You’re In Good Hands

Within the two-story showroom at 4367 N. Federal Highway in Fort Lauderdale, the chimes of a deco-style wall clock signal the hour. The atmosphere is elegant but homey—a juxtaposition of yesterday and tomorrow, where stately grandfather clocks and antique mantel pieces guard their secrets amid luxury watches and fine jewelry. In a back office, the steady hands of a master watch and clockmaker orchestrate a symphony of minuscule parts and mechanisms that perform in perfect harmony. Here, the final touches are being executed for a new Josef & Joseph signature series of limited-edition watches, to debut during the holidays. Each tiny piece, each interplay between the mechanisms, each casing, each face, has been painstakingly designed, crafted, and assembled by hand.

Like most talent that finds its way to South Florida, Josef Hirzinger turned up “under a palm tree” one afternoon in the late 1980s. Little did anyone know that his arrival brought one of the world’s master craftsmen—as well as a link to the finest artistic traditions of the Old World—to the Sunshine State.

Born in post-World War II Austria and fueled by native traditions that embraced the arts, culture, architecture and craftsmanship, Hirzinger was originally fascinated by gold and metalworking, not horology. His mentor advised that before Hirzinger could pursue a goldsmith apprenticeship, he must first study what was considered among the highest technical professions in Austria at the time: watch and clockmaking.

So, at age 14, Hirzinger enrolled in the Uhrmacherschule Karlstein an der Thaya in Austria, a once-thriving clock factory turned technical school, and successfully completed the intensive seven-year clock and watchmaking program. He emerged with advanced qualifications in watchmaking, as well as a passion for the precision and creativity required to create and repair complicated timepieces. 

The journey that brought the young artisan to the 10,000-square-foot showroom on Federal Highway began with that chance vacation in the 1980s, when, he says, the Florida sun inspired him to seek a change of scenery. Wandering through an art fair on Las Olas Boulevard, he met a watchmaker and struck up a conversation. 

“What does it take to become a watchmaker in the United States?” he asked the peer. “Watch a few tutorial videos,” was the response. Hirzinger scratched his head and mused on his seven years of intensive study. “I must have done it all wrong!” he joked. The watchmaker offered him a job.

Soon, Hirzinger set up a watch, jewelry and repair shop of his own—Josef Clock & Watch Shop—at the jewelry exchange in Tamarac before opening his first showroom on Andrews Avenue in Fort Lauderdale in the early 1990s. 

In 1995, he also acquired a store in New Orleans. While that New Orleans location offers fine jewelry as well as watch and clock repair services, it is the enchanting Fort Lauderdale location of the Josef & Joseph company—renamed to include Hirzinger’s son, also an internationally trained watch and clockmaker—where the complete repair and restoration of watches and clocks occurs alongside the creation of a series of luxury watches.