As of: March 29, 2024, 4:44 p.m
By: Katja Kraft
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Andreas Fritsch restores valuable, some centuries-old, clocks in his workshop in Munich's Au district. Here, for example, is a lion grandfather clock from 1627 that was recently auctioned at the Neumeister art auction house in Munich. © kjk
Winter time ends on Easter Sunday. The clocks are set forward. Andreas Fritsch from Munich is very familiar with this.
There is a ticking and gong and the hour strikes in the small workshop. There are clocks lying, standing and hanging everywhere. And yet you completely forget about time. The “Momo” effect in the middle of Munich’s Au. Must be due to Andreas Fritsch. The likeable watchmaker talks about his craft in such a lively manner that it doesn't matter where the hands go - what's happening behind the dials is much more exciting. You watch in amazement as Fritsch opens a clockwork. Tick tock, tick tock. This is where the heart of these little miracles beats.
Winter time ends on Easter Sunday
The layperson usually only becomes interested in what happens there when nothing else works. For example, when winter time ends on Easter Sunday - and you try in vain to move the hand forward one hour. Andreas Fritsch, on the other hand, never let go of his fascination for mechanics. Since he was eleven when he first saw what a clockwork like that looked like. “It’s my father’s fault,” says the 56-year-old with a laugh. He laughs a lot, enjoys it, and is rousing. And remembers: His father would have preferred to be a watchmaker himself. Life turned out differently, he became a professor of veterinary surgery, but remained passionately curious about technology. “I watched him dismantle our cuckoo clock – that was the crucial moment when I said to myself: I’m going to become a watchmaker,” says the son 45 years later. He went through with it.
Luxury watches such as Rolex, Patek Philippe and Co. can also be repaired here
Andreas Fritsch has had his own business in Munich's Au district for 24 years. He is certified to repair all brands. And specializes in antique clocks. Or those that Rolex, Patek Philippe and Co. do not accept for repairs because they no longer produce the necessary spare parts. “If a watch is 20 or 30 years old, it can sometimes be difficult to get a replacement part for it. That’s where we come into play,” says Fritsch – and by that he means his team of three: himself, his wife and an employee. They make the parts in the workshop. Gears, barrels, whatever is needed to make a stylish men's wristwatch from the 1950s tick again. They file, they mill, they turn. Highest craftsmanship.
Gift idea for watch lovers
Every month, watchmaker Andreas Fritsch offers courses for two people in which you
can try out this delicate craft for yourself
. The participants work with the professional to completely disassemble a pocket watch-sized clockwork. “And then we go and refine the individual parts. Watchmaking doesn't just depend on the clock running. The clockwork has to look nice, there have to be
engravings
on it,
special cuts
,
polishes
and so on. You can try all of this out in the course.” Then everything is put back together again – and at the end of the day, each course participant goes
home
with an individual wristwatch
. Participation including lunch and a watch costs 1500 euros per person.
And the continuation of a tradition. When he receives particularly old treasures for restoration, he becomes in awe of his professional ancestors, says Andreas Fritsch. “It's really great to be able to hold your work in your hands centuries later.” Many such centuries-old clocks only have an hour display, not a minute display. Because the first clocks only had two hands. Because you couldn't work so precisely yet, of course. At the same time, this makes it clear how much our sense of time has changed over the centuries. Where there is no minute display, the individual minute doesn't really matter. And today? Cell phones and digital watches show us the time, accurate to the millisecond. We let ourselves be driven by it – and then call it a “smart” watch…
Andreas Fritsch: “Just don’t let yourself get stressed!”
Andreas Fritsch sees it calmly: “It's a question of your own attitude, whether you let it stress you out or not.” When you see him standing there among all the clocks in his workshop, you have to ask him: What's wrong with him actually even for a relationship to time? He bursts out happily: “None at all! I don’t have a good relationship with time at all.” He is very precise in his work with watches. But when it comes to sense of time? “I don't think a few minutes or so is that dramatic, you have to be a little relaxed. That also makes life easier.”