Chronosect today takes you to the discovery of an excellent watchmaking atelier in Marcianise, in Campania. His name is "The Masters of Time", and he specializes in complicated watches and fine finishes ...
Who are you and what is your story?
That 'shaute horlogerie is a passion handed down for generations in my family. It all began in the Eighties, when I was just a child and went to visit the Geneva boutique of a paternal uncle, dealer Zenith, Omega and also Swatches, at the time highly sought after, almost impossible to find.
Our business is based in Marcianise, in the province of Caserta, an industrial district of European significance. The Masters of Time is a point of reference for watchmakers from all over central and southern Italy. We are a certified service center for numerous prestigious Swiss brands and, although the passion for fine watchmaking has also led us to market a few second wrists, the core of our work is assistance to professionals, both in the form of aesthetic restoration. than functional of complicated watches and in general of luxury timepieces.
Do you work more with individuals or with traders?
Being in a wholesale context, we ourselves tend to be wholesalers and to work purely with professionals. This is also our choice, as the trader has a different approach to the after-sales and laboratory than the private one.
Thanks to social platforms, however, we also have private customers who, learning of our professionalism, decide to rely on us for the maintenance of their watch, perhaps even sending it to us from distant places. In this sense the Chronosect platform can help to introduce us to other merchants and the Chronosect app, with his chat which brings together only professionals in the sector, is certainly a good idea.
What is your work or skill that you are particularly proud of? Do you have "special" requests from the customer?
We were born to, and have specialized in, overhauling complicated. In recent years the laboratory work has changed, we have equipped ourselves for the restoration of cases and bracelets, lapping, coatings with laser technology, the restoration of vintage bezels ... For example, we have managed to reach a level of quality in the processing such as to be able to perfectly reproduce, during the restoration, the font used in the writings on the bezels of vintage Rolex Daytona. This leads us to be among the best in the national panorama of watchmaking restoration and we are very proud of it.
It is not so rare that a customer entrusts me with a watch with a "toned" dial or bezel and asks me to carry out maintenance and polishing, but leaving these elements intact which, for the vintage, are much appreciated. Of course, in cases like this, the customer's needs are met. However, there are limits: if I am brought a watch with no particular historical interest, not a vintage so, but a contemporary, in really bad shape, here, I do not release a watch of this type that is not polished and refurbished by my laboratory, as a matter of professional pride: never let it be that one day the watch is worn by a colleague who, seeing the timepiece "massacred", has to say about my way of working!
I often draw parallels between watches vintage and vintage cars, some things should not be touched, but consumables should always be replaced. For example, the barrel spring is a component that I replace every time I overhaul a watch. If I leave it there, worn, just because it is still in working order, it could fail one day, and the whole clock would have to be disassembled again - thus requiring a new overhaul - to replace it. Here, for me if a watch is not perfect, with the obvious limits of originality in the case of a vintage, does not leave my shop. Different speech for the beautifully preserved CD, that is the original vintage watch with few signs of wear: there we only work on functionality, because it is appreciated that it has been touched as little as possible.
How has the watchmaker's work and after-sales changed over time?
The work of repairing watches has changed over time, on the address of the Mother Houses. Initially, maintenance was seen almost as a nuisance by the builders. The preference was towards selling the new watch, leaving the maintenance to the small watchmakers scattered throughout the territory. Recently, however, a new trend has emerged, driven by the desire to claim greater profits from the maison: the one of internalize maintenance of timepieces. But how, if there is a widespread network of independent repairers, to induce the customer to turn to the more expensive service of the parent companies? First of all, by stopping to sell spare parts to repairers or, less radically, by limiting the supply of spare parts to repairers who agree to work according to the rules of the parent company. What does it mean to work according to the rules of the parent company? It means purchasing machinery, equipment, spare parts from the manufacturer of the watches you intend to maintain, as well as carrying out training courses at the facilities accredited by the House itself. This second way, which we have chosen to follow to continue working with prestigious brands, pays off for manufacturers because, in addition to the watch product, they also sell other goods and services. Then add the reduction of the points of sale and the opening of online sales channels directly from the manufacturer and we see how the direction of the watchmaking market is that of an ever greater cost cutting and internalisation, even at the expense of turnover, to obtain margins. higher earnings and greater exclusivity of their products, less and less available on alternative channels to the official ones. These are commercial choices, they may like it or not, but this is the market today.
How did 2020 go and what are your prospects for 2021?
2020 was a difficult year for all sectors. Our turnover, however, it has almost been maintained unchanged, thanks to the customers we have built loyalty over time with our professionalism. When we were forced to close during the lockdown, we have developed the online sale of second-hand watches. activity that initially was not much and that have become a significant part of our business. We have nevertheless confirmed important investments to further improve our technical possibilities as a laboratory. In short, from 2021 we expect the overall positive trend of our sector to continue.
To get in touch with the Masters of Time, click here.
