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Slavko Vladušić
Episode · #652

POSLOVNI ĐIR Slavko Vladušić

Guest Slavko VladušićHosted by Ojdana KoharevićMay 3, 2026
About this episode
What you'll hear in this conversation

The world of traditional craft often contends with the relentless march of technology and changing consumer habits. Slavko Vladušić, a third-generation watchmaker in Split, Croatia, lives this tension daily. His family's shop, founded by his father in 1967, stands as one of the last remaining in a city that once boasted dozens. Slavko's story isn't about rapid growth or market dominance; it's about the quiet persistence required to maintain a heritage business against forces that have erased most of his peers. He sees firsthand how a society's shift from valuing repair to prioritizing new purchases reshapes an entire industry, leaving behind a handful of dedicated individuals. This conversation offers a rare glimpse into what it means to be the "last man standing" in a disappearing trade, and what practical choices — from owning your space to accepting simpler tasks — allow such a legacy to endure. You will walk away considering the true cost of convenience and the unseen value of what we choose to preserve.

Insights from the conversation
What to take from this episode
01
Slavko Vladušić is the "last man standing" in his family's watchmaking shop, founded by his father in 1967 and now one of only a handful left in Split. Some businesses are carried forward not by market opportunity, but by a stubborn commitment to lineage, even when the path is difficult.
02
As a high school student, Slavko started working with his father not out of an early passion for watchmaking, but because he earned money and "didn't have to beg" for pocket cash. The initial draw to a craft isn't always a grand calling; sometimes it's the simple independence of earning your own way, a habit that then becomes a life's work.
03
Split went from over twenty watchmakers to just six or seven, a decline Slavko attributes to a "too fast transition" to a consumer society where "it's easier to buy something new than to repair something." When society values new purchases over repair, traditional crafts don't just lose customers; they lose their very reason to exist, leaving only a few dedicated practitioners.
04
Watchmaking schools no longer exist, a fact highlighted by Slavko's anecdote of being examined by a physical education teacher for a trade difference exam. The disappearance of a craft often begins not with a lack of demand, but with the quiet dismantling of its training infrastructure, making revival nearly impossible.
05
Slavko's daily work has shifted from intricate repairs to mostly changing batteries in watches, car keys, garage door openers, and other devices, because "work is generally less valued." When a skilled trade's core work becomes economically unviable, its practitioners adapt by taking on lower-value, higher-volume tasks, a quiet surrender to market forces.
06
Not having to pay rent for his shop space is, as Slavko puts it, the main reason he hasn't "put the key in the lock" and closed down. For heritage businesses in declining sectors, owning the physical location can be the single most important factor for survival, insulating them from the pressures that force others out.
07
Slavko observes that watches, once status symbols or significant gifts, are now often seen as fashion accessories or replaced by what he calls "small computers" — smartwatches — which are "everything but a watch." The meaning of an object can shift entirely in a generation, turning a symbol of permanence into a disposable item or a multi-purpose gadget, reshaping the market for its upkeep.
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