Olivia93

A watch maker’s 30-year repairing work

With few white hair, black jacket and plain trousers, he sat on a small seat and repairedthe watches on his store table quietly. He seldom looked around except his leisure time.Suddenly, he stood up and closed his store. Then he walked down the street difficultly,leaning on a crutch.

That was just a common moment for him almost every day. Fung Wing Yik, an oldwatch maker born in 1950s, who have run his repair roadside store called Wing KeeWatch & Clock at the side of Wellington Street in Central of Hong Kong for more than30 years. Although he works with poor condition, his life is still beautiful.

Fung lived in a poor family, when he was a middle school student, he dropped out andstarted to work in a private factory to support his family. However, the factory closeda few years later, so Fung lost his job in his twenties.

“I need to find a job to support myself at that time, so I became an apprentice in myrelative’s clock shop.” Fung said, “When I was a little boy, I was attracted by thewatches and clocks. I thought a lot about my future after losing my job but I still chosethe watch maker as my job.”

In 1976, he bought the brand “Wing Kee Watch & Clock” from Hong Konggovernment, and opened his own repair store in Wellington Street in a low rental price.“At the beginning, there are various people to visit my store, and my I always workeduntil midnight,” Fung said.

“It is very common to encounter some troublesome in your business.” Fung said. Heonce tried to repair a woman’s watch but he failed, then she shouted to him and calleda policeman to arrest him. At that time, he thought he would be in jail for many years,but the policeman told the woman that she must accuse of him in legal procedures.“You know, life is not always perfect, but sometimes you may get lucky in the dilemma.”Fung said.

In 1997, he encountered some financial problems. The money he made can’t supporthis family, so he decided to expand his businesses including selling flowers. “Duringthe Spring festival, I purchased orchids from Sheung Shui flower markets, then soldthem in my store. And I really made a lot of money during that time,” Fung said.

The life seems smooth until three years ago, Fung got a terrible cerebral stroke in hishome which led to his limb numbness of right part of body. “When I was in hospital,some of my customers before made calls to me and asked my situation, even some ofthem came to the hospital,” Fung said.

Now, although his businesses are not good than before, there are still some regularcustomers visiting his store. “I had a regular customer who worked just in that officebuilding,” Fung pointed to the building in the north of his store, “He is a British manwho went to my store to repair his watch few days ago, but I can’t understand English,so we chat with each other in body language,” Fung said and laughed.

“He is such a helpful man who always do me a favor,” his shop neighbor Niki said, “Istill remember the first time I turned to him for help three years ago, that was a terribleday that my shop bulbs broke down, but he helped me without any hesitation. Fromthen on, we became very good neighbors and he always repaired my small electricalapparatus like electric lights for free.”

He comes to his store by bus every day, “I’m so grateful that I don’t need to pay muchmoney for my traffic because of the Hong Kong government preferential policies aboutthe elders,” Fung said.

He didn’t take his identity card every day until that special experience. “Many yearsago, one day, I got a lot of work to do, so I decided not to go home until finishing allmy work,” Fung said, “Suddenly, a policeman came to my store and asked me why Istill stayed here, and required me to give him my identity card. After that time, I tookmy identity card every day.”

He worked almost every day no matter it was rainy day or typhoon. “I need to work inmy store because I know my customers need me,” Fung said.

“My life is so beautiful that I can’t stop my job until my death.” Fung said with smile.