Baghdad's wristwatch repairman is a timeless treasure

Abdelkarim insists an original timepiece isn't a thing of the past

Published: December 22, 2020 10:19 AFP and Compiled by Christian Borbon, Senior Web Editor

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Youssef Abdelkarim's storefront on one of Baghdad's most historic streets is a time capsule - literally. Thousands of wristwatches fill the tiny shop, where three generations have repaired Iraq's oldest timepieces. Image Credit: AFP

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The dusty display window on Rasheed Street features a single row of classic watches in their felt boxes right at the front, with a mountain of haphazardly piled pieces behind it and others hanging from hooks overhead. Image Credit: AFP

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Inside, there are watches in plastic buckets on the floor, packed in cardboard boxes on shelves and stuffed into suitcases. Image Credit: AFP

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In a far corner, behind an old wooden desk, 52-year-old Abdelkarim is hunched over an antique piece. Image Credit: AFP

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"Every watch has its own personality. I try to preserve it as much as I can, as if it were my own child," he told AFP, squinting through black, thick-framed glasses. Image Credit: AFP

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Abdelkarim began fixing watches at the age of 11, after the death of his paternal grandfather, who opened the store in the 1940s. Image Credit: AFP

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His grandfather had already passed the trade onto his own son, who began to teach Youssef. Image Credit: AFP

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He has repaired expensive Swiss models, including 10,000-euro Patek Philippes, and what Abdelkarim calls "the poor man's watch" - a Sigma. And he suspects he even fixed a piece that belonged to Iraq's feared dictator Saddam Hussein. Image Credit: AFP

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"It was a rare watch brought to me by the presidential palace, with Saddam's signature on the back," he recalled. It cost 400 Iraqi dinars to repair - more than $1,000 in the 1980s but less than a dollar today. Image Credit: AFP

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People swapped their analog wristwatches for digital models, then dropped them altogether for smart phones. But Abdelkarim insists an original timepiece isn't a thing of the past, telling AFP with a wink: "A man's elegance begins with his watch. And his shoes. Image Credit: AFP

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