Absolutely not. First Hand is designed for beginners. About 90% of our guests have never sat at a watchmaking bench before. We teach you step-by-step with a 2:1 instructor-to-student ratio, so you’re guided closely the entire time.

Non-personalized watches: Ship within 5–7 business days.

Personalized watches or engraved casebacks: Ship within 3 weeks, due to design consultation and engraving.
For urgent needs, Hampden can accommodate rush orders—reach out to us early.

Please note there may be shipping delays beyond our control. Due to the custom nature of our personalized case backs, we do not allow refunds due to shipping delays.

Our flagship First Hand workshop centers on the 42mm Model 1. During the experience, you’ll select from several class-exclusive dials. We also engrave your initials on the movement, and the sapphire exhibition back lets you revisit the moment every time you look down.

Plan for a full day. We start at 9:00 AM and typically wrap around 4:00 PM. Lunch is included, along with a break for a private gallery tour of Hampden’s vintage watches.

• A full guided watchmaking workshop at Hampden HQ
• Your Swiss mechanical watch (the one you build)
• Breakfast, lunch, and refreshments
• All tools, materials, and instruction throughout the day
• A private tour of Hampden's corporate watch collection, featuring 150 years of watchmaking history

First Hand takes place at Hampden Watch HQ in Chicago at 1550 W Carroll Ave, on the edge of Fulton Market. Free parking is provided, and you’ll receive simple arrival instructions after booking.

Each session has only six seats and most sell out, so we keep this simple and fair:

• Seats are non-refundable but fully transferable. Send someone in your place any time, at no charge. This is the simplest option and keeps your full value, so we recommend it first.
• 14 or more days out: we’ll reschedule you once to any open session, no charge.
• Inside 14 days: if you can’t attend or transfer your seat, your payment converts to HampdenWatch.com credit at 50% toward a future session or watch.
• No-shows forfeit the seat. We may extend credit for a genuine emergency, at our discretion.