NAIROBI, Sept. 30 — Amid the rhythmic chiming of giant wall clocks, 74-year-old Ravinder Singh paced around his studio in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, opening one wooden drawer after another in search of tiny spare parts to repair the wristwatches neatly laid out on the table.
The immediate former chairperson of the Sikh Council Kenya, Singh traces his family’s watchmaking roots to ancestors who migrated from India to Kenya more than a century ago. Speaking to Xinhua at his studio, Singh beamed as he recalled his family’s long tradition of watchmaking and vowed to keep the craft alive despite the passage of time and the rise of digital technology. Wearing the trademark white turban associated with Sikh men, Singh said his father owned one of the best shops in Nairobi during British colonial rule, where he repaired exotic brands for members of the colonial elite. “At the time he closed the shop, he was quite aged and none of us at that time were interested in watchmaking. I was very young and my elder brother had interest in other things,” said Singh.As he grew up, the versatile youngster frequented his father’s shop in downtown Nairobi, where he learned the intricacies of watch and clock repair before eventually taking up the craft as a hobby.
Watchmaking runs four generations deep in Singh’s family, from his great-great-grandfather to his father, and he is determined to pass the time-honored craft on to his children and grandchildren. “As long as I live, I will keep on doing this. I also have ambitions to make my own watches and market them. One of my middle sons is very interested and at some point in time, we will go into manufacturing watches, creating our own brand,” said Singh. In an increasingly globalized, digitized world, Singh sees opportunities to reinvent his craft instead of giving up on it, adding that he sometimes sources essential watch accessories from China. Some wall clocks hanging in his studio are more than a century old, while he still keeps a pocket watch his father gave him 60 years ago. The meticulous watchmaker is not afraid of the future, even as many worry that the digital revolution could wipe out the remaining cache of good old battery-powered wristwatches and wall clocks.
Although he works as a builder by day, Singh remains committed to mentoring family members and people in the wider community to take up watchmaking, hoping to ensure that the craft survives changing times and technologies. Seated on a wooden stool in his studio, Singh’s attention to detail was evident as he combed through brown packets to pluck out tiny springs and gears with a magnetic screwdriver for insertion into some old wristwatches. Inside the studio, Singh retains a large collection of spare parts, some of which were left behind by his late father, enabling him to carry out repairs and continue a family tradition spanning generations. Repairing iconic watches and wall clocks keeps Singh busy, he said, adding that the craft is therapeutic and helps shield him from pursuing life’s vanities.He said watchmaking is not a tedious activity when a craftsman has the required accessories at his disposal and that the outcomes are always fulfilling.
Singh has witnessed the evolution of watches and other timepieces in Kenya since his youth, from battery-operated wristwatches to giant wall clocks with chiming bells that date back more than a century. “Clocks have changed a lot over the years. From daily wind-up watches to automatic to battery-powered. But today, we have come back to the season where we are using automatic watches,” said Singh. Singh believes that wristwatches, wall clocks and pocket watches will survive despite an uncertain future, given their enduring prestige and the emotional attachment people have to them. “I have had this watch on my wrist for the last 30 to 35 years and it still looks new. It is serviced by me here. Watches will never go out of fashion,” said Singh.
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