Once cast as a dying craft, watchmaking is enjoying a quiet resurgence

Watchmaking doesn’t feel like the most 21st century profession. The job requires unwavering patience and a delicate touch, with watchmakers taking months or even years to create a single timepiece. Meanwhile, most people tell the time by looking at their phones. But this seemingly bygone profession appears to be enjoying a resurgence of interest triggered, at least in part, by Gen-Z’s enthusiasm for all things analog — and a desire for work far away from computer screens. For decades, the industry has warned of a labor shortage as older watchmakers retire. Experts spoken to by CNN, however, report promising levels of interest in the profession, despite ongoing worries over the departure of baby boomers across different specialties. Online watch communities have helped foster a new generation of horology enthusiasts, as connoisseurs young and old share their collections, spotlight master watchmakers and advertise second-hand and vintage watches for sale on platforms like TikTok Shop. This burgeoning resale market has generated demand not only for watchmakers, but for the expert repairers needed to revive treasures of the past, said Johann Kunz-Fernandez, director of the Watchmakers of Switzerland Training and Educational Program (WOSTEP), in a phone call with CNN. Young people could be a “saving point” to help reinvigorate the watch industry, added Kunz-Fernandez, who was struck by the uptick in their attendance at this year’s Watchers and Wonders, a major watch fair held annually in Geneva, Switzerland. “What I saw and discussed with some watch producers … is that there are a lot of young people, very young people, which is interesting because it absolutely was not the case before,” he said of the event. But how can they turn a passion for watches into a career? Kelloseppäkoulu, the Finnish School of Watchmaking in Espoo, Finland, has been training students to break into the industry since 1944. One of the most renowned watchmaking schools, it prides itself on producing “the steadiest hands in the world,” said principal Hanna Harilainen. The school has experienced so much demand that it is offering an English-language course for the first time in its 80-year history. Prospective students have registered interest from Canada, the US, the UK, Turkey, South Korea and Iran, among others, Harilainen said. Harilainen credits some of this demand to a growing interest in “micro-brands” founded by independent watchmakers. “Young people … want to create something of their own,” she told CNN over the phone. “Something durable, not to be used and tossed away.” They also bring fresh ways of engaging with the craft, Harilainen added. One of Kelloseppäkoulu’s recent graduates, for instance, co-founded a popular independent watch brand and regularly livestreams watchmaking sessions on Twitch. “My feeling is that new generations are looking for something that makes sense for them,” said Aurélie Streit, vice president of the Fondation Haute Horlogerie (FHH), a Swiss non-profit that works on preserving and disseminating watchmaking knowledge. The hands-on nature of the job also appeals: “You can see the pieces, it’s easy to understand what you are doing, and the impact of (it),” she said, adding that FHH often hears from prospective young watchmakers who don’t want to spend all day at a screen. Streit is cautiously optimistic — not only for the prospects of young watchmakers but for other professions vital to the craft, like polishing and micro-mechanics. Her organization plans to showcase these jobs as part of an interactive exhibition in Geneva this June that will give attendees an opportunity to try out different tasks. Who wants to be a watchmaker? When Bernhard Lederer decided to become a watchmaker in the 1970s, no one could understand why he wanted to do it. The “quartz crisis,” brought on by the popularity of battery-powered watches, was severely impacting the Swiss economy and it felt hard to see mechanical watches ever making a comeback. “I have been treated a little bit like an extra-terrestrial — like a non-conventional person,” said Lederer of his choice to train as a watchmaker, which he calls “the most beautiful profession I can imagine.” But as the years went by, Lederer appeared to be vindicated. His watches, which can take anywhere between a few months and years to make, now retail for upwards of $150,000. He credits the pandemic for helping revive interest in independent watchmakers, as collectors had time to learn more about the industry and to shop for pieces “personalized according to (their) taste,” rather than choosing “industrial luxury” from well-known brands, he told CNN over the phone. Among the young talents following in Lederer’s footsteps are Johannes Kallinich and Thibault Claeys, who met while working at luxury watchmaker A. Lange & Söhne before founding their watch company, Kallinich Claeys, in 2022. The duo, who are based in Glashütte, a German town renowned for a watchmaking tradition that dates to 1845, saw an opportunity to “breathe new life into traditional watchmaking,” according to their brand’s website. They achieve this by combining classic and modern materials, such as German silver (a copper-nickel-zinc alloy) with stainless steel. Kallinich Claeys’ other innovations include a “world-first” in the craft: placing the power reserve indicator on the side of the case — rather than on the dial, which is typical of most wristwatches — to give the dial a “cleaner look” while allowing the wearer to better see the mechanical movement. Taking a new approach to watchmaking can be a “stressful” process, according to 28-year-old Claeys who makes the parts and handles the finishings, while 32-year-old Kallinich designs and assembles the pieces. “People will only buy it if they find it beautiful,” he told CNN over a video call. The risk