Obituary: Edwin Pass was third-generation watchmaker in landmark downtown Hamilton business

If it was good enough for his grandfather, it was good enough for Edwin J. Pass.

That was the sentiment Pass had in running the family watchmaking business.

Pass Jewellers and Watchmakers at 91 John St. S., between Jackson and Hunter streets, hadn't changed much since his grandfather, Edwin Kirby Pass, founded it in 1888. Pass - who died Nov. 7 at age 92 in Newmarket - had people walking into the business asking what decorator he used to get that old 19th-century look. The CBC show Murdoch Mysteries," set in early 20th century Toronto, filmed there once.

He didn't want to change it," said his daughter Anne Muccilli. He didn't see any reason to change it, and then it kind of became a landmark."

There was the metal ceiling and walls and the vintage glass display case. The old regulator clock that hung on the back wall was used by his grandfather to set the time on clocks and watches. And there was a watchmaker's desk made of solid cherry wood that had ruts in the floor from where grandfather, son (Edwin Samuel Pass) and grandson (Edwin John Pass) worked. The topper was a one-ton safe that sat in the middle of the shop. It was installed around 1910 and, to keep it from crashing through the floor, a brick pillar was built underneath it in the basement.

He really had a love affair with the shop," said local history buff Robin McKee, who was asked by Pass to buy the building to prevent it from being changed. That was in 2007, the year Pass retired, and McKee did buy it.

At one time, the old shop had people working in it, including the three Pass family members. There were three watchmakers up front and two apprentices at the back. Customers included politicians, musicians, labour leaders, police officers, lawyers and judges.

Edwin K. Pass, who came to Hamilton from England in 1882, lived to be 93 and died in the 1950s. Edwin S. Pass died in 1975 in his 80s. Times had changed for the industry by then - new digital watches - and Edwin J. Pass worked in the shop by himself after that.

Both his daughter and McKee said Pass could fix anything. His daughter noted her father developed and patented a watch timer.

He was a man of ingenuity," said Muccilli, a business manager for a Richmond Hill company. That would sum it up. He would build watch parts. He would help anyone he could."

McKee, well-known for his walking tours in Hamilton cemeteries, recalled the time he brought in a mantel clock that had once belonged to War of 1812 scout Billy Green.

I brought him a box of parts and asked him if he could put it together," recalled McKee. He put it together. He had big hands. I don't know how he did such delicate work."

Pass was born May 16, 1930. His mother Pearl was a nurse. He attended Adelaide Hoodless Elementary School and Central High School. He started his apprenticeship as a watchmaker in 1947.

The shop was an artists' co-op for several years after 2008. Watchmaker Vincent Cino arrived in 2016. McKee sold the building after he got a heritage designation for it in 2017 to a Waterdown man.

Pass visited the shop many times after Cino moved in. Now known as Atelier VSaint Orologi (Italian for Workshop VSaint Watches), the shop continues as it was. The only thing Cino has done is paint the walls.

He was very happy another watchmaker was on the premises," said Cino. We've lost an icon in the watch business. He was a mentor."

Pass moved to Newmarket to be near family in 2019 after he had a stroke.

Pass is survived by his wife Barbara, daughter Anne and granddaughter Katelyn. He was predeceased by his sister Marilyn.

Daniel Nolan is a Dundas-based freelance contributor for The Spectator. Reach him via email: news@thespec.com