As a guy who has dedicated his professional life to the inner workings of the watch, you'd think Jeff Murphree would be the timepiece's biggest collector.
Actually, he doesn't own one. "I'm a watchmaker and I don't wear a watch. I use my cell phone," he says. "But I love what I do."
Give him a Rolex and Murphree will spend hours making sure the watch is lubricated. He's committed to his craft.
His loyalty to the trade has been shown over his 15-year career, most recently with a certification he worked toward for more than a year. The watchmaker at Bailey's Fine Jewelry in Raleigh is one of only 200 watchmakers in the country and the only person in the Triangle to receive the 21st Century Certification for Watchmakers from the American Watchmakers-Clockmakers Institute. The certification is a new benchmark for the industry, and brands such as Rolex require it for watchmakers to hold a parts account with their companies. There are four watchmakers in North Carolina, including Murphree, who have been certified.
'It's a win-win'
"It's an extremely tough exam," he says. "[But] it just makes me a better watchmaker, which in the long run means I'm doing better quality work on people's watches. They won't have any hesitation bringing their watch in, [so] it's a win-win for me and the customer."
In the age of cell phones, computers and digital clocks, Murphree is part of a small tribe of people who clean and repair traditional watches that in many ways have become more pieces for fashion than time.
"More watchmakers are retiring and dying than being trained in American schools right now," says James Lubic, executive director of the American Watchmakers-Clockmakers Institute. There are 10 schools across the country that train clockmakers and watchmakers, with each averaging 10 students graduating per year, he says. "We need closer to 150. That doesn't sound like a lot, but in a small industry like ours, it makes a difference."
Last year 800,000 luxury watches were imported, he says, and that will continue to increase the demand for certified watchmakers.
"The luxury watch market's sales have dropped off for a year and a half or so but they're coming back," he says. "People aren't going to throw those [watches] away; they're going to seek someone who knows what they're doing and have them repaired."
Changing his career
Before becoming a watchmaker, Murphree owned a restaurant in Mississippi. It wasn't until he met a customer at his restaurant who encouraged him to try a career as a gemologist that he became interested in the jewelry industry. He eventually moved into watchmaking, receiving a degree in horology - the study of measuring time and making timepieces - and completing a three-year apprenticeship before becoming the watchmaker for Bailey's in 2005.
Bailey's stores send their watch repairs to Murphree, who moves through more than 150 a week. He fixes high-end luxury watches, such as those from Rolex that can start at $25,000, and models from companies such as Timex that start at $50.
Murphree began studying for certification in 2009 and took six courses through the institute to prepare. Of the 60 exams taken in his round, only 12 earned passing grades, he says; the average passing rate is 20 percent.
In his repair room, Murphree shows how he is able to disassemble a watch into more than 300 pieces. Some watches, like automatic models that do not run on a battery, have as many as 600 pieces. Finer watches require oil or grease for their inner mechanisms to work, prompting owners to bring them in for maintenance.
Piece by piece
Murphree begins every repair by taking the watch apart. He dissembles the dial and hands, then the setting, winding and gears. After each piece is pulled apart, he runs it through a cleaning machine.
"I have always been fascinated with taking things apart and getting them back together," he says.
After cleaning, he reassembles the watch and synchronizes it with a machine so it keeps proper time. Ironically, expensive watches like Rolexes that require winding don't keep time as well as cheaper, battery-operated models, Murphree says. The responsibility a watchmaker has when repairing a family heirloom watch makes certification like the CW21 especially important, says Clyde Bailey, president of Bailey's Jewelry and a watchmaker himself.
"We're the heart [and] transplant surgeons of the jewelry industry. We can't mend a broken heart, but we can certainly mend a piece of jewelry or a watch. We thrive on it every day."
Murphree's certification is why Eugenia Hamm of Fuquay-Varina came to him this year to fix two older watches that held sentimental value. The first was a Concord watch her husband always wore before he died; and the second was a Tudor watch her brother sent her while he was stationed in London during the Korean War.
"Because of the sentimental value I didn't want to run the risk of ruining [them]," she says. "I wanted them to be repaired by someone who knew what they were doing, and I'm convinced he did because they're working beautifully."
Watch tales
Fixing watches like Hamm's is one of the best parts of the job, Murphree says, because behind every broken watch, there's a person and a story.
"Just being able to repair somebody's watch that they've passed down from generation to generation, and to be able to keep these going for these people gives me a lot of joy and fulfillment."
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TAG Heuer, Michael Kors and TOYWATCH, the colorful watches from Italy, are among the most popular brands at Bailey's. Nationally, Rolex, Citizen, TAG Heuer and Movado continue to be popular. And the bigger, the better.
"One of the top trends we're seeing continue - and it's been growing in the last few years - is large faces" says Amanda Gizzi, director of consumer communications for Jewelers of America. "For women, the idea of wearing your husband's or boyfriend's watch is very popular, and they're making women's watches larger as well."
Gizzi says the bigger models have been popular among all ages of women, but particularly in the luxury watch market, which attract older buyers. Rubber straps, rose gold or stainless steel and diamonds also continue to be popular features, she says. It is also becoming increasingly common for men to own a variety of styles.
"Some people now will have more of a watch wardrobe," says Sue Parker, account executive with TAG Heuer, who works with retailers in North Carolina. "For men they really seem to have one for the weekend, one for work, [and] one for the evening."
