Class Is Now In Session

While the incoming students have varying levels of experience with watches and watchmaking, one thing that unites them all is passion. “Becoming a watchmaker is not an easy pursuit and having passion makes the process easier,” says technical instructor Brock McKee II. And that excitement and energy flows both ways. “Every day I get to see how excited my students are to become watchmakers, and I am equally excited to help them on that path. Building something new in the watchmaking industry is a once-in-a-career opportunity, and I am incredibly honored and proud to be a part of a team doing just that.”

Classes begin at 8:00 AM and run until 4:00 PM daily. No two days are exactly alike, but typically this includes a mix of lectures, practical demonstrations, hands-on work by the students, and repetition of skills, depending on that day’s lessons. The first section of the curriculum is focused on micromechanics, which includes a number of important foundational skills that any watchmaker needs to know in order to be successful. This includes how to use tools like saws, files, and drill presses, how to read and create technical drawings, and how to manufacture components to tight tolerances to help them understand the level of precision required when repairing watches. Students recently completed this section of the course, passing their first major evaluations, and they have now moved on to working with the external components of a watch, such as the case, bracelet, and crystal.

“It has been exciting to see our students learning and growing already,” says Tyler Poso, another technical instructor in the program. “Their development in micromechanics has been incredible and it has been a privilege to witness it first-hand. I can’t wait to see them apply themselves to the next topics and to grow into the ‘senior class,’ giving encouragement to next year’s cohort.”

An important part of setting these students up for success is ensuring they have the most state-of-the-art facilities in which to learn. To this end, 27 dedicated work benches were installed for this first group of students and another 27 will be ready before we welcome the 2025 matriculating class next fall. This ensures that every student has the ability to spend as much time as possible working on watches and components themselves, gaining the all-important experience that is required to hone any craft.

With our first class’s journey fully underway, both the students and instructors are excitedly looking to the future. “I look back on my own experience in watchmaking school so fondly,” says McKee. “I am constantly reminded of how it felt to learn the exciting things our students have to look forward to and I am excited to get to pass those lessons and that experience along to the newest generation of watchmakers.”