorsement saying “Bob is an excellent Hasselblad technician!” Of course I already knew that ....
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Russ Berkman
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I purchased a used ARCA-SWISS Ball head and immediately sent it to Bob to make sure it was in perfect working order. Bob was efficient and charged a reasonable fee for the repair. I will be using Bob for all my future maintenance and repair needs!
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John Barclay
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For more than ten years I have been bringing my cameras – Nikons, Mamiyas, and Linhofs – to Bob for repair. No matter what the problem, I have yet to stump him. He has seen it all. And if there’s a part needed for a decades-old camera, he just makes it himself.
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Alan Klehr
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Thanks again, Bob, for all of your efforts! You’ll be hearing from me again with my current Monoball repair needs.
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Bill Lea
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A camera would have to be more than just “dead” for Bob not to be able to breathe life back into it. It would have to be drowned, obliterated, crushed, or smashed in a rage. For all other causes of mechanical failure, there is Bob.
Only in one case when I fell in a river in Malaysia, while chasing the 7" long Rajah Brooke's Birdwing butterfly, was my Nikon gear declared D.O.A. Sent back Fedex soaking wet: “Fried circuit boards.” Some things even a magician cannot undo.
Then there’s my Mamiya, Leica, and newer Nikons. I will never understand how Bob could possibly concentrate with me hovering over him, repeating my nervous mantra: “Can it be saved? Whaddya think?” I’d watch what seemed like rocket science – Bob coolly manipulating parts I could barely see, gluing, making replacement parts from scratch – watching for the first signs of mechanical life to appear again. “This was not the right time for me to destroy a $3000 camera; it’s the economy, ya know.” Bob, hardly needing to have a photographer’s economic plight impressed upon him, assures us, “I’ll get it fixed, no matter what.” And he does.
Perhaps my editor’s negative traits have rubbed off on me a bit, because when I bring my cameras in, everything needs to be repaired ASAP as of yesterday. The job is always done and my shattered nerves are repaired as well. I pay, feeling like it really should have cost more.
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Russell Gordon
Mexico
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I received my Arca Swiss B1 ball head with the new quick release clamp only four days after I mailed it to you. What great service! Additionally, the ball head didn’t work this smoothly even when it was brand new. Thanks for a great job, a terrific price, and a quick turnaround.
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Thad M Brown
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