The Nigerian wristwatch repairer lost in time in Kaduna

Vibrations are audible inside Bala Muhammad’s small watch repair shop, located on a busy street in the northern Nigerian city of Kaduna.

It’s like a different time capsule with many clocks hanging on the wall and small tables at the entrance full of his tools and clocks in different areas of maintenance.

His shop is located on a busy road in Kaduna – nestled among building materials dealers.

Until a few years ago, they had many customers who only came to repair their watches or install a new battery.

“Sometimes I get over 100 watch repair jobs a day,” the 68-year-old, known as Baba Bala, told the BBC.

But he worries that his skills – taught to him by his brother and their father – will fade.

“Some days the customers aren’t there,” he says, blaming people who use their cell phones to check the timing of his sales.

“Phones and technology have taken away the only job I know and it makes me sad.”

But for more than 50 years, the number of watches helped the family to live comfortably.

He said: “I built my house and taught my children everything using the money from the repair of wristwatches.

His father would travel across West Africa for six months at a time – from Senegal to Sierra Leone – repairing watches.

At one point, Baba Bala was in the capital city of Abuja, where many of the country’s elite live – and he made a good living tending to the watches of the rich.

He considered that his best clients were the executives of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC).

Others had Rolexes – these can vary in price but the average one costs $10,000 (£8,000).

He says they are beautiful – and he combines his love for all Swiss watches. He personally owns a Longines, another famous Swiss brand, which he only takes off when he sleeps.

“If I go out of my house and forget, I must return. I will never be without—that’s how important it is to me.”

In his shop, he keeps a large beautiful photo of his father, Abdullahi Bala Isah, which was taken when he looked at it from his work bench a few years before his death in 1988.

Isah was a meteorologist and the people he talked to in Freetown and Dakar would call him to take a trip when he had enough watches to take care of them.

He also makes frequent trips to Ibadan, a major city in southwestern Nigeria – a center of learning and home to the country’s first university.

Mr. Bala says no one in the family knows where his father learned his art – but it must have been during the British colonial rule.

He was also born four years before Nigeria gained independence in 1960.

“My father was a famous watchmaker and his skills took him to many places. He taught me at a young age and I am proud to have followed in his footsteps.”

Baba Bala became interested in understanding the intricacies of the wheels and mechanisms inside a clock at the age of 10 – and was delighted to realize that when he grew up he became a good source of pocket money.

“When my classmates broke up in high school, I had money to spend at that time because I had already repaired watches.

He remembers that his skills impressed his teachers: “He had a problem with his wristwatches and he took them to several places but he couldn’t finish them.” they watch it the next day.”

At one time, watches were seen as important as clothing in Nigeria and many people felt lost without one.

Kaduna had a dedicated center where many watch dealers and repairers set up their business.

“This place has been demolished and now there is nothing,” says Baba Bala sadly, adding that many of his colleagues have died or stopped working.

One of those who accepted defeat was Isa Sani.

“Going to the mall every day means sitting down without a job – that’s why I decided to stop going in 2019,” the 65-year-old told the BBC.

“I have land and my children help me cultivate it – this is how I escape these days.”

He lamented: “I don’t think the wristwatch will ever come back.”

Young people who work at home improvement shops near Baba Bala agree.

Faisal Abdulkarim and Yusuf Yusha’u, both 18 years old, never owned watches because they never saw the need for them.

“I can check the time on my phone whenever I want and it’s always with me,” said one.

Dr Umar Abdulmajid, a lecturer in technology at the Yusuf Maitama University in Kano, believes that things can change.

“Wristwatches are definitely dying and they work as a fix for wristwatches, but with the smartwatch I think they can make a comeback.

“The fact that a smartwatch can do more than just tell you the time means it can continue to appeal.”

He encourages old watchmakers to learn to cope with this new technology: “If you don’t keep up with the times you’re left behind.”

But Mr. Bala, who moved from Abuja to Kaduna to set up his shop about 20 years ago because he wanted to be close to his growing family, says this does not make him happy.

“This is what I love to do, I consider myself a medical doctor – and I’m not growing.”

His tight-knit family remains loyal to his work – his wife and five children all wear watches and often visit him in the shop, where some of the watches on display are leftovers from past customers.

“Some were brought many years ago and they never came to get them,” he says.

But Mr. Bala refuses to give up and is still open every day – his eldest daughter, who runs a clothes shop nearby, helps him with loans when his business is slow.

Without much to keep him busy – or the chatter and gossip of his customers, Baba Bala says he now often listens to his radio with company, enjoying Hausa language programs on the BBC World Service.

In the evening his youngest son, Al-Ameen, comes to visit after school – his only child who shows interest in learning the art of watchmaking. But he did not encourage him to start work.

He is delighted that the 12-year-old has told him he wants to be a pilot – continuing the family tradition of seeing more of the world.

In the dining room, he encounters a series of clockwork chimes – not unlike his father’s workshop.