The Nigerian wristwatch repairer lost in time in Kaduna

Kaduna used to have a dedicated area where many watch-sellers and repairers set up their businesses.

“The place has been demolished and is now empty,” say Baba Bala mournfully, adding that most of his colleagues are either dead or have given up on the business.

One of those who admitted defeat was Isa Sani.

“Going to my repair shop daily meant sitting down and getting no work – 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 to farm on it – that is how I am able to get by these days.”

He laments: “I don’t think wristwatches will ever make a comeback.”

The youngsters working at the building supply shops next to Baba Bala agree.

Faisal Abdulkarim and Yusuf Yusha’u, both aged 18, have never owned watches as they have never seen a need for them.

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

Dr Umar Abdulmajid, a communications lecturer at Yusuf Maitama University in Kano, believes things may change.

“Conventional wristwatches are no doubt dying and with it jobs like wristwatch repairs too, but with the smartwatch I think they could make a comeback.

“The fact a smartwatch can do much more than just show you the time means it could continue to attract people.”

He suggests old watch-repairers learn how to grapple with this new technology: “If you don’t move with the times you get left behind.”

But Baba Bala, who returned from Abuja to Kaduna to set up his shop about 20 years ago as he wanted to be nearer his growing family, says this does not interest him.

“This is what I love doing, I consider myself a doctor for sick wristwatches – plus I am not getting any younger.”