Watchmaker Lamija Saracevic is seen at her watch shop in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, on Feb. 25, 2020. There are few female watchmakers in the world. Lamija Saracevic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) is one of them. She is also the only female watchmakers in this Balkan country. (Photo by Nedim Grabovica/Xinhua)
SARAJEVO, March 2 (Xinhua) -- There are few female watchmakers in the world. Lamija Saracevic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) is one of them. She is also the only female watchmakers in this Balkan country.
Lamija is the third generation of watchmakers in her family. Her grandfather learned the trade before the World War II, as BiH was a part of Austrian-Hungarian Empire. Her grandfather opened his workshop in a small town called Jajce, some 150 km northwest of BiH's capital of Sarajevo.
Sabahudin, Lamija's father, succeeded his father's business after the World War II, when BiH was one of six republics forming former Yugoslavia.
Lamija was still in elementary school when she decided to join her dad in his workshop one day.
"To me it came natural, since I often visited my father's workshop as a child. No one believed I am serious until I finished elementary and chose the High School of Metalwork Professions," she says.
It was a highly unusual choice for a girl, who also had a good elementary school grades. People in BiH often look down on hand crafts and look at it in a bad way, as if it's the last resort when everything else fails. Even the clerk at her high school told her that she can choose better school considering her grades, she recalls.
"They just couldn't grasp that I already knew what I want," she says.
In early 1990s, BiH became an independent country with complex political system. Lamija hasn't drifted of her course.
Sabahudin moved his business to Sarajevo and opened his workshop in a suburb called Svrakino selo. Lamija welcomed her first customer in this workshop in 2004, before her 18th birthday.
Lamija says she never regrets her career choice. "I am 33 years old with more than 15 years of professional experience. I live a great life and love my work. I don't know why I would regret it."
An hour-long visit is often briefly interrupted by customers. One of them, a tall man in his late 50 entered the small premises, saying he was hoping to get served by Sabahudin.
"Sorry if you don't trust women can fix your watch, but I am the boss here," Lamija says, getting up and taking the watch out of customer's hands.
"Yes. She is the boss and I'm just a slave worker who replaces batteries," Sabahudin says laughing loudly.
After the customer left, Lamija says that occasionally she still has to fight prejudice but not that often as in the early days.
"When I just started working, people didn't trust I could repair watches and be a craftsman because I am a woman." Lamija says she is aware that woman watchmakers are highly uncommon not just in BiH but globally.
Lamija says she has been in contact with watchmakers around the world, but still hasn't met another woman watchmaker.
