Photos: Raphael Zubler Photographer

Self-taught master horologist and Renaissance man creates unique mechanical works of art that speak philosophically about the transience of time

We are living in a time when everything is instantaneous, where the present is reduced to a moment as short as the blink of an eye. In the digital world, where everything is readily available, it’s easy to lose a sense of continuity and become a prisoner of the present moment. It’s only when we become older and wiser that we start to appreciate every minute of time given to us more fully. 

It’s precisely time in its elusive flows that inspires Miki Eleta – a self-taught horologist and a Renaissance man – to create works that reflect its beauty and transience. He is more than just a mechanical specialist; he is an erudite scholar whose curiosity extends into many fields. Deeply steeped into the secrets of his craft, Eleta has a rare ability to join skills and expertise from different areas and turn them into new insights, creating his own unique language. 

His works do not only show his skill but could be considered a representation of an alchemy of ideas, where mechanics and art blend into a harmonious whole. 

Born in 1950 in Višegrad, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Eleta left the country in 1973 with a practical mission in mind. As a great lover of flamenco music, he arrived in Switzerland wanting to make some money to buy a guitar. Although he has spent more than half of his life in the land of clocks – working as an assistant medical technician, a football trainer, a musician and a kinetic artist – it was not until 2000 that he became a clockmaker, after an exhibition he participated in. 

‘In my fifties, in spite of my already full schedule, I felt a need for new challenges. That’s when I developed a kinetic clock mechanism. When I exhibited my work, called Chaos, I was met with an unexpected criticism. One visitor, not understanding what the mechanism was about, called it crude, stating that I would never be able to create anything precise. I took those words as a challenge and within a year, I’d created a functioning clock. That’s how my career as a clockmaker began’, Miki Eleta recalls.