My honored watchmaker and a historic chronometer

[kfranzk]

Or: How to engage a watchmaker:
Hallo friends, I come up with a special story:

After the rise of the last century, there was a reknowned chronometer maker, Louis Kurtz in Münster/Germany.
His ships chronometers were tested as 1. class at the Deutsche Seewarte, the German Naval Observatory in Hamburg and were purchased by the German Imperial Navy before WWI.
Such a precision chronometer was essential for determining the exact longitude of a location at sea, more than a hundred years ago there was no GPS or quartz precision.
When the First World War ended, his sales endet up. So he offered his left chronometers to the US Navy. They were tested at the Naval Observatory in Washington, approved, and purchased. (See the test results: the first ranks were held by Lange & Söhne, Ulysse Nardin and Louis Kurtz.)

After Louis Kurtz died in 1925, master watchmaker Wilhelm Nonhoff took over the shop in Münster, which is my hometown as well.
When I was searching for these roots and any precision clocks that might still have survived, I found out that their last master watchmaker has retired. As he still lives near Münster, I tracked him and since then he helps me by providing first-class service for any special watches and instruments.

Again after a while I traced the shown chronometer 'Kurtz No. 134' that was owned by the US Navy. I could buy it from my friend Chris from Ohio.
I donated it to my watchmaker as a historic master piece of his predecessor and since then, he refused to get any compensation for his help in complex watch restaurations.
Greetings Konrad

Edited: Jun 15, 2024

 

[Larry S]

Nice gift!

 

[Caselock]

Konrad, great to track this special person down and providing him what came out of their premises. Congrats!

 

[Ron_W]

Great story and a well appreciated gift !
The opposite can happen as well unfortunately, my watchmaker just missed a 3rd deadline today this year...... excuses, excuses but no watch for me.
Should i fire him ? I want to but it means take back the unfinished project and find another capable watchmaker, who also will have a waitinglist.

 

[DaveK]

Ron_W

Great story and a well appreciated gift !
The opposite can happen as well unfortunately, my watchmaker just missed a 3rd deadline today this year...... excuses, excuses but no watch for me.
Should i fire him ? I want to but it means take back the unfinished project and find another capable watchmaker, who also will have a waitinglist.

My watchmaker is severely behind as well. I see it being more stressful for him - in disappointing his clients - than it is for me. It’s not like I’m a train conductor in 1889 who’d be fired for not having critical equipment. My cobbler has a huge waitlist, but how they manage it is the client pays and books in advance, then you are given a check-in time, say, July 28. They manage the intake numbers and turnaround repairs in time. One imagines that rush orders are charged at overtime rates +.

Maybe watchmakers need a booking and payment app that allows them to keep on the bench and away from customers. Or maybe only open for customers 2 days a week for pick up and drop off? It’s tough being a solo entrepreneur

 

[Archer]

DaveK

My watchmaker is severely behind as well. I see it being more stressful for him - in disappointing his clients - than it is for me.

This. It nearly killed me, so I just turn away most of the work, and only take in what I can work on now (or soon), and the rest I let someone else do...

 

[kaplan]

Beautiful story Konrad, thanks for sharing

We call everyone a watchmaker - it would've probably made more sense to tier it a bit like: "watch service agent" - "watch technician" - "watch engineer" - "watch maker". Now these people truly made watches

It's also impressive how he can still work on watches, with age it can become painful to concentrate visually for some people

 

[Ron_W]

Archer

and only take in what I can work on now (or soon)

Good advice and i also suggested it to my watchmaker, to stop taking on new projects when your are already X months behind - as he also is a "positive planner" which makes it double dangerous.

 

[Ron_W]

DaveK

Maybe watchmakers need a booking and payment app that allows them to keep on the bench and away from customers.

Good point as well, it takes up alot of time answering the door , emails and calls and keeps interupting the work on your desk. He needs more hands i think.

 

[p4ul]

I was taught in my career that to build a good relationship with a client it was smart to ‘under promise, over deliver’ so for example, “your watch will be ready in 3 years” but get it out a week, month, 6 months early and you have a happy customer.

Quite a good life lesson also, “Just off out to buy a bottle of scotch” come back with a bunch of flowers too.

 

[Fallout Boy]

open/close - check at my watchmaker:



"In order to be able to concentrate on repairs for a longer period of time, the workshop is not open Monday to Wednesday."

 

[Franco]

Like in most serious professions, it is wise not to create too much expectations