Ticking is the predominant sound inside Bala Muhammad’s tiny watch-repair shop, tucked away on a bustling street in the northern Nigerian city of Kaduna.

It is like a time capsule from a different era with numerous clocks hanging on the wall and small tables at the entrance full of his tools and watches in various states of repair.

His shop is on one of Kaduna’s busiest shopping streets – sandwiched between building material suppliers.

Until a few years ago, he had a steady stream of customers dropping by to get their watches fixed or get a new battery fitted.

“There were times I get more than 100 wristwatch-repair jobs in a day,” the 68-year-old, popularly known as Baba Bala, told the BBC.

But he worries that his skills – taught to him and his brother by their father – will die out.

“Some days there are zero customers,” he says, blaming people using their mobile phones to check the time for the decline in his trade.

“Phones and technology have taken away the only job I know and it makes me very sad.”

But for more than 50 years, the boom in watches allowed the family to make a good living.

“I built my house and educated my children all from the proceeds of wristwatch repairing,” he says.