On each of these hands, you might find another throwback – the classic wristwatch – the once ubiquitous device that drove our lives until every electronic device around and about us, gave us no escape from ‘the time’ and its tyranny.
I haven’t worn a watch for maybe 30 years in any meaningful way. Though I do have one, and remember all the others that tagged me, since my dad bought me a first Timex when I successfully told the time on it in a jewellers window. Once a daily, perennial wearer of the personal timepiece, I would have never in those days imagined a time when my wrist would be naked and without the means of knowing where I should be, or what I should be doing.
All this is prompted today by one Zac Manuel De Freitas who, on the face of it (pun intended), sells watches. What I also discovered, however, by taking the time to listen and tune into his passion, for podcast purposes, was a whole other dimension, as it were, to his luxury watch endeavours.
Zac, and his wife as it turns out, were born and raised in South Africa, where they met and married. Four years ago, they made the ancestral homecoming move to Portugal, largely for safety and quality of life reasons – a process that hasn’t been easy, but generally a great success.
“As a Gen X-er, I’ve adopted the mobile phone and haven’t worn a watch for decades,” I told him when we spoke. “Time is around me all the time, on my phone or laptop. So, you’re taking us back … is there a watch revival going on?”
“For the diehard fans, people who love wristwatches, it’s never gone away,” he replied. “But you’re quite right. There’s something to be said about being able to check the time without seeing that you have a thousand unread emails. The wristwatch itself, for me, is about celebrating moments. That’s what is very powerful, what it symbolizes, what it says.”
By this point, Zac had me intrigued and engaged, way beyond pure functionality and measurement. “Great moments like a child being born, the first question is: ‘what time is it?’ My wife is an astrologer,” I added. “The time of birth is really important. We love to timestamp life. Even on the dark side, an accident – what time did it happen? Life is about moments; we remember the moments.”
“Exactly!” he responded. “People might not remember the exact day or date. What they will remember is the feeling. Say someone wore one of these on their wedding day, the happiest of their life where everything’s gone right. Every time they put it on, hopefully that’s the feeling they get to relive and re-experience.”
All well and good, but what’s behind the name of the brand, Monserrate, and the individual watches?
“The name came to me and my wife when we went to Palácio Monserrate in Sintra. I was grappling with whether to make this a proper brand or keep it as a hobby,” Zac revealed. “The guide said: ‘Monserrate became a window through which many people saw the beauty of Portugal’. I thought, that’s exactly what I was trying to do with the brand. The whole purpose is to capture the heart and soul of Portugal!”
Taking what is essentially a machine and bringing it to life with that thing we love so much, and I hope never forget – human stories and the creativity embodied within them – is to me a welcome antidote. It is a small but profound response to the over-rationalisation and soul-less efficiency of this smart-watch age of artificial intelligence and the ersatz existence it can encourage.
Zac’s ‘Manuel’ watch, the first in a series, is not his namesake, but a delightful reference to the Manueline style in architecture that can be seen embodied in his watch-making art and craft.
Anyone who loves Portuguese culture and history will get a sense of Zac’s painstaking passion and excellent aspirations, whether they become a proud owner or not, at www.monserrate.eu
Read Carl Munson’s previous article: What to do when someone dies in Portugal
