In the first drawer of the dresser, where most Albanians kept their valuables, my parents kept, among other things, a small box. Born in the era of “Lux” soap, that box was like magic in itself. Among 100 stars, my hand went right there. On the inner satin lining it read: “Vllaznit Tufina”. What were “Tufinat”?!

Many years would have to pass since then, before I met one of the Tufina family scions.

Syri Tufina belongs to the fourth generation of Tirana watchmakers, the most famous watchmakers and merchants in Albania before the liberation.

Syri Tufina can be found in his shop on “Hoxha Tahsin” Street, where customers come and go. Some bring, some take watches. He puts the monocle on his eyes and tries to find the defect. “The battery of this watch has another 2 years of life. You put it a year ahead”, he says to the customer, while I take the opportunity to look through the windows, not only the new watches, but to “get stuck” behind the ticking clocks of the old watches, the ones with the edges, the watches table, wall… and tools inherited from generation to generation, that today, with the development of technology, have remained as precious relics.

“My family has started to deal with this craft since 1868 from the great-grandfather, to continue from generation to generation. Initially, the great-grandfathers were engaged in crafts, repairing hunting weapons, and in the meantime they also started to deal with clocks, in a self-taught way and perfected it. Only my uncle Eti continued to deal with weapons. We continued to keep this craft alive, and in our tribe there are rarely men who have moved on to other professions, and even one of our granddaughters was engaged in repairing watches”, says Syri Tufina, while the ding-dong of the fixed clock can be heard on the wall.

In the 20s of the last century, the Tufinas started to deal with trade. They had connections with Italy and Switzerland. The two brothers Shabani and Haxhiu continued their father’s work and inherited it from their sons.

“I stole the craft from my father. In our house and relatives, nothing else was talked about. Craft was primary. I was 13 years old and I started preparing glasses for watches. I worked together with my brother, Bahri. At that time, the Handicraft Cooperative “17 November” was operating, for which we produced glass. We were the only ones who had such a machine, bought in Italy”, he says, as he goes back in time and remembered one of those sad moments, which make him cry.

There were times when merchants and artisans were considered “bloodsuckers” of the people. After they had seized everything, after the 60s they asked to seize their cutting machine as well.

With the demolition of the Old Bazaar of Tirana, where the Tufinas’ shops were located and the undoing of private property, the Tufinas would close the shutters, but without forgetting the craft.

“I worked for several years at Dinamo Plant, in the laboratory of high precision measuring tools. Later, I was the chief inspector for the entire Mechanical Plant of Tirana, checking the instruments that had the standard for measurement”, he says. While his brother would realize the first watch “Made in Albania”, with “our forces”. “My brother produced the first Albanian clock. Table clock and wall clock. My older brother worked in the General Consumer Enterprise. In the beginning, the “17 November” Cooperative started to produce parts, but the conditions were lacking to realize such a thing, and then it was realized in the Enterprise of Wide Consumption”.

But despite the fact that private work was prohibited, they continued to practice it, secretly, as the master shows, with windows blocked with blankets. “We had spies everywhere. They even went and reported to Mehmet Shehu, who told them: we took their assets, closed their shops, now we can’t even cut their hands. They also want to be fed”, recalls Syriu. And apparently Mehmet Shehu also had one more reason, since the leadership’s watches and glasses, to be fixed, went through Tufinat again.

With the change of systems, Tufinat raised the shutters again. They were no longer the first, the old ties had been lost during the years of the dictatorship, but they tried to recover.

He inherited the craft from his son, who apparently will also pass the baton on in the family. “Bari do shkoj n’rronj”, we say in Tironë.

Residents of Tirana still continue to take the clocks to regulate them, even though they no longer have the franchise. But Tufinat is a brand, they resisted the regimes, taught students everywhere. And the secret was not just passion for work, patience, precision, concentration. “We’ve worked with honesty”, says Syri Tufina, as she waits for the next customer.