Ani Gevorgyan

Zhora Hovhannisyan might be part of a dying breed in Yerevan.

For years, the 62 year-old watchmaker has plied his trade out of a car parked on the intersection of Northern Avenue and Abovyan Street in downtown Yerevan.

Zhora says that he’s been forced to move around quite a bit in his forty years of repairing watches. The old sites where he used to work – buildings, courtyards – no longer exist; the victims of urban planning.

“I was a 22 year-old student when I started to repair watches”.

The watchmaker is actually a mathematician by profession.

He even taught mathematics for a short time.

“I’ve done everything during my life. I worked as a mathematician and in a factory. But that’s all in the past.”

“I lost all those jobs. What’s left is watch repair.”

Mr. Hovhannisyan’s car is parked in a paid parking zone.

Zhora says he pays 2,000 dram (US$4.15) a month for the spot.

“I get by on what I make,” he says.

“I’ve repaired watches in various spots, but those buildings no longer exist. They destroyed them, but I’m still here.”