Repairing old industrial clocks is Thomi's private passion. His workbench is like a treasure chamber.
Not winding anyone up
The attic is bright and functionally furnished. It’s clean and somehow not dusty at all, and it smells a little of furniture polish and metal. This is the place where Thomas Lüdtke, who everyone just calls Thomi, relaxes when he closes the shop attached to his espresso workshop for the evening. Between filigree tools, dials, equipment and spare parts, the man from northern Germany repairs and maintains mechanical wristwatches from the 50s, 60s and 70s.
 |
 |
With care and perfection
Thomi is not a "watchmaker", he emphasises repeatedly. His work in the little chamber is his hobby, but if you look at what he has accumulated and the care and perfection he takes when approaching the individual industrial clocks, many "professional" masters would pale. Because small, mechanical wristwatches have enchanted men and women alike for over 200 years. Not only do they show the time, but they’re also an accessory and a garment, and with their delicate beauty they are both a status symbol and a piece of jewellery.
 |
 |
 |
A unique spare parts warehouse
He can't really say how long he has been doing this. A long time. At some point, Thomi heard from an elderly man that a large quantity of watches and tools were being sold, and he acquired the entire collection. Little by little, he collected more and more measuring instruments and special tools, browsed the internet, bid at auctions, and visited shop liquidations. His "storage area", which is spread over many orderly drawers and cupboards in the room, is extensive and certainly unique in northern Germany. He now has more than enough spare parts for his 60 or so private watches stored in lockers.
Using KNIPEX to dismantle the casing
You don't want to touch anything... so many tiny parts... "I almost exclusively use pliers from KNIPEX to dismantle the casings", Thomi says as he looks earnestly through his Bergeon magnifying glass. Regardless of whether he’s holding a square shaft still or filing off a winding stem extension, the "small" range of pliers from Knipex is perfect - and linked for you below in the slider. Deeper in the heart of the watches, he uses anti-magnetic tweezers. Even the smallest pliers would be too coarse here; the forces applied would literally crush the fine gears and shafts.
Balance and timegrapher
Each clock is completely disassembled during maintenance. Almost anything can be repaired, from the dial to fine inscriptions and the hands, to cleaning or replacing all the gears and shafts. A balance, the heart of the watch, rests on a small holder. It is so fine that you want to hold your breath. "Expensive watches often have simple movements built in. Inexpensive, unknown watches are often just as beautiful, have the same movements, and are just many times cheaper!" Thomi puts a few hands back in a large drawer and checks the results of his "timegrapher". He can use this device to adjust the accuracy of the run of a finished watch, i.e. the deviation per second/per day.
Hold your breath
Even though there is a lot lying around on the work table - order still remains here. Everything has its place, which is particularly important for such a delicate hobby. We, in turn, feel a little proud that our range of pliers aren’t just found in large workshops that really have to apply power. But that they are also used at such a quiet but special work table, where even the beat of a butterfly's wing could cause the balance to vibrate. Now that everything is back in place, it’s time to take a deep breath. To calm down.
