"We don't call it business, we call it God's business": Swiss Master Watchmaker points others to the Master Maker!
- dontan5
- Aug 7, 2025
- 10 min read
by Christine Leow // August 4, 2025, 3:44 pm
Sitting on Michael Dubs’ wrist is a unique conversation starter. The Swiss master watchmaker has a watch he specially crafted to engage people in conversations about his faith.
“When people ask what those symbols mean, it opens the door for spiritual conversations.”
The first is an arrow pointing upwards that represents the fact that in the beginning there was God. The next is a downward-pointing arrow symbolising God in the earthly realm creating the universe. The third symbol is an X, representing the fall of man.
Next is an arrow that goes from the left to the right. This depicts the span of time in Israel’s history where God revealed Himself to humanity. The cross of Christ follows. Then another arrow pointing left to right represents church history.
The final symbol is another downward-pointing arrow symbolizing Christ’s return.
“When people ask what those symbols mean, it opens the door for spiritual conversations,” Michael, 47, told Salt&Light.
A federally certified trainer from Switzerland with 30 years of experience across the watch industry, Michael is also an official trainer with the Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie (FHH) Academy, a global authority on haute horology.
In 2023, Michael and his wife Singaporean Phyllis founded IHT. The boutique watchmaking studio offers hands-on watchmaking experiences, watch restoration and servicing, and horology training for watch professionals.
But right from the beginning, the Dubs meant for IHT to be more than a horology business. Even the name they chose for their company – In His Time (IHT) – was meant to point others to God.
In His Time
IHT is a Business as Mission (BAM) built on four Ps: Profit, Purpose, People and Planet.
“We should be profitable so we can be sustainable and fulfil our purpose to use our business to reach people for Kingdom purposes.
A tiny particle can impact the fine working of the timepiece. Similarly, even a bit of sin can have a huge impact.
“And we want to love people as God loves us; to be about relationships not transactions. We also care for the planet – mechanical watches don’t need batteries,” Michael said with a smile.
While they have no employees, the Dubs have found ways of extending God’s love to others in their business.
Said Phyllis: “I had the chance to pray with suppliers. I even prayed for one who is overseas. She had some personal problems, so on the side, I texted her to say, ‘I’m thinking of you, keeping you in prayer.’
“She was so grateful for that. I don’t think she knows Christ yet.”
When Michael conducts watching-making workshops, he tells the participants the history of watchmaking and how, in Switzerland, the craftsmen were Christians who saw their work as a form of worship to God.
Added Michael: “They try to make the mechanism of the watch as beautiful as possible to glorify the Maker. The mechanisms were also closed up as they were not for others to see, but only for God to see.”
On one occasion, Michael was talking to a goldsmith with whom he works. He saw an opportunity to talk to the man, who is not a believer, about Christianity.
“People all have sin and are broken, and God is dealing with us.”
“I shared with him that if one day we face God, we can only stand before Him when we are 100% pure. But we are not. That’s why we need Christ.
“When he heard that we are not 100% pure, he said: ‘Oh, it’s like gold. We always say gold is only 99.9% pure not 100% because manufacturers of the gold can never be sure the gold is totally pure. There can be some impurity inside.’”
Sowing seeds of truth on such occasions is exactly what IHT hopes to do.
Some of what Michael shares with clients and contacts comes from insights into God through his work. In watchmaking, there are certain components that have to be very clean. Even a tiny particle can impact the fine working of the timepiece.
Reflecting on this, Michael saw the importance of the little things. Just even a bit of sin can have a huge impact.
He told Salt&Light: “When I work on a watch, I cannot rush. There is a steel bridge inside the watch that I have to polish. Sometimes, you have to polish for an hour for it to look nice. You rub and check, then rub and check.
“In a way, it is like people: We all have sin and are broken, and God is dealing with us. He has to take His time to address all our issues because if He did it all in one moment, we won’t be able to take it.”
Waiting on God’s timing
Although IHT is the culmination of Michael’s love of horology and his dream of being a business owner, the real impetus for the business was the heart for missions that both Michael and Phyllis possess.
Michael came to work in Singapore in the early 2000s. Before they even met, Phyllis had already felt the call to missions. She had even gone on a retreat to do mission work.
“It started when I was in convent school. I just had compassion for people who didn’t know God.
“Missions has always been in my heart. It was something I put on the backburner when I got married and started a family,” said Phyllis.
“We homeschooled our sons with a Christian curriculum. Our aim was for them to know God and to make Him known.”
About a decade ago, shortly after the couple decided to relocate to Singapore, having lived in Switzerland where Michael was born, both felt “the call to go into missions”.
“We were ready to go but we never had a clear sign to go somewhere,” said Michael.
Without an explicit indication to move, Phyllis simply shared the Gospel locally with people she met. But the desire to do more never went away.
“Michael once came back from an event where he recounted how people would buy a watch every few months, never satisfied. I told him, ‘They need Jesus; you have to tell them about Jesus.’
“But as an employee of the company, he found it difficult to do so.”
Meanwhile, Phyllis was learning that there need not be a dichotomy between faith and life. When they returned to Singapore for good, she had decided to homeschool her sons.
“We homeschooled with a Christian curriculum. Our aim was for them to know God and to make Him known, and to grow the boys in their faith and not for academic purposes.
“At first Michael was concerned whether the boys would do well academically. But over time, he realised we can homeschool for the Lord and still do well.”
A timely appointment
As Michael worked in Singapore, his desire to start his own business deepened.
