‘Mechanical watch can function for 500 years’

ISTANBUL

A mechanical watch can last 500 years, but a digital watch can last only 10 to 15 years, says a watchmaker who has been in the profession for the last 52 years.

Nezihi Arıcı repairs mechanical watches, from antique watches dating back to the 1800s to pocket watches of the most famous brands of the period, in his shop in Istanbul’s Kadıköy district.

Arıcı comes from a family from the northern province of Adapazarı, which has been repairing watches for four generations.

After the earthquake in 1999 in the region, he left the 100-year-old shop in Adapazari and moved to Istanbul.

“When I was in elementary school, I used to go to my father’s watch shop as soon as I got out of class. Clocks were like toys for a 7-year-old child,” Arıcı said while expressing the story of his passion.

“In my senior year of high school, my father had a heart attack and lost his life. After that, I sat down at the counter in the shop and never got up again. I have been working as a watchmaker since that day,” he stated.

Explaining the difference between handmade mechanical watches and today’s digital watches in terms of durability, Arıcı noted that a mechanical watch can even function for 500 years as long as it is maintained and kept in a moisture-free environment.

On the other hand, the life of digital watches is limited to 10 to 15 years, he stated.

“Even the clocks from 1450 are still working. Mechanical watches are almost immortal as long as they are lubricated.”

Pointing out that there is no master-apprentice relationship in watch repair anymore as no young person wants to do this profession, he said there are only 48 watchmakers left in the country.

“We are one or two people in Kadıköy. If a group of business people had not opened a watch repair school in [northwestern province] of Bursa, our profession would have disappeared,” he added.