82-year-old watchmaker has no successor

82-year-old watchmaker has no successor

2024-10-31

Eighty-two-year-old Chen Chin-hsiung is one of the handful of working watchmakers in Miaoli’s Yuanli Township. Following in the footsteps of his father, he’s been working as a watchmaker for decades. Amid a sharp decline in watch wearers since the advent of smartphones, not to mention the more niche mechanical watches, none of Chen’s children were willing to learn from him. He lamented that it seems like his skills will cease to be when he does.

Wearing a self-made magnifying monocle, repair master Chen Chin-hsiung carefully feels the delicate insides of the watch. The mechanism is made of such tiny parts that a magnifying lens is a must.

Chen Chin-hsiung
Watchmaker
The parts, there are more than a hundred! On top and on the bottom.

Good craftsmanship starts with the best tools. To repair fine watches, Chen uses specialized tools. Whether it’s to open the watch or to remove the strap, only the right tools will spare the watch of damage. Sometimes Chen may not even have the right parts for a client’s watch on hand. In that case he’ll have to make them himself.

After finishing middle school, Chen started learning watchmaking from his father. Being the eldest son with many younger siblings, the family’s livelihood fell on his shoulders when his father passed away.

Chen Chin-hsiung
Watchmaker
My dad taught me. I had no choice but to learn. I’d stand behind him and watch him work. It’s grueling. I learned by observing.

Chen said a watchmaker has no holidays. And although it’s not physically demanding work, having to concentrate hard for at least an hour each session is arguably just as taxing.

Chen Chin-hsiung
Watchmaker
I don’t have a successor. It’ll be a lost art. My kids are not interested.

Chen lamented not having a successor to pass on the skills his family had for generations.

For more Taiwan news, tune in:
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機械錶維修技藝恐失傳 82歲老師傅:找不到零件自己動手做

2024-10-31

苗栗縣苑裡鎮碩果僅存，修理鐘錶的老師傅陳金雄，今年82歲，仍每天坐在老舊的木桌上，幫人修理手錶，不過現在手機取代手錶，很多人戴的手錶，也不是機械錶，老師傅學得一身功夫，卻派不上用場，現在都只是幫人換換電池，手藝沒人接班，恐怕就此失傳。

戴起自製的放大鏡，老師傅陳金雄仔細擦拭錶內的機械，精密的小物件，不戴放大鏡真的無法看清。

[[機械錶修理師傅陳金雄]]
“(零件)喔! 一百多個喔!，上面，下面也有”

工欲善其事必先利其器，針對名貴的手錶，也有特製的工具來修理，卸除錶殼以及拆卸錶鍊，都要用對工具，否則會對手錶造成傷害，有時客戶送來修理的機械錶，找不到零件，也得自己動手做。

從國中畢業後，就跟著爸爸一起修理鐘錶，所有的功夫都是師承父親，由於自己是長子，底下還有弟弟妹妹，父親過世後就擔起養家的責任。

[[機械錶修理師傅陳金雄]]
“爸爸教的，不做不行! 站在後面看，要忍耐啊，用看的學”

陳金雄說，修理鐘錶沒有假期、也不是體力活，而是要全神貫注，有時候要連續用放大鏡看一個小時以上相當辛苦。

[[機械錶修理師傅陳金雄]]
“沒有接班人了，失傳了，沒有，沒有，(小孩子)不想學”

陳金雄感嘆，手藝到他這一代，恐怕就此失傳。

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For more Taiwan news, tune in:
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Treasure hunter
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Treasure hunter
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For more Taiwan news, tune in:
Sun to Fri at 9:30 pm on Channel 152
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