“I had always had a desire to be a business owner. It somehow never happened. But I always had this vision in mind. So once in a while, I would tell Phyllis we should look into it,” he said.
During his first stint in Singapore in the early 2000s, Michel had noticed that smaller brands had no capacity to set up service centres. If the watches they sold had issues, they had to send them to Switzerland, incurring cost and time. The idea of providing watch servicing and restoration for small brands took root in his heart.
“We took it as a sign that we should meet the BAM people.”
In 2023, Michael found out that a watch brand was planning to enter the Singapore market. There was a possibility of working with them.
“I thought: That is our ticket to start the business. What I saw was a solid, secure start to a business. I saw big business as well,” he added.
He started working out the numbers, spreadsheet upon spreadsheet of the profits they could make. Phyllis rejected each of them, not because she did not support his dream, but because she feared he was putting his trust in human plans.
Then, they had a divine appointment.
While in church one day, they sat next to a woman they had never met before. The trio struck up a casual conversation.
After the service, they had lunch at a restaurant as a family with a representative of the watch brand that was looking to come to Singapore. The cousin of the restaurant’s owner, a Christian friend, happened to overhear their conversation.
Said Michael: “After lunch, she told us, ‘You should meet my cell group mate. She is from BAM. Her name is Lucy.’”
Covenant BAM (Business as Mission) is a mission's arm of Covenant Evangelical Free Church (CEFC), created with intent “to help build a missional business community, making Jesus known in the marketplace.”
The realisation that they could incorporate missions into their business transformed how they saw their business.
As they chatted, the Dubs realised that this “Lucy” was the woman they had sat next to at the worship service earlier.
“We took it as a sign that we should meet the BAM people,” said Michael.
Getting to know the people in Covenant BAM was illuminating. Until then, the Dubs had thought that business as mission was “starting businesses overseas”. The realisation that they could incorporate missions into their business transformed how they saw their business.
Said Phyllis: “The Holy Spirit convinced me. It became very clear that that was something we can use to reach out to people.”
Added Michael: “It gave our business purpose.”
Timely provisions
Just as they made up their minds to take the leap, the brand with whom they had been in talks decided not to work with them.
“Our vision didn’t match their way of doing things,” explained Michael.
But, certain that “it was God” behind their business, the Dubs decided to carry on. Michael resigned from his job. As the reality of what he had done set in, he was “hit with fear and anxiety as never before in my life.”
He experienced “about two and a half months of almost no sleep. It was a very, very bad period.”
He met with a few brothers in Christ who spoke to him, prayed with him and shared encouragement from God’s Word. In that season, Michael came to realise something vital.
“Do these people know Jesus? We could be the ones to make the difference.”
“Throughout my 30 years of employment, my identity, my security – although I professed it was in Christ, in God – it was really in my position and workplace and my monthly salary,” he admitted.
“It hit me very hard when I realized this.”
To see Michael shaken was unnerving for Phyllis because he had always been the steady one.
“We even discussed during the renovations of the office: ‘Should we just stop it now?’”
But the urgency for souls overcame her fear. “I remember going to check on the renovations and seeing the people on the street. I started crying. Do these people know Jesus? We could be the ones to make the difference. There was conviction to continue.”
On Michael’s part, he began meditating on Romans 8:28, a verse a friend in the Philippines was prompted to share with Michael, not knowing his concerns.
Sitting with the verse gave Michael the assurance that this was but a period of pruning in preparation for doing God’s work.
The Dubs also asked church friends to pray for them. What they did not expect was how God would answer their prayers. Out of the blues, they received a five-figure love gift.
“This sister said: ‘I was thinking who to give to for a long time.’ That’s how we saw God in our every day,” Phyllis told Salt&Light.
Shortly after, they received another S$1,000 from someone else. This further encouraged them.
Fruits in His Time
IHT has been in business for over 18 months and the Dubs have continued to see God’s
providence.
“We haven’t advertised yet. The work that comes is strictly from the Lord,” said Phyllis.
Michael shares that God has been the One regulating their workload. Just when he finishes servicing one watch, another piece would come in. At times when he has workshops to run or has to support watch brands at events, there would miraculously be no watches to repair.
“I could never bring him to church but this is also like church.”
Providence has come in other ways. The business was accepted into the Singapore Management University’s UOB-SMU SME consulting programme. Through that, IHT is getting help for its marketing efforts.
“I didn’t know about this. It was a friend with a small business who asked me to attend the event with her. In the end, I went but she didn’t because she forgot about it,” said Phyllis.
They are also learning a “different way of being missional”.
The IHT office is openly Christian. There are verses around and a blessing over the exit so that all who enter the space know the Dubs profess Christ.
Said Phyllis: “We had a comment at the start from someone: ‘Don’t be so cheesy, (it’s) like those bumper stickers on cars.’
“Our stand is: Why do we have to hide?”
IHT was accepted into the Singapore Management University’s UOB-SMU SME consulting programme.
God has been using IHT for His glory. At a trial run of a workshop for retirees, a young man brought his father. The man was a believer but his father was not.
“After the workshop, the young man told us: ‘I am bringing him (my father) back. I could never bring him to church but this is also like church.’ He was really excited about that,” said Phyllis.
At another workshop, their friend met an elder from a church who invited the friend to his church. Soon, the friend’s parents also went to that church, and have become Christians planted in that church.
Phyllis said to Salt&Light: “We don’t call it our business. We call it God’s business. We are stewards.”
by Christine Leow Salt&Light
4th August 2025
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