When do I need to order for the holidays?

Order by December 5 for an engraved watch to arrive before the holidays. That date is reviewed each year and confirmed closer to the season, so check back if you're planning well in advance.

The date comes from the work behind it. An engraved watch takes roughly 13 to 15 business days from submission to shipment, then transit time on top. That total is made of two separate intervals: three to five business days to prepare your proof, and ten business days of production once you've approved it.

The second interval is the one that catches people out. Production isn't counted from the day you place the order or the day you email your design. It's counted from the day you approve the proof, so a week spent deciding between concepts is a week added to the end, not absorbed somewhere in the middle.

The two intervals

1. Proof: three to five business days, counted from the day you send your material in. How do I send you my engraving idea covers what to send and where.
2. Production: ten business days, counted from the day you approve the proof. What is a proof and how do I approve it covers that stage.

Shipping time sits on top of both, and it depends on where the watch is going.

How to build in margin

Two things make the arithmetic safe. Submit earlier than you think you need to, because the proof stage begins when your material arrives and not when you decide to look at it. Then approve promptly once the proof reaches you, since that's the moment the ten business days begin.

Business days also matter more in December than in any other month. Weekends and holidays don't count toward either interval, so a stretch of the calendar that looks like three weeks can be considerably fewer working days than that.

Tell us your date

If the watch is for a particular day, say so in your first email to hello@hampdenwatch.com. Give us the date and where it's going, and we'll reply within one to two business days and tell you plainly whether the timeline works, rather than leaving you to do the arithmetic and hope. That holds after December 5 as well as before it, since what's still possible depends on how detailed the design is and how quickly the proof comes back approved.

Orders without engraving

A watch ordered with no engraving skips the proof and production stages entirely and moves straight into fulfillment, so it needs considerably less lead time than the figures above and the December 5 date doesn't apply to it. Current windows for both kinds of order are in when will my order ship.

Updated on: 21/08/2026