The 'tic toc' survives the passage of time and watchmaking is transformed

An example of this is Marco Morocho, who runs a fine watchmaking workshop in Zaragoza. He has been working as a freelancer for twelve years but has been in the trade “all his life”. No one better to explain how this trade has changed: «The business has changed a lot. Before there was more brotherhood among watchmakers. If you were missing a piece, you would ask a partner for it.

The watchmaker, now, is a "very expensive, very expensive" job to practice, and that is also why many small businesses in this sector. "The brands, in order to be considered a certified service center, require you to buy a series of machines and with each of them you have to take a course that certifies that you know how to use them," he explains. "Look, I just set up this store and after all the investment some inspectors have to come to assess if everything is done here as established, that is, to check if I and the workshop adjust to the requirements and ways of working that they apply to their watches”, he adds.

In his premises, he assures, he has machines that cost thousands and thousands of euros. Each one of them is weirder and weirder and each one that Morocho explains seems more outlandish. "Look, this one here is for putting watch parts into little baskets for cleaning." Is it like a watch washer? "Yes, that's it, although it costs much more," he replies while pointing to the device, which seen by inexperienced eyes looks like a NASA device. All rooms also have air extractors that prevent dust and mites from coming into contact with the precious machines.

Thanks to all those gadgets and gadgets Morocho is capable, he assures, of fixing any watch. "If, for example, you fall off your motorcycle and destroy your watch, I'll leave it as good as new," he explains, pointing to a machine that is a laser welder that is capable of penetrating holes of a millimeter in diameter.

And it is that what cannot be missing in this workshop are the microscopes, because the size of some of the pieces they handle are barely the size of a flea.

Some parts of watches are so small that they cannot be seen with the naked eye.JAIME GALINDO

But investments aside, is there still enough demand to sustain such a business? "I can't cope," says Morocho, who specifies that his market is that of watches and exclusive brands. "If you buy a Rolex and spend 9,000 euros, which is the cheapest, you will always fix it because the thing is that it lasts a lifetime," he says. Among other brands, Morocho is certified as a service center for firms such as Tissot, Omega, Rado and Longines, among many others.

In addition, the continuity of the company is assured, his 28-year-old son Marco works with him. "When you make so many investments and dedicate so much time to it, normally there is a child who does continue," says Morocho while his son examines some pieces under a microscope. The young man is in charge of the newest watches and the dark-haired one of the oldest. Among the relics that he is now repairing there is a "solar and mechanical" one that may be giving the time for the rest of time.

By the way, what watch does a watchmaker wear?: «I like winding ones. I like the mechanical, what is alive. My watch may be more inaccurate than others, but it is eternal because you can fix it as many times as you want, ”says Morocho.