In actual fact Johann Friedrich has the loneliest profession in all of Schneewald. He has almost nothing to do with the tourists. Perhaps he will occasionally sell a "Vibrandi" or "Weylandt" neck – or breast-pocket watch to a visitor, but the "Uhrmacher" generally has a regional function. People come from near and far with timepieces to Schneewald, because Johann Friedrich is a real craftsman. Last year, to the great satisfaction of “pfarrer" Victor Konrad he took the church tower timepiece, which had stopped, apart and made it work better than ever before.

His shop is suitably quiet. The only sounds to be heard are the ticking of the pendulums and wall clocks, but especially the calm ticking of the standing clocks, trade marked "Bramer" and "Hermelink". It is a shame that the antique grandfather clocks have gone out of fashion, now they had a respectable tick. But once Johann's four children, Anna, Kunne, Jacob en Franz arrive home from school romping around together, as all children do, the shop’s peace is at an end. Then Johann puts his instruments away, forgets the seriousness of his profession and runs through the house with his children, has pillow fights and hides without thinking behind the big standing clocks during a game of hide and seek. His wife Hildegard often shakes her head and smiles.

The Schneewald "Uhrmacher" also has antique clocks. He recently sold an eighteenth century Viennese pendulum clock to Annemarie Britz from the hotel and Heinrich Hagelkost from the weather station, who loves indicators and measuring instruments, has shown a lot of interest in an historic period clock with a real "Barentz" timepiece. He can spend many a happy hour musing on measures, degrees and indicators and the new technique of electrical timepieces, together with Johann.