A breath of oxygen for history
When servicing a watch, our watchmakers not only get to glimpse inside a movement, but often into family histories too. As with the ‘Kofmehl watch’.
Our story begins in 1895, when Bahnhofstrasse is on its way to becoming a magnificent boulevard worthy of its Paris counterparts, though is far from complete. Old gardens and villas run wild between new façades. Peter Kofmehl’s grandfather sets up a gold and silversmith’s workshop (today: Chopard) diagonally opposite Beyer Chronometrie (then: Palais de Crédit Suisse).
He does well and is soon able to move into larger premises (today: Löwenapotheke), and when the empty plot of land opposite comes up for sale, he jumps at the chance. He has his house, Haus zum Rheingold, built in a blend of Art Nouveau and Classicism, in a modern combination with metal and sandstone. In 1909, he opens a jeweller’s (today: IWC) in the shop premises, adding watch brands soon thereafter.
Damian Ahcin burnishes the bearing on the dismantled movement, while around 180 individual parts await assembly.
Following his grandfather’s death, his father takes over. After his father dies, Peter Kofmehl runs the business with his mother; though smaller than Beyer and Türler, the two big names on Bahnhofstrasse, it is also looked upon as an institution. They now sell a wider range of watches. However, the Swiss Goldsmiths’ and Watchmakers’ Association stipulates that the sale of timepieces is only permitted if they have an in-house watchmaker. So, after completing commercial school, Peter Kofmehl trains as a watchmaker at the La Chaux-de-Fonds watchmaking school from 1959 to 1961.
LOVINGLY DECORATED TREASURE
“It would be true to say I found my destiny there,” says the now 84-year-old. “I loved the hours at the workbench and later enjoyed every single service I was allowed to perform for our customers.” The highlight of his degree programme is his final assignment – to build his own watch. Based on the Valjoux 88 calibre, he builds a movement with around 180 individual parts, every nook and cranny polished by hand, the surfaces lovingly and precisely decorated with perlage and Geneva stripes, the bridge engraved with his name – a real bijou.
“I hardly ever wore it, it always seemed too fragile, too precious,” says Kofmehl. Now he has brought it out again, briefly reminisced about the past, then set his sights on the future. “I’m very fond of vintage and almost prefer old watches to new ones. This one is particularly close to my heart. I’d like to leave it to one of my children one day – in full working order, of course.”
As he no longer has a workbench and his hand and eye are not up to carrying out a service, he took the watch to where the best in the trade work: to Beyer. “I already had a great affection for the father, Teddy Beyer. We met at the association’s meetings and didn’t feel like rivals, but rather like professional colleagues who sometimes helped each other out.”
The opening, at precisely 1.58 millimetres in diameter, is bored cylindrically to insert a bushing.
At Beyer’s watch atelier, they were impressed by the watch, precisely because it has an unusual story to tell. “Mr Kofmehl is a watchmaker; he ticks like us – so we were very clear what this watch means to him,” says atelier director Damian Ahcin. “What’s more, this is a high-quality, very beautiful column-wheel chronograph with triple date and moon phase, the likes of which were only produced between 1947 and 1974.” The excellent condition combined with the emotional value make this specimen truly exceptional, says Ahcin.
At his workbench, he disassembles the watch into its individual parts to analyse its condition and decide what needs refurbishing and what should be left as it is, so as not to interfere too much with its history. “Its past is an important part of the watch. If we were to polish it too thoroughly, the watch would lose the patina that gives it such character,” Ahcin explains. “It’s about authenticity: the watch is a piece of industrial history. And that’s how it should feel. An old Porsche doesn’t drive like a new one either.”
CORRECTIONS IN THE MICRO-RANGE
What’s more, when it comes to watches, the more material you polish away and the more you correct, the higher the risk that the mechanism will no longer run accurately, which would require further intervention. A special feature of this service is the refreshing of the black polish finish (Ahcin: “This was once done with extreme care!”), which is applied with a diamond paste on a tin plate. In addition, the bearing in which the minute wheel sits is slightly worn, so Ahcin has to round the opening on the lathe to the nearest hundredth of a millimetre and insert what is termed a bouchon, or bushing. Mainly, though, he polishes away scratches, cleans seals or replaces any that are brittle, and rectifies minor injuries.
Once this is done, Damian Ahcin can return the serviced clock to its owner in the knowledge that it will go on ticking reliably – and hopefully tell many more generations what it was like when Bahnhofstrasse didn’t quite exist yet, but a clever, forward-looking ancestor opened a new chapter in the family’s history and guided time in the right direction.
Equipped for the future: Damian Ahcin hands over the serviced watch to Peter Kofmehl.
The Beyer watch atelier is the largest workshop of any watch retailer in Zurich.
Beyer employs ten watchmakers and two apprentice watchmakers above the shop at Bahnhofstrasse 31 and in the clock atelier in Zollikon.
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