Central Malaita Student Association Blog Site: Rural watchmaker keeps up with time

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Thursday, January 04, 2007

Rural watchmaker keeps up with time

Solomonstar News, 4 January, 2007 - 10:56am.
TOKTAEM

SIXTY-six year old Daniel Kwana’au was leaning over a shop’s counter with full concentration on the watch displays and their accessories when I met him.With a cap to fend the mid-morning heat and spectacles secured he moved slowly across the shop’s counter.Across his shoulder was a black bag which he tightly clutch with a hand. Whatever is in there, it must be very precious to Daniel - the reason for the tight security on his bag. It was during the cause of our interview that I realise Daniel is a “watchmaker” from Bina, Malaita Province. Therefore, he is in town to shop for some watch accessories such as batteries and spareparts to fix his customers’ watches.

The black bag which he carries with him is full of his customers’ watches.“These are watches which made me take this trip to Honiara because I have to look for their parts and fix before I return them to their owners at home,” Daniel said as he pulled out a plastic bag full of watches from his black bag.Daniel arrived in Honiara on Tuesday - a day after his 66th birthday on January 1.

But a birthday is not as important to him as repairing watches.He told me that he has been doing this for the last 15years and today outside his house in the village there is a signboard established to promote his business.The sign board reads: “Dani Kwan - watchmaker”.Asked why he put Dani Kwan, Daniel replied: “That is the short form for my name, instead of Daniel I put Dani and instead of Kwana’au I just put Kwan.”Very clever indeed Dani.

However, visitors to Bina often confused the name to an Asian.“Once I went to Auki and there were some police officers who asked if there is a Chinese operating a watch business in Bina.“I told the officers that the Chinese you are talking about is the one you are talking to right now’.”“It was only then that they realise it is only me that’s operating the business.”However, Dani as he wanted to be called, said his business is not to make profit but just to help locals and also to enable him meet his basic necessities.“I only charge between $20 to $50 but most of the time it is the word ‘thank you’ that I receive instead of cash.“Some of my customers will come and say ‘Dani can you fix this’ when I did they’ll say ‘oh thanks’ and left leaving me to dig deeper into my pocket for money to keep my business going.“So the hardest thing in operating this business is having to deal with such people because it means I have to look elsewhere to make up for that loss.”

Dani’s interest in fixing watches started when a hand of his watch stopped moving. That was 15 years ago.“I just learn as I go on and today I now know all the ins and outs of a watch or a clock,” Dani said.Dani only attended school for a year when he was 15 years old at Arabala.During those days he was still a heathen therefore, school was not off great interest to him. After just a year he decided to become a crew in one of the local ships.But this did not go down well with his strict father.As a result instead of working in a ship he became a houseboy and a cook for a family in Buma, Malaita Province.This saw him travelling a lot between his home at Bina and Buma during weekends.

And during one of his many weekend visits to his village in Bina he met a girl called Salome who later became his wife.It was five years after he lived with his wife that he was baptised into Christianity - away from his heathen practises.Today the father of 10 children and 28 grandchildren is a church elder in the SSEC Church in Bina.

As part of his participation in church activities he also conducts basic reading, writing and drawing classes in the village.“I may have only attended one year in formal education but since I participated in church activities I have taught myself a lot in reading, writing and drawing so what I learnt over the years is what I’m teaching children in my village with the help of an oral English teaching booklet,” Dani said.It was during one of his teaching classes that he found his watch repairing skill.

Dani said when he started with his watch business he only charged between 10 cents and 50 cents.“During those days you can pay tin food for 30 cents or clothes for just 40 cents so things were really cheap although money was hard to get during those days.“But today prices of goods in shops have sky-rocket therefore I have to increase my charges that is why I charged between $20 to $50 today.“So its a bit discouraging when most of the time I only heard of the word thank you. To me it’s like putting my head down in the ground with my legs up in the air - hem minim ologeta just endim good business na ya,” Dani said with a smile.Any advise for the public on watches, I asked Dani.“Well I want to tell the public that there is no such thing as a watch working on our pulse or blood.

So many times I heard of my local customers coming and telling me that ‘oh when I wear this watch it works but when I don’t it stops maybe because it depends on my pulse or my blood’.“Honestly there is no such thing as that, if someone says that just say ‘show me the connection of the watch to your blood’ only then will I believe the theory.“Because as a watchmaker all I know is that there is a winder in the watch and when you wear your watch and moves around this winder also moves triggering the hands of your watch to move.“That is why it is very important for those with non-digitial watches to always wind your watches to keep them going if not then what I’m talking about above will happen - that is watches only working when you wore them,” Dani said.

posted by administrator @ 2:38 PM

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