A professional calling that makes Bang tick
Print Edition
BANG Shuanghe has been repairing watches at his shop on Chengzhong Street in Jiading Town for the past 35 years.
He works at a table on which there is a vintage Sakura watch, a rusty old pencil box, three files and four pairs of tweezers of different sizes.
At 5pm on April 8, when the sun was setting on Zhouqiao Old Street and road lamps were just turned on, an examination was in progress at his 10-square-meter workshop. Two female apprentices were sitting their final exam. One of them was Bang’s daughter while the examiner was Bang himself.
In front of each girl was a Longines mechanical watch which had stopped ticking. As soon as Bang started a timer, the two young women began to open the watch, search for broken parts, replace them and finally reassemble it. Step by step, Bang carefully evaluated their work.
“A watch has about 100 parts and each careless fault could cause lots of trouble. The only way to become proficient is to repeatedly disassemble and assemble to memorize each part of the watch,” Bang said. “It is easier said than done and the process requires extreme care and persistence, since each disassembling and assembling will take more than an hour.”
The examination results were satisfying and both apprentices met Bang’s requirements. Each can now serve customers independently.
“Years ago, my father supervised me in the same strict exam, using the same Longines watch and the same examination style. A strict teacher produces outstanding students,” Bang said.
“Nowadays, watch repair no longer attracts many young people since the income is low and the training is hard. However, my daughter and the other girl are willing to continue the business and I am quite gratified by that.”
Thirty-five years ago when Bang followed his father to Jiading from Jiangxi Province, the watch repair business was quite thriving.
Bang remembers that at that time the shop had more than 10 apprentices and each could repair a dozen of watches every day.
Being a watchmaker was a popular profession, and as an apprentice himself, Bang earned a decent salary.
But now there is only he himself remains a watch repairer. All the others have changed their professions. The reason he insists on doing so is that there is a demand.
One of Bang’s most recent customers was a 90-year-old man who came to Bang and asked to have his precious vintage mechanical watch repaired. Such customers give Bang the faith to carry on his profession, he said.
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