appears to be paying off. At this year’s Watches and Wonders, Kallinich said observers remarked on the timepieces’ distinctly “German” design while appreciating the brand’s innovation. But despite the interest, the pair’s supply is limited, for now: The painstakingly detail-oriented work means they only plan to make 10 to 12 watches a year, bolstered by support from two employees and a third due to join later this year. While machines could complete some of their tasks, like finishings, the difference between hand- and machine-chamfering (polishing sharp edges into flat, angled surfaces) is obvious, said Kallinich, emphasizing the importance of retaining a human touch. More than just functional watches, these are “small artworks” with “heart and soul” put into them, said Claeys. “The craftsmanship, the emotions and the love behind the details … is something I believe machines will never do,” added Kallinich. Later in life It’s not just young people embarking upon the profession. Others are coming to it later in life, reviving a dormant passion or escaping desk jobs. Kunz-Fernandez recalled one aspiring watchmaker enrolling on a WOSTEP course after 40 years as a banker. “What is common is the fact that most of them, at a moment in their life, said, ‘What am I doing?’” he said of the programs’ students. Tiina Virtanen, who is due to graduate from the Finnish School of Watchmaking this spring, came to her new profession after 18 years as a civil engineer. Virtanen, 46, said she was “halfway” through her career when she started questioning whether it was what she wanted to do until retirement. “Instead of being in front of a computer all day long, I was longing for something to do with handcrafting,” she wrote in an email to CNN. Upon graduation, she intends to move to Norway to work in a store that repairs and services watches. Her classmate, Jatta Berggren, also came to the school by way of a previous career — as an entrepreneur in the yarn and handicraft industries. “As the work changed over the years, from handmaking to working with computers, I decided to fulfil my dream of studying to be a watchmaker,” Berggren told CNN. “I get the most joy from working with my hands and being able to see the results of my work.” Berggren, 39, sees watchmaking as an industry that “combines the old and the new in a wonderful way,” emphasizing the need for people from different ages and backgrounds to enter the profession so it can continue to develop. As women in a male-dominated industry, Virtanen and Berggren are a minority in their classrooms and the upper echelons of the profession they hope to enter — but this doesn’t appear to daunt them. There are also promising signs of change: The school has experienced growing interest among women, who made up a third of this year’s applicants. Women in higher places Historically, women have long been present in watchmaking (their smaller hands were sometimes seen as beneficial for those working on factory lines or aiding their watchmaker husbands). FHH’s Streit said there has been “gender parity” in the industry since the 1960s, with women constituting 50% of the workforce in watchmaking factories — though they were primarily “operators,” with the position of “watchmaker” largely held by men. Today, women remain underrepresented in the industry, according to young female watchmaker Shona Taine, who is among those bucking the trend. “There are few other young independent women in the business, but not many,” Taine said. Earlier this month, the 27-year-old became the first woman — and youngest person — admitted to the Académie Horlogère des Créateurs Indépendants, a prestigious association of independent watchmakers. An encounter with Prague’s famous astronomical clock during a childhood vacation inspired the French-born, Switzerland-based watchmaker to understand how it functioned. She started training at 15 and set up her own business at 22 upon realizing that no company would give her freedom to develop the “lots of watches in my mind.” “I had all the fire and energy of a very young woman,” she wrote to CNN in an email, explaining her decision to go independent. “I had no idea of the scale of the task,” she added, nor any idea “what it would be like to set up business in a man’s world.” Last year, Taine was a semi-finalist in Louis Vuitton’s Watch Prize for Independent Creatives and she is now working on 12 editions of her first independently made watch. Called Khemea (“alchemy” in Greek), the first model took her three years to develop and retails for 89,000 Swiss francs ($107,000). Her university studies in philosophy and literature are evident in its design: A poem written in the movement’s cogs only aligns a few times a year (when the moon cycle and Gregorian calendar cycle meet) and can only be read if the watch is taken apart. “We’re not reinventing the wheel,” she said of her creation, “but we’re putting it together in a new way.” When Taine compares being a watchmaker now to previous generations, she admits the profession is less about necessity. But, with that, comes artistic freedom. In today’s world, she sees the craft as “an artistic field in its own right,” adding that watches’ social status, as non-essential luxury items, affords makers like her “more freedom, more extravagance, more self-expression.” When asked about being one of the few young women in her profession, Taine said it’s often other people, not her, who bring up gender. “Personally, I think it’s cool,” she said of her place in the industry. Buyers and collectors can, however, be “apprehensive,” she added. “It’s a lot of little remarks that I have to deal with and ignore.” But none of this is a deterrent for Taine, who sees her vocation as a “way of life.” “It takes longer to convince the general public that a woman can be just as talented in precision engineering as a man,” she said. “But the time will come, I’m sure.”