So it starts…
I woke up this morning, jumped in the shower, and thought about my day ahead as is my custom. It turns out that I have been reading a lot about this blogging lark. So “why not” I thought, I should give it a go.
Watch repairing isn’t as dull as you would imagine. I got started almost 20 years ago when I lived in Fleetwood (just outside of Blackpool). I was on a YTS scheme at the time learning to be a chef, however, I am not so good at taking orders and didn’t really get on with the head chef at the time. One day he pulled me in for some “extra training” and I went in that Saturday hoping to learn how to cook and was presented with a bucket of soapy water and a rag to clean the walls down.
So, I did not last long as a chef. My aptitude may have been wrong, but I was only 16 so there you go. I quit!
It was then, I saw an advert in a local newspaper advertising for a trainee watch repairer in Blackpool. This was also on the YTS scheme which promised a massive weekly salary of £16.50 - well OK, maybe that was not so massive (my mates were earning an average of £50 a week at the time) but the subject was intriguing.
I called and spoke to the workshop manager who asked me to come down and take a look. Well it was a small cubical in a large store on Blackpool seafront (since demolished). I remember though that from day one, I was hooked.
I was not given the job there and then, but the manager allowed me to sit in and simply watch him do his work. I travelled from Fleetwood to Blackpool every day for two weeks just to sit and watch and I even started serving customers and helping out.
I guess that made an impression as I was called down to the company HQ in Southport and was offered the trainee (or apprentice) position and a place on the YTS. They were great - they even gave me money for the previous two weeks.
So I joined the branch in Blackpool as an apprentice watch repairer and the manager was brilliant. I learnt my trade. I have since worked in Blackpool, Central London, Harrow, Bromley and Thurrock before I decided to start my own business in North London.
I saved up a couple of grand and purchased some stock and tools and then opened a small unit within a shopping centre. It was not easy. I had never been in business before - but I liked it a lot. I started selling cheap watches to go with my repairing service (by now I had learnt how to repair jewellery), and shortly after some small gold and silver items.
The first week my turnover was just £30 (for the whole week) which did not even cover the shop rent let alone my personal living expenses (wife and small baby). Was I crazy to start this business? Well, thank God, it did get better. In fact, within 18 months I had progressed and had tens of thousands worth of stock in watches, gold and silver and had opened a shop out in the main mall.
Ultimately it did not work out and I had to close the shop down, but it was an amazing learning experience which I will never regret. And I would certainly like to do it again in the future.
So now, I mainly do trade repairs (watches and jewellery) from home. I enjoy my work and take great pleasure in the satisfaction of restoring a watch to its former glory.
OK - this blogging lark is quite therapeutic, I may just continue another day.