BBC The Repair Shop’s Steve Fletcher shares concern as he takes ‘massive risk’ during huge restoration
BBC The Repair Shop’s Steve Fletcher admitted he was taking a “massive risk” when restoring one guest’s Braille watch – and needed to enlist the help of many of his co-stars.
Walking into the barn was Keith Earl and daughter Kirsty, who placed his father’s Braille watch down on the bench and began to explain: “I have my dad’s Braille watch.
“My dad was named Desmond Earl and he was an engineer and worked on Rolls-Royce engines and he was a welder, a skilled tradesman. He slowly started to lose his sight.
“He was born with a condition called Stickler syndrome, which is hereditary, which is all to do with the eyes and ears.
“And then one day, back in the early ‘50s, he completely lost his sight as part of the syndrome. I was born in 1956, so I’ve only ever known dad blind. He’d never seen me.
“And then obviously when he went blind, he couldn’t weld. He was retrained to use a capstan lathe, which done sort of like, nuts and bolts.
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“He was presented with the Braille watch from Vokes, at Guildford, for 21 years’ service. It would have a glass panel over the front, protecting the hands and the Braille on a hinge and you push the button in there. It changed his life because he didn’t have to ask anybody the time. He knew the time.”
After saying goodbye to Earl and sitting down to dissect the watch, Fletcher admitted: “This is such a mega job. This has had quite a life, it has been so well used.
“I have done quite a few Braille watches in my time but I have not had to replace the bezel, the metal ring that goes around the dial and the case and holds the glass in place.
“When I make the bezel, it has got to be so precise, so that everything works, without it the watch is unusable because the hands would get knocked and water would get in.”
After making the bezel, Fletcher enlisted the help of Richard Talman and said: “I am going to ask you a big favour.
“I have the hinge tube here that I need soldered in exactly the right place and I am worried that if I loosey solder it on I would get it in the wrong place.”
Luckily for Fletcher, it was Talman’s expertise as he explained: “Yeah that is a massive risk… I make hinges like this often when doing brooches and the only way is to tack these two items together so it remains in the same place when soldering.”
After fixing the watch back together, it was time for Earl and his daughter to return to the barn and see the new watch for the first time.
Uncovering it, Earl gasped in shock and noted: “Oh, my word! Yeah, that’s brilliant. It’s great, look at it! You can feel the Braille and the handles, it is brilliant. So proud.
He quickly put the watch on his wrist and added: “It just takes me back to when Dad was wearing it and every time I look at it I see him using it.
“I can’t believe I got it, and then we hand it down to Pheobe. I can’t express my gratitude enough.”
Dominic Chinea thanked the pair for coming into the barn and wished Earl’s daughter luck when trying to get the watch off of his wrist.