Collectors' Stopover
Mending broken time with finesse
Managing Baroda House & National Rail Museum clocks
SYED WAJID
sufijourno@gmilcom
This seems more to be a collectors' stopover than just a workshop where old and vintage watches get a new life. Asif Khan engrossed in time's world, working hard at the intricate craft of watch repair, is immune to the world outside. He is the watchmaker of many other watchmakers.
There are many who cannot come from India's remote cities get their work done through a courier service.
He is carrying out a historic legacy of repairing and fixing both old vintage and new watches from his late father Yaqoob Khan who was a seasoned clock-jobber and his grandfather Ayyub Khan was one who initiated this family profession. Now, Asif Khan one-of-a kind executes his job of servicing and repairing watches with finesse. Any watch either hand-wound or automatic or quartz he repairs once runs almost forever.
Asif has spent all his life about 40 years not only repairing irreparable watches but also breathing life into the dead pieces.
"I repair all kinds of wrist watches from quartz to manual to automatic. I have repaired more than 20,000 watches in my 40 years' journey." Asif at 16/B, Pleasure Garden market opposite Bhagirath Palace near temple Gaurishankar gushes.
He has a great degree of special expertise in Swiss, English, German and Russian watches and wall clocks; he has repaired watches ranging from Cyma, Camy, Favre Leuba, Roamer, Titoni Seiko, Orient,Oris and HMT to highend times including Patek Philippe (PP), Cobot Watch Company (CWC), International Watch Company (IWC) Rolex,Omega, Tag Heuer, Tudor Bulova, Movado, Tissot, Girard Perregaux(GP), Zenith, Hamilton, Longines, Swatch chronograph, millitary watches, jump hour watches, alarm watches, bell matic,marine master, divers watches, bullhead and stopwatches. He is as good as Riyaz Khan at gali Surkh Poshan, Churiwalan Jama Masjid who sincerely prides himself on doing watches for more than 50 years, inherited from his late father Iliyas Khan way back in 1972.
Asif sells pre-owned watches as well.
Sohail,a wizard of mechanical watches, near Jama Masjid and Javed at Markazi Market, Hazrat Nizamuddin are believed to be among the few left in the trade.
Asif exudes his deep dedication to the art of repairing broken time pieces, he also restores and repairs wall clocks and grandfathers that may include Smith, Seiko, Ansonia, Anglo Swiss and Junghans. However, he is on a par with Ayaz Khan at gali Badliyan Churiwalan, near Karimia School, an unbeatable hand in fixing and restoring clocks and alarm timepieces.Ayaz alone gives a run to any in the race for his artistic excellence in making wall clocks. He fixed the clocks at Hyderabad House,Delhi and National Rail Museum. Ayaz has clients from Calcutta and Madras. He gives his services to outside Delhi as well. He also went to Nagpur, the residence of former CJI (Chief Justice of India) Sharad Arvind Bobde to repair and service his clock.
Asif's Standard Watch Service Point opens at 1 and wraps up for the day at 8 in the evening and remains closed on Sundays.
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