Orcutt, Santa Maria · since 1922
Arnold Melby sold pocket watches off a motorcycle before he ever opened a store. A hundred years later his family still repairs, appraises and makes jewelry here on Clark Avenue, in house, by hand.
Melby's has been trading since 1922 and in Santa Maria since 1936. The people who will look at your ring have been doing it here for decades, not months.
1922
Trading since
Four
Generations of the family
4.8
From 33 Google reviews
1978
Our goldsmith at this bench since
What actually happens
Plenty of jewelers take your repair over the counter and post it somewhere else. Ours goes about twenty feet, to a bench that has been in use since 1978.
At the counter
Bring it in and we will tell you what it needs and what it will cost before anything is done. One customer came in for an estimate on a ring that had gone out of shape, and it came back repaired and cleaned before they left. Other shops had quoted two to three weeks.
At the bench
This is the whole difference. Sizing, setting, restringing, silver refinishing, laser inscribing and full watch servicing all happen at our own bench, by our own master goldsmith. Nothing gets handed to a courier and a stranger.
At the case
We can fix every brand regardless of age, and most pocket watches. Batteries, bands and band adjustments are usually done while you wait. A mechanical overhaul is the full job: the movement stripped, every part examined, worn parts replaced, the case re-sealed and the whole thing re-oiled.
Full service, in house
Melby's is a true full service jeweler. Repair, appraisal and custom design are done here by our master craftsman. Do not trust your family heirlooms to just anyone.
Repair
Sizing, setting, refinishing and pearl restringing, done at our own bench. Silver serving pieces repaired and antiques resilvered.
Jewelry repair detailsIt stood downtown for most of the last century. Mark Melby moved it, and the store, out to Clark Avenue in 2000. If you are looking for us in Orcutt, look for the clock.
Stefanus Melby sailed from Norway in the 1870s. His son Arnold apprenticed as a watchmaker while he was still at school. Everything after that is on this list.
From the store’s own wall. Photographs of two earlier generations still hang beside the gold-leaf sign from 109 West Main.
1870s
Stefanus Melby sails from Bergen, Norway aboard the ship America and settles in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he works as a tailor.
1894
His firstborn, Arnold M. Melby, is born on 18 March.
1906
Stefanus dies in a flu epidemic. Arnold, the oldest survivor, helps his mother support the family. In Crookston, Minnesota he becomes an apprentice watchmaker while still at school.
1916
Arnold leaves for Klamath Falls, Oregon, repairing watches for a jeweler and selling pocket watches to Norwegian lumberjacks from a motorcycle.
1922
Arnold opens his own store in Lompoc, trading as Arnold M. Melby Jeweler. His son Donald is born the same year.
1936
After the Depression takes its toll, Arnold moves to Santa Maria and buys a defunct jewelry store for ten dollars at 116 North Broadway. It has showcases but no inventory, so he starts with nothing.
1943
He buys H.C. Corey's store at 109 West Main. The gold-leaf sign from that shopfront still hangs on our wall.
1945
Donald joins the business after two and a half years in the Air Corps flying C-47s. He marries Joyce Jensen the following year.
1950
The store expands next door into a former paint store, doubling the floor to two thousand square feet. The new room becomes the Sterling Silver Room.
1960
A second expansion, into a former fabric store, becomes The Gift Shop.
1975
Mark Melby begins his career with Melby's. He later becomes president.
2000
Mark moves the store, and the clock, out to Clark Avenue in Orcutt, where both stand today.
“We were so impressed with the answers Aaron gave us that we used him for the whole process of recutting and setting the old diamond in a new engagement ring, despite us living on the east coast. He gave us honest advice, explained the process clearly, and communicated through all of it.”
“I went in to get my out of shape ring to get an estimate to get it fixed. He took it to the back and when he came back out the ring was repaired and cleaned! I went to other jewelers to get estimates and they usually said that the work would take about 2 or 3 weeks. Melby's jewelers on site repair service is great!”
“I HIGHLY recommend Melby's Jewelers. Alex helped us throughout the whole process of a engagement ring from the design to an appraisal. The store itself is clean and spacious.”
Questions
Santa Maria · Orcutt · Lompoc · Nipomo
A ring that no longer fits, a watch that stopped, a stone you inherited and have never worn. Tell us what you have and you will get a straight answer about what it needs.
