Watchmaking Profession for a Young Person?

Learning the craft would involve attending a school that offers the required training. I am certain the costs involved and the discipline would be equivalent to college or university. It sounds as though a career in the craft might be your idea! You need to introduce her to the idea, and decide if this might be the future career for her as well.

https://hs-ny.org/watchmaking-schools-programs

There is a possibility that an on line course of some sort might allow her to dip her toe in the trade. I have never tried to find these courses, and I don’t know what opinions there are as to what value they might be. Those of us in the craft have strong opinions as to the right way to do things.

Speaking personally, my training was by apprenticeship with my late father, and that training started back when we were working on watches that are considered obsolete today. But such watches are very often what people are collecting, today. A background in repairing modern as well as antique and vintage watches would be necessary in my view.

It would take years to learn a level of proficiency in watch repairing before she would be able to make a living doing it. She would need to be the right person in the right circumstances to make this work.

Is she near or able to travel to Seattle? Norwest School of Horology have a good watch program. Email Marilyn Willard for info. [email protected]

She could try out watchmaking by taking a classs that puts together a watch. @Mad Dog took it (twice, I think.) I think it was through the https://www.nawcc.org/

Upcoming in PA:

https://net.nawcc.org/NAWCC/Events/Event_Display.aspx?EventKey=CL120923.


If watch making doesn't work out, how about being a commercial pilot? There's a shortage of pilots and a shortage of women pilots. Funny thing, @Mad Dog might be a good source of info for this too.

Check out Mesa Airlines. They have a program that takes you from zero to hero in about a year and a half. I know people who went through this program and have been flying commercial for decades. It's legit.

https://www.mesa-air.com/mesa-pilot-development

Good luck. I wasn't able to convince either of my two daughters to become watchmakers or pilots.

Amongst the courses I listed above, courses such as those that offered “Part Time” instruction are likely more suited to enthusiasts (as in hobbyists), or active watchmakers who want to expand their capabilities. These courses likely would not offer the in depth training required to become a professional watch repairer.

With my assistance, a young friend (30ish) whose profession is in information technology, has been learning watch repair. He is fascinated by mechanical watches. I have helped him quite a bit with his first two projects, and I have offered advice on many others. But he now is quite capable of servicing the watches he buys, and now has a small collection of 12 watches. All of which he wears in rotation. He DOES NOT aspire to becoming a full time, professional watch repair person. Strictly hobby!

Curiously many of the factories I visited use many women for the assembly line processes.

From what I can tell that there are jobs what are considered more suitable to one type person than another. I ran up against this in my youth. I was interested in animation and mechanical dolls. The trade schools were not all that welcoming. Perhaps things have changed in the last 30 years.

Many women also find themselves working in the "communications" Industry. I had a theater arts degree from a 2 year college. I wound up creating computer retail customer service in one of the first computer retailers back in the early 1980s. Companies do want a pretty face behind the counter. I got the job for the reason I could drive a standard transmission delivery van. Later when things got established we hired people from the Sears tire warranty school of salesmanship. By that time I was working at a corporate level making decisions which affected the usability of the common laser printer.

I was chatting yesterday with one of my friends who designed themed amusement park rides. These have now run their course and are being replaced after 30 years or more. We were talking about how much of the design tools are free of charge for creating 3D virtual worlds. My friend also has thousand of fans. and does share the creative processes through websites and you tube videos. It is all there for anyone to learn and teach themselves.

What a lot of younger people lack are the three Ds (Dedication, Determination and Desire.) My friend was saying the younger people were constantly putting up barriers and excuses. We are a consumer society. Expect others to create the experience for us to enjoy. Most do not how to tell the difference between luck and skill.

Perhaps your daughter might want to consider a summer working for an AD or Botique. Learn the sales side of things. Maybe even learn how the distribution channels work. Logistics. What it takes to run a warehouse importing product. One could then work their way up the chain, even to become part of the system where they can create policy and determine parts availability. Or other ways to profit from the re-use and sustainability of obsolete vintage items.

I suspect most of us here are part of the 1% (1% of 8 billion is a large number and includes much of the NA and western Europe. Pretty anyone who owns their own home or real property.) So it is hard to know what to expect in the next 30 years.

Most people tend to wind up doing something by accident. Some jobs/carriers what seem fun and desirable from the outside are actually hard work. We tend to want to be around with others who fit into our comfort zone.

When I look back, I see I did have toys one could take apart and put together. We also did a lot of puzzles during the holidays. These are not as available as the small parts can lead to litigation. (Odds are better winning a lawsuit to winning a lottery.)

I also noticed that at places like the renascence fair, and the associated burning man and maker faires, that people tent to naturally fall into the classical casts. Probably survival traits. Some people are more comfortable doing security. Others working in the kitchens. Some like holding court and playing political games. Others are good at fundraising and figuring out the economics of the community.

This means no work is done in isolation. Schooling is as much about being with others and learning from each other. Most colleges and universities these days are diploma mills. What are designed to suck the funds out to the college accounts grandma and grandpa set up. Admissions are not as much merit based as they are designed to collect people of like minds and skill sets.

Our education system was also created 200 years ago to solve problems that really are no longer in existence. Copy machines and computers have alleviated the need for monks in a scriptoruim working out the statistical needs on production yealds of the monastic holdings. Most corporations still follow this, and no longer know that the word corporation is short for corpus Christie, and means to be protected under the grace of god.

Not that any of this has anything to do with the desire for your daughter to become a watchmaker any more than becoming a stock broker or financial planner.

(and yes I am still sleep typing -- it was an intense weekend.)