Ghanaian watchmaker Patrick Amofah services Richard Mille McLaren

Ghanaian watchmaker  Patrick Amofah seemed destined from young age to be a watchmaker.

The Ghanaian horologist and founder of Hourhand Watch Co., Patrick Amofah is currently one of few watchmakers in Africa capable of servicing a $600k Richard Mille McLaren timepieces.

The Richard Mille McLaren with reference RM-011-03 is an exclusive timepiece made in honour of McLaren Auto motive’s creations. The Skeletonized automatic Calibre RMAC3 winding movement is housed in a Carbon TPT and orange Quartz-TPT case. Made with Titanium Pushers fitted to the Carbon TPT case band, which echo the design of the headlights on the 720S. Limited edition of 500 timepieces.

This watch features Titanium inserts similar in shape to the iconic McLaren F1’s air vents and bearing the Richard Mille logo adorn the bezel. With an adjustable rotor geometry offering hours, minutes, seconds, flyback chronograph, 60-minute countdown timer at 9 o’clock, 12-hour totalizer, oversize date, month indicator and rotor with variable geometry.

A Richard Mille watch is a highly tuned machine, and as such, it needs the right maintenance and care to ensure a long life of worry-free functioning. The Richard Mille watch is an intricate and complex mechanical device that was developed and built using the most cutting-edge watchmaking methods and resources available. Master watchmakers put it together and optimised it. Given how few watchmakers worldwide are capable of servicing such a wristwatch, it is very astounding that Ghana has it own watchmaker capable of servicing high-end timepieces.

Patrick Amofah, set up the brand in memory of his late father, who left behind lots of watches. He revealed that the name "HourHand" was chosen to convey the concepts of timekeeping and craftsmanship. In a literal sense, "our hand" emphasizes our handcrafts.

Recounting the brand’s journey, Patrick said the idea of starting a watch company came after a watchmaker ruined one of his father’s favourite watches, "I lost my father in 2017. He was a lover of watches and left a significant number of them behind. There was one in particular that I wanted to wear, but it was broken and I had a hard time finding a good watchmaker to restore it in Ghana. When I finally got someone, they ruined the dial by trying to fix the fallen markers on it with super glue. I was disappointed because it was one of my father’s favourite watches. Due to the sentiments attached, I wanted to have his timepieces with me all the time."

 Speaking about the brand’s growth, he continued, "That’s when I became interested in watches and took some time to understand the basic concepts of watch movements. Honestly, I didn’t take it seriously until somewhere in 2019, when I was moving out and came across some of my dad’s old watches. So, I decided to teach myself.