Meet The Men Who Own Grand Central Watch

It's been said before but bears repeating: Grand Central Watch is a New York City watch-repair institution. More accurately, it is an institution within an institution, having occupied an inconspicuous storefront in Grand Central Terminal since 1952. An institution, wrapped in an institution, inside the 45th Street Passageway.

three generations of the Kivel family men

Left to right: Max, Larry, and Steve, the three generations of Kivels of Grand Central Watch, pictured in 1994. Photo: courtesy Steve Kivel

We first met third-generation owner Steve Kivel in 2014, and we learned that Grand Central Watch had come a long way since it was founded by Steve's grandfather, Max Kivel. What began as a one-man operation in a stall expanded to encompass not only much of the passageway, but also a modern workshop on an upper office floor, where a handful of watchmakers tackle many of the more ambitious repair jobs that come through Grand Central Watch.

This past week, the newest member of our video team, Kaan Oguz, revisited Steve and his father, Larry, to take a look at Grand Central Watch through the lens of a company that, in the spirit of Father's Day, has twice been passed from father to son. They reminisce about the past, open up about working so closely together for so many years, and ponder the future.