How do I send you my engraving idea?

Email it to hello@hampdenwatch.com and attach whatever you've already made. We reply within one to two business days to confirm we have it and tell you what we can do with it, so you're not left wondering whether it landed.

You don't need finished artwork to start. A sketch on paper photographed with your phone is a completely normal way to begin, and it's how a lot of the engravings we produce start out.

What to send

Send what already exists. A drawing, a scan, a screenshot, a page from a document, a photo of handwriting, a logo file, or just a few lines describing what you have in mind. Most common image and document formats come through fine, and if anything needs to be resupplied in another form we'll say so when we reply.

It helps to include a few things alongside the file:

• Your order number, if you've already ordered, or which watch the engraving is for if you haven't
• Anything you want us to know about placement, size or which parts matter most
• What the design means, if that's relevant, because it often shapes how a designer treats it
• A date you need it by, if you have one, so we can tell you early whether the timeline works

If you're not sure your idea can be engraved at all, what can you engrave covers what we work with and the two limits we hold to.

What happens after you send it

Your idea goes to a Hampden designer, part of the service we call the Design Concierge. They work with you to turn what you sent into a caseback engraving: redrawing a rough sketch, cleaning up a photograph, adjusting proportions so fine detail still reads at watch scale. This is the part people worry about most and the part you can hand over. Preparing your file is the designer's job, not yours.

You'll go back and forth by email, or on a short call if you'd rather talk it through. Either route works, and neither is required. The full process from purchase to finished watch is set out in how to personalize your Hampden watch.

When the design is settled, we send you a proof. That's a preview showing the engraving as it will appear on the back of your watch, usually with a few labeled options to choose between. See what is a proof and how do I approve it for how that stage works.

How long it takes

There are two intervals, and it's worth reading them separately because they measure different things.

1. Proof: three to five business days. Counted from your design session or from the day you send your material in.
2. Production: ten business days. Counted from the day you approve the proof, not from the day you submitted.

That's roughly 13 to 15 business days from submission to shipment. The production clock starts at approval, so the sooner a proof is approved the sooner the watch is on the bench.

If you haven't heard back

If two business days have passed and nothing has come back, write to the same address again and put your order number in the subject line. Check your spam folder first, since design correspondence carries attachments and occasionally gets filtered. A second email is not a nuisance, and it's the fastest way to get a thread moving again.

Updated on: 21/08/2026