Free State student Jabulani Mabuza wants to be the master of time
Durban - Imagine constructing a model of the cosmos and its mechanical intricacies and wearing it on your wrist as a fashion statement.
That’s what University of the Free State student Jabulani Mabuza, 24, enjoys doing.
The fourth-year BCom General Management student recently launched his own watch company, Honour, and builds timepieces by hand using imported parts.
IOL spoke to the Qwaqwa student on Thursday to find out more about his pursuit to become a master of time.
Making watches is a time-consuming and arduous process, but Mabuza said he enjoys the technical and historical side of watch-making.
In the early days before the rise of technology and machines, people relied on the sun to tell time, which Mabuza started off doing using sundials, an instrument that tells time using the position of the sun.
“What I enjoy about horology is learning the deeper technicalities of the art, the whole process – from understanding basic astronomy and how planets move in our solar system, to sort of emulating that in a watch mechanism. I always enjoyed understanding the universe.
“The working of metals transformed into watch components that actually tell time is what I enjoy most and what I am investing in so that I can master it one day,” Mabuza said.
“I enjoy the pursuit of creating a mechanical auto-magnetic watch for international travellers that will automatically adjust to different time zones as they travel. These horological pursuits are what I enjoy the most, believe in, and am passionate about,” he added.
Mabuza recently made it through to the central regional rounds of the Entrepreneurship Development in Higher Education (EDHE) competition in the Existing Businesses category for “studentpreneurs”.
For the EDHE regional round, which will be held at the Bloemfontein Campus from September 19 to 23, Mabuza will be showcasing his submariner-style watch.
Being a BCom student only adds more weapons to his arsenal as he ventures out and seeks to take Honour watches to a commercial scale.
At present, he imports parts from Japan and Switzerland to build his watches but hopes to create a factory right here in South Africa one day.
When IOL asked him why he chose a bow tie as a symbol for his company, he said: “It’s about the culture of honour. This traces back to the slave trade where Africans were sent to Europe and the rest of the world. The slaves would change their uniform that they were given. They altered their uniforms to their own style and that has been the symbolism of creative thinking, in a way.”
“They were given uniforms to be classified as slaves, but they altered it to their own taste,” Mabuza explained.
“It also means that black people can learn to be things beyond what society makes them out to be,” he added.
IOL