Many of our guests come to the Tiroler Zugspitz Arena to experience the magnificent mountain world. The villages here are often visited only after an extensive ski or hiking tour. But on such a walk through communities such as Ehrwald, Biberwier or Namlos, you can discover all kinds of culture and tradition. In Lermoos, for example, a small sign on Innsbrucker Strasse points to a now very rare profession: the master watchmaker.
This is where Gotthard Linder has his workshop. "In 1957 I started as an apprentice, and in 1970 I did my master's exam," says Linder. Two years later, he opened his own shop. It still exists today, and even now Linder still has his own jewellery shop.
From fingertip craftsmanship to battery change
But even though his shop in Lermoos has stood in the same place for almost half a century, much has changed in the profession of master watchmaker in recent decades. "The technology we learned back then is hardly comparable to today's," says Linder. Back then, a watch was something very valuable, almost a sanctuary. People would take care of it and take care of it, and when it stopped working, people would bring it to me," Linder reminisces. Watchmakers repaired broken watches, sometimes even made spare parts themselves, but today, major repairs are rare, often out of proportion to the value, especially for wristwatches. "Especially well-known manufacturers today have their special workshops, so defective watches are often sent in," says Linder, his Allutage.
It was different at the beginning of his career. In the apprenticeship, they learned how to tick small and large clocks, everything from the pocket clock to the mighty standing clock. He and his colleagues also took care of the church tower clocks in the region. "We didn't learn that explicitly, but the technology was the same, only bigger," he says. Before, you had to lift the tower clocks. Every two days you had to use a crank to pull the weights: they weighed 16 kilograms and they hung on 15 meters long ropes," says the master watchmaker of the time. But then the clocks were retrofitted and today there are quartz clocks in the towers, which are placed over the radio.
Master watchmaker by passion
Time and again, however, his customers bring him beloved pieces. For example, the expert was particularly enthusiastic about the repair of an IWC Schaffhausen: "That was a gold pocket watch with a striking mechanism, which makes a bell ring every quarter of an hour!" he raves enthusiastically about the beautiful piece of jewellery. Another highlight came from a man from Dresden: he stayed at the hotel and was thrilled by the beautiful watches that hang there. "He asked at the reception who maintained them all, so they gave him my name," he says. Shortly after, he brought me a beautiful piece to repair: a cuckoo clock from 1937, which had a quail call!" enthuses the Lermooser. "But there aren't many of our species anymore, so people come to me for a piece too." As he talks about his work and his treasures, you realise that Linder is a watchmaker out of passion. His profession is his calling. 'I'm just happy to get the old pieces working again. If the customer is happy about their treasure, I like that.'
