This vintage clocks collector in Coimbatore is an expert at servicing mechanical clocks

Time Star Watches on Avarampalayam Road is a haven for vintage clock enthusiasts, run by clockmaker Aseef Ismail.

When traffic dies down on Avarampalayam Road, the ‘tick, tock’ of over 50 clocks envelops Time Star Vintage Clocks. The cramped 10 x 10 shop is covered wall-to-wall with vintage mechanical clocks, some of them over 120 years old. Aseef Ismail, the owner, is seated by his worktable inside, surrounded by boxes overflowing with tools and other paraphernalia. The 59-year-old is among the handful of people in the city who can repair mechanical clocks, and has a varied collection of over 100 vintage clocks.

Aseef’s shop has been in the neighbourhood for 35 years, and he has been surrounded by clocks all his life. His grandfather, who had his roots in Kerala, founded the popular P Mohamed & Co in the 1950s in the city. “He was the authorised dealer of the Japanese Seikosha clocks,” says Aseef. As was the practice back then, the clocks that Mohamed sold had his establishment’s name handwritten at the lower end of the dial.

Most Seikosha clocks from the city bear his name, and Aseef owns one too. “A customer had brought it in for servicing. When I told him it was from my grandfather’s shop, he wanted me to have it,” he smiles. Aseef’s father Ismail learned the nuts and bolts of servicing clocks at P Mohamed & Co, eventually opening his own watch service outlet. When Aseef was in his early teens, he would peer over his father’s shoulder when he worked, gradually taking in the nuances.

“He would bring home clocks that needed special care,” recalls Aseef, who took after him after completing his bachelor’s in Economics. Today, after almost four decades of servicing clocks, Aseef works 18 hours a day. “Once I close the shop at 10pm, I go back home and start work again after a quick dinner,” he says.

Aseef’s obsession with clocks has resulted in him turning a clockmaker. He is now crafting a weight-driven clock that he is making with chains from a bike’s engine. It will take several hours of work until it is functional, and Aseef tweaks it whenever he has time.

He talks fondly of mechanical clocks. “They are now being made only in European countries,” he says. “Most households in India had these clocks in the past. If the owners had taken care of them, there would be one at every home even today.” His collection has brands such as Seikosha, Seth Thomas, Waterbury…he even has a 120-year-old chiming clock, and a 60-year-old cuckoo clock he would not part with no matter what.  

Watch collectors from near and far bring their precious pieces to him to get them fixed. “Sometimes, it takes weeks to get these running,” he says. Given the clocks’ antiquity, Aseef gets some spare parts made at lathe workshops.