Johann Meyer (photo taken from the website of Meyer.com.tr)
Johann Meyer was a German watchmaker who had spent four years of his childhood in İstanbul due to his father’s job. The same fate struck him at the age of 33 when he learnt that the Ottoman Sultan was looking for a watchmaker. It was 1876 when he decided to come to İstanbul to serve Sultan Abdülhamid II in the Yıldız Palace. Meyer never left the city until his death where he took care of the watches of the Sultan, Sultanas, Ministers, Pashas, Princes and Commanders.
One of the mansions of the Yıldız Palace Complex
In 1878, he established his factory in İstanbul and opened his first shop in Tünel, Beyoğlu. The reputation of the watchmaker’s went beyond borders making him the watchmaker not only of the Ottoman elites but Princes and high officials from across Europe.
A glimpse at the Ottoman pocket watches collection made especially for the Ottoman Royal Family currently displayed at Topkapı Museum
‘Johann was the master of his craft and had a dream; to develop a watch that both operated in the modern clock system, and showed the prayer times which were determined according to the position of the sun. After eight years of struggle, he achieved. Johann presented his invention to the Sultan, and in return, he was awarded a favour.’ (https://www.meyer.com.tr/meyer-history.html)
These watches were named ‘Hamidiye watches’ and became very popular in the Empire. You can still purchase these watches in auctions and they are a delight to watch.
A beautiful example of a Hamidiye watch. Note that the watch has two facades which enables one to read the time either through Arabic numerals which Ottoman elites were used to or through European numerals
Abdülhamid II’s reign was famous with its watch towers erected round the Ottoman Empire as a part of the modernisation movement and it was also Johann Meyer who installed the clocks in the clock tower in front of the Dolmabahçe Palace that is still a part of our daily lives.
Clock tower in front of Dolmabahçe Palace – Photo by Sinan Doğan
Johann’s son was born in İstanbul and took the family profession. It was only the third generation of Meyers who have had to leave İstanbul during the second World War.
History professor Serkan Yazıcı wrote about the Meyer Family in this book titled: ‘Watchmaker of the Sultan’ in which he says: ‘I found myself rewriting the last hundred years of Turkey’s history, but by looking through the window of a watch store. This watchmaker’s store in Karaköy was once in the center of both the Ottoman Empire and the Republic, in the city where all the changes took place.’ (https://saatolog.com.tr/reading-history-from-a-watch-store-in-karakoy.html)
History professor Serkan Yazıcı
Make sure to visit the website of the Meyer Family where they talk about their story at https://www.meyer.com.tr/meyer-history.html.
