History of Horloge.nl Breda

At the location of Horloge.nl Breda – at Nieuwe Ginnekenstraat 4 – Levens Time Centre was established from 1980 to 2013. The store has continued at this location under the name Horloge.nl by Levens. The workshop of Levens Time Center has moved to another location.

History of Horloge.nl Breda

Trained as a goldsmith in Schiedam and as a watchmaker in Oosterhout, Henk Levens began his watch and clock repair business at Grazendonkstraat in Breda in the early 1940s. When the Second World War broke out, the family fled because he refused to repair watches for the Germans, but the business survived and remained successful in the post-war years.

A family of watchmakers

It was almost inevitable that son Hans Levens would follow in his father's footsteps. He completed the specialist watchmaking programme at the Christiaan Huygensinstituut in Rotterdam, discovering that many independent jewellers lacked the expertise to repair watches properly. Therefore, Hans started his own watchmaking business at the age of 29. Soon he had to hire additional staff and, in the early 1970s, opened a jewellery shop on Fatimastraat.

Watch battery wholesale

When digital quartz watches gained popularity in the 1970s, demand for watch batteries also rose. Levens met this need with its own wholesale operation and specialised staff.

Combination of watch sales and repairs

In 1980 moved Levens Time Centre once more, this time to Nieuwe Ginnekenstraat. The business further specialised in watch sales and repairs, with its own repair atelier above the shop. By this time grandson Oscar Levens was also working in the company.