José de Hoffmeyer y Jiménez

Active: Bilbao 1849 - Madrid 1862

By: Amelia Aranda Huete

Before he was appointed Royal Clockmaker in 1849, the first known record of José de Hoffmeyer y Jiménez is his marriage to Josefa Zubeldia Baquijano in Bilbao in May 1843. Around 1858, he opened a shop on calle de Alcalá in Madrid.

He crafted his own clockwork mechanisms and used others from Geneva and Paris. He was also the local distributor for the J. M. French company in Madrid.

When Spain decided to adopt the mean time system, he was charged with resetting the time of all public and municipal clocks in Madrid.

Hoffmeyer died in the Spanish capital on 16 December 1862 and was buried in the Sacramental de San Justo cemetery.