When his father died in 2017, Patrick Amofah learned that his father’s most cherished property was wristwatches.

His late dad had a collection of them. Patrick, who inherited the watches said he loved the one which was his father’s favorite.

That particular watch, however, had a fault and he sought to fix it. Unfortunately, the repairer ruined the timepiece.

Heartbroken by the incident, Patrick became a wristwatch enthusiast and he learned everything that ought to be learned about the product in order to fix his timepieces anytime they got faulty.

“I lost my father in 2017. He was a lover of watches and left a significant number of them behind. There was one in particular that I wanted to wear, but it was broken, and I had a hard time finding a good watchmaker to restore it in Ghana.”

“When I finally got someone, they ruined the dial by trying to fix the fallen markers on it with glue. I was disappointed because it was one of my father’s favourite watches. Due to the sentiments attached, I wanted to have his timepieces with me all the time,” he recalled.

Patrick spoke on Work and Happiness, Adom FM's mid-morning show on Tuesday.

According to him, he didn’t really take it seriously until 2019 when he was relocating and came across some of his dad’s old watches.

“So, I decided to teach myself. Not until I was involved in the art of watchmaking. I always thought of it as a cakewalk, but it can be a demanding process. However, it gets interesting when disassembling watch parts and putting them together as one whole, functioning piece! I think I’ve watched almost every video about watchmaking on Youtube,” he reminisced.

He said he committed time to studying how the local watchmakers restored timepieces.

“I could show you 99 ways to fix a watch which wouldn’t still work. I’m currently undertaking an online certification course in horology.”

Patrick said his love to fix watches started as a hobby until he realised that there are a number of people who have defective collectible watches and are looking for the right watchmakers to entrust them with.

However, such watchmakers are hard to come by in Ghana, thus, his decision to “explore the business opportunity and the market demand.”

In 2020, Patrick started Hourhand Watch Co as a full-time business.

“The journey has not been easy. Covid-19 and subsequent restriction impeded the growth of my business right from the start. So I started operating it as an e-commerce site, restoring watches and selling well-known branded watches,” he stated.

Now, Patrick’s business is flourishing.

Hourhand has not reached it full actualization, but Patrick is optimistic. He is content and happy.

“When I look back, I am grateful to my dad. And I know he will be proud of what I am doing with his collection.”