Women capturing time

捕捉时光的女性

The Conversation

2025-09-15

26 分钟

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Ella Al-Shamahi talks to two women from France and Finland who service and create timepieces. Camille de Rouvray is a French watchmaker from a family of horologists. One of her ancestors was the official clockmaker for King Louis XV in the 1740s. Centuries later, when Camille was 35 years old, she decided to change careers completely to continue her family's legacy and follow her true passion. After training in Paris, she opened a watchmaking studio in Mirmande, a small village in the South of France. Camille is especially enthusiastic about antique clocks and feels a deep connection to the original creator when restoring them. Paula Pyhälä from Finland is a service manager at Lindroos, Finland’s largest privately owned watch service provider, established in 1878. She leads a team of nine watchmakers, four administrative staff and one polisher. Paula graduated from the Finnish Watchmaking School in 2008 and continued her training at the prestigious WOSTEP Watchmaking School in Switzerland. She says she often feels like a crime detective when servicing watches. (Image: (L) Paula Pyhälä, courtesy Paula Pyhälä. (R) Camille de Rouvray courtesy Camille de Rouvray.)

I'm Ella Arshamahi and this is the conversation from the BBC World Service,
the programme that amplifies women's voices,
which is just a fancy way of saying we get two incredible women from different countries who share an expertise,
bring them together and see what happens.
Today I'm speaking to two women whose job it is to capture, restore and preserve time.
Camille de Rovray is a French watchmaker whose family has a horological legacy that goes back centuries.
And Paola Pohala from Finland is a service manager at Lindros,
Finland's largest privately owned watch service provider, established in 1878.
Kami, Paola, welcome to the conversation.
Kami,
let's start with your family's history in the horological world
because it is just actually fascinating.
It is, yes.
I am directly descended from a family of clockmakers.
They have been practicing this hard since the mid-18th century.
So the name is Le Pot.
It's the name of my grandmother.
And yeah, they were clockmaker to the king, to the king Louis XV,
to the king Louis XVI, and then to the emperor Napoleon,
et cetera, et cetera, till the... the middle of the 20th century,

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Women capturing time

捕捉时光的女性

The Conversation

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