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Watchmaker talks about his trade in the city’s downtown
Gallery
By JUSTIN WIER
YOUNGSTOWN
A lot has changed in downtown Youngstown over the past 60 years, but one thing has remained constant: Since 1952, Nicholas Yurchyk has been repairing watches on West Federal Street.
On a recent afternoon, he was hunched behind the counter of Vogue Jewelers at 19 W. Federal St., examining the workings of an old pocket watch through an eyeglass.
A client had brought the watch in earlier, wanting to pass it down to a grandchild, but it had stopped working.
Yurchyk identified the problem – a spring inside the watch had broken. The watch was made by a company in Canton that folded long ago, he said. They don’t make parts for them anymore, but he had another watch from the same manufacturer in the back that contained the same spring.
HUMBLE BEGINNINGS
Yurchyk first tried his hand at watch repair when he was about 12.
“I decided I was going to fix my father’s pocket watch,” he said with a laugh. “I ruined it, and he tanned my hide. I got a good lickin’ for it.”
He continued to tinker with clocks through high school. Shortly after he graduated from Chaney High School, the watch repairman at Livingston’s department store was impressed with Yurchyk’s knowledge and asked him to come in to meet the boss.
“I walked in on Monday with a suit and tie,” Yurchyk said. “[Jimmy Livingston] was smoking a big cigar, and he said, ‘Nah, we don’t need anybody.’ Well, I walked out of there broken-hearted.”
He stopped in at Best Jewelers down the street and had better luck. The store’s watch repairman took him on for a five-year apprenticeship. At $18 a week, it was enough for him to pay off his tools by the end of the term – the same tool kit sits on the counter at Vogue Jewelers today.
In 1951, he set out on his own, operating out of a sporting-goods store on Glenwood Avenue. By 1952, he was at the corner of Fifth Avenue and West Federal Street. He moved to 309 W. Federal St. about 10 years later, where he remained until 14 years ago, when he moved to 19 W. Federal.
It’s a nondescript storefront tucked between Avalon Downtown and the Liquid Blu nightclub. A sign that used to hang out front sits in the front window. A display case holds a few watch bands.
THE GOOD OlD DAYS
Yurchyk said the store doesn’t attract much foot traffic anymore, and the majority of his work comes from contracts doing repairs for local jewelry stores. But it wasn’t always that way.
“At one time, if you wanted to go from one end of town to another, you had to walk in the street because there were so many people on the sidewalk,” Yurchyk said. “The town was jammed with people. Hell, you couldn’t move.”
He recalled the Christmas decorations that department stores such as Strouss’ and McKelvey’s used to have on display during the holidays, noting people would come downtown when the stores were closed just to look in the windows.
When he or his friends missed the last bus at midnight, they would walk to the West Side.
“There was nothing to be afraid of,” Yurchyk said. “That doesn’t exist anymore.”
A CHANGING DOWNTOWN
While many are heralding a renaissance for downtown Youngstown, Yurchyk – its longest tenant – remains unconvinced. They’ve cleaned things up and demolished old buildings, but the vast majority of downtown businesses are restaurants and bars, he said
“You’re getting some things,” he said, mentioning the plans for a hotel and an expanded Downtown Circle grocery store. “But [people living downtown] need places to shop. You need a Strouss. You need a McKelvey’s. You need a Livingston’s, but they don’t have that.”
Still, Yurchyk said he intends to stay in Youngstown. Business has slowed, but he said as long as he has food, shelter and friends, he’s happy.
He’s reduced his hours – instead of 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., he works from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. This is to deal with the decline in business, but for other reasons as well.
“By 2:30, I’m pretty well shot,” he said. “You don’t find too many fellows my age doing watch repair because either their eyesight goes or their hands start to shake.”
He celebrated his 89th birthday last month, but he said he has never thought about retiring. When will he stop repairing watches?
“When the boy upstairs pushes that button, and I gotta go,” he said.