Naseem A. Khan, 62, has been selling and fixing watches out of a kiosk on the corner of 17th and I streets Northwest for 18 years. He moved to the United States in 1985 from Pakistan, where he worked as a customs clearing agent and owned a small business. He’s known to downtown workers as the watchman.
Are you a watch repairman?
I’m not that qualified, you know. But I do bands and batteries, and sometimes I help people and fix their watches, and my customers say that I’m better than store people … I make a little bit of money now and then on repair.
How much do you charge to install a new battery?
Five dollars. Because a $10 watch, how can I charge more? The store people don’t like me. My customers like me.
Why did you come to the United States?
I have very little bit of money. When the economy turned upside down, all the money I had I lost in East Pakistan. So after that I didn’t have hope over there. So when I got the chance, I came to this country. I didn’t have a single penny in my pocket. Nothing. Nothing in my pocket. When I remember that time, there’s always tears in my eyes.
That must have been scary.
Even then, I was not that afraid. I say, ‘It’s OK, I will work and the Lord will help.’
How did you make it?
I met a person, he was from Pakistan and then I got a job. I worked two full-time jobs, at McDonald’s and Roy Rogers. From there I was selling sunglasses and other stuff in Georgetown on weekends. I worked 16 hours a day, from one job to another job. On the bus I slept. Many times I missed my stop.
But I have dream. … My kids are beautiful and in college, and I’m trying to do something nice.
