A discussion with my local Watchmaker.

[TheVTCGuy]

Good morning/afternoon/evening everyone,

I had the chance to sit down and have a chat with the only Rolex-certified watch maker in my area, who works at my local AD (Ben Bridge). It was an interesting and enjoyable conversation.

He talked about motiviation for his work, saying it was repairing, over-hauling and generally improving the movement of a fine timepiece like a Rolex. Every day was different and every piece had a unique challenge. I asked if he would ever like to be a watch MAKER, i.e. start from scratch, put the parts together and realize you are the creator of this beautiful piece. Me being a project-orientated guy, I thought that would be very rewarding, for obvious reasons. He said absolutely not, which... suprised me. He stated that yes, he had to do that to earn his certification, but once you've done it for a while, it is completely boring. The thing that got him enthused, was wondering what type of watch would be brought in to him for repair that day, what was wrong with it? And how would he bring it to it's finest function again?

That really opened my eyes to something, how do those watchmakers over in Geneva do this, hour after hour, day after day, month after month etc, and NOT get bored? The watchmaker told me that they will do different models, to try and mix it up a bit, but that every day, they're doing the same work... over and over.

What do you think? Would it be a boring job?

[pz93c]

Yep.

[DadsWatch72]

Sounds like most jobs.

[meloncap78]

You were lucky to have such a conversation. There is only a couple of watchmakers around my area and they are a ways off. Sounds like it was a great conversation. I can see his point on working on other watches other than making his own. Always something different.


~ Joshua

[moviefreak]

I think it would be cool.. specially if you have lots of parts around and you can customize just for fun different models, SD's with cyclops, exchange bracelets, swap Daytona hands, dials.. that would be for the first part... after that it might get a little boring..

[Bullyterrier]

Yes it would be boring. No way could I do factory work. But there are plenty of jobs out there that are equally boring, probably worse. I suppose the watch makers can be thankful that they are warm and clean.

[padi56]

Originally Posted by TheVTCGuy

Good morning/afternoon/evening everyone,

I had the chance to sit down and have a chat with the only Rolex-certified watch maker in my area, who works at my local AD (Ben Bridge). It was an interesting and enjoyable conversation.

He talked about motiviation for his work, saying it was repairing, over-hauling and generally improving the movement of a fine timepiece like a Rolex. Every day was different and every piece had a unique challenge. I asked if he would ever like to be a watch MAKER, i.e. start from scratch, put the parts together and realize you are the creator of this beautiful piece. Me being a project-orientated guy, I thought that would be very rewarding, for obvious reasons. He said absolutely not, which... suprised me. He stated that yes, he had to do that to earn his certification, but once you've done it for a while, it is completely boring. The thing that got him enthused, was wondering what type of watch would be brought in to him for repair that day, what was wrong with it? And how would he bring it to it's finest function again?

That really opened my eyes to something, how do those watchmakers over in Geneva do this, hour after hour, day after day, month after month etc, and NOT get bored? The watchmaker told me that they will do different models, to try and mix it up a bit, but that every day, they're doing the same work... over and over.

What do you think? Would it be a boring job?

Most volume mass produced watches today are highly automated to make the vast numbers.And IMHO much of the watchmakers skills are now done by robots sure some get the hands on approach,like the ones all encrusted with diamonds.And the new Rolex factory the goal of the project is to contain the entire watch movement making process to one building. Most of the parts distribution and much of the movement manufacturing process is totally automated by robotics.

Today to those who think that mechanical watches are produced by thousands of little elves, restlessly filing, smoothing, grinding, polishing watch parts. And that they are made by grey-haired little old watchmakers, sitting bent at their tables for countless hours, somewhere in the Swiss mountains afraid they would be vastly mistaken sure there is still a small percentage with the hands on approach but look at the figures around 900000 Rolex watches a year.But this is what advertisment tries to sell us, but IMHO its not reality.

Today,IMHO watch production primarily is an issue of engineers,computer tecs, and metalurgists,varius technicians,and specially trained workers. The traditional watchmaking part is all but now the very last thing in modern watch production today.And then only when the movements are assembled and adjusted and finally checked on timing machine.

[Timber Loftis]

I don't know, I learned from WatchTime videos and pictures that some really high end watches are hand assembled. By people, who may be elfish, but are not elves.

These of course are production runs that number in the 60 to 100 or 100's range, rather than the million watches churned out by Rolex annually.

[tinstar]

The coolest jobs in the world are boring sometimes.

His job is an art and takes a special type of person to do it.

Hats off to him

[Art 1]

Boring for me.

[SDDS]

there is alot of competition out there...so for me it will be definitely boring

[JBat]

I think it would get reallly repetitive after a while.

[Omega_Precision]

Like any job, repetition makes it boring.

There are watchmakers that like to repair and there are ones that like recognition and fame.

With that said, there is a lot involved in designing and building a movement, it is often easier to repair than design from scratch.