The oldest reports on watchmaking trade in Slovenia originate from Ljubljana. We can follow this trade continuously from 16th to the end of 19th centuries. The article deals with archivally testified watchmakers from the 18th century who worked in Ljubljana or travelled through our country, seeking citizen rights and trade licences, and having assimilated that only their surnames remind of their origin. From the records ofsessions of the Ljubljana Town council we can follow the making of public clocks on the Ljubljana castle and tower of the Town-hall, their repairments and winding. The preserved house and pocket clocks and watches in our museum and in private collections with signatures of the Ljubljana watchmakers prove that our workshops manufactured artistic examples of watches even to those from Vienna and Graz. The watchmaking family Hofman from Ljubljana can be followed from the twenties of the 18th to the beginning of the 20th centuries and is characterised by many archival data and preserved watches. A survey of archival activity in Ljubljana shows watchmakers developed their profession through generations within relative connections and that passing the trade-license from father to son helped to a quality development of trade in the 18th century still very respected.