PORT ST. LUCIE PEOPLE
The WATCHMAKER
When purchasing a watch, many people start at
the outside, scrutinizing its face and band for
a desired look. Mario Steisel, a watchmaker by
trade, recommends the opposite approach.
“You have to look from the inside out,” he says. “Rolex,
Seiko, Citizen — these are the best watches. You could spend
more money because of the outside, but the inside would not
be as good.”
Steisel’s store and repair shop has an interesting name:
Watch and Jewelry Hospital. This makes sense when you
realize the diagnostic finesse needed for watch repairs.
When asked the most important quality for a watchmaker,
Steisel is quick to respond.
“Patience. I put a watch back together one time, three
times, still not right. Ten times. At some point, I leave it, and
come back. One more time, and only then, the calibration
machine shows a straight line, just like an EKG.”
The doctor for this hospital still makes house calls. “You
can’t load a grandfather clock into your car and bring it to
me,” he says, explaining that he removes the clock movements
and takes them back to his shop. Depending on the
clock, he might work on the case as well, but with one beautiful
collectible featured in his shop, he left the outside alone.
Built by a Buckingham Palace clockmaker in the 1730s, it is a
testament to craftsmanship.
“How they made such things by hand in the 1700s …” marvels
Steisel. “The technology was the same, but the materials
were different. I like to investigate these things.”
His store is part retailer, part museum. An atmospheric
clock gleams on the counter, a wonder of continuous timekeeping
that draws its energy from temperature and atmospheric
pressure changes in the environment. Cuckoo clocks
from Germany’s Black Forest and Switzerland keep time
alongside custom modern clocks built by Steisel, including a
small cookie tin.
“Someone asked me to make 10 just like it,” he says with a
chuckle, “and I said they must supply the tins. Otherwise, I
would have had to buy all those cookies.”
Two striking clocks with prominent Stars of David are
scroll-like. Steisel crafted a huge clock of similar design for a
fundraiser at his synagogue, Temple Beth-Israel in Port
St. Lucie.
40 Port St. Lucie Magazine
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BY ELLEN GILLETTE
ANTHONY INSWASTY PHOTOS
Mario Steisel’s shop is named Watch and Jewelry Hospital, an appropriate name because of the diagnostic skill necessary to watch repairs.