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2022 Plus, it has been finished to high- horology standards with Côtes de Genève, Traits Tirés and circular graining finishes visible through the caseback. 2022 The big takeaway so far is that everyone is aiming for a slice of the high horology pie. Rachel Cormack, Robb Report, 19 July 2022 The brand’s timepieces often wear rather large on the wrist (given all of the technical components necessary to create the high- horology pieces), so this will be a welcome change for collectors looking for a better fit.Ĭarol Besler, Robb Report, 5 July 2022 Though, to be fair, many innovations in horology, including the invention of the wristwatch, were initially regarded as frivolous.Īlex Levin, Forbes, 1 July 2022 Earlier this month, the international horology community descended on Geneva for the annual Watches & Wonders fair to get hands on with the year’s newest, most highly anticipated releases.Ĭharles Curkin, ELLE Decor, 12 Apr. 2022 The new Excalibur Sorayama Monobalancier is the third model in the maison’s Urban Culture Tribe line in which creatives blend art with horology. 2022 In the world of haute horology, coming up with a completely new kind of movement is a unicorn that few brands have the R&D budgets to pursue.Ĭharles Curkin, ELLE Decor, 29 Aug. Third, and finally, adult education providers and the CPIH (Convention Patronale de l’Industrie Horlogère Suisse) offer special watchmaking training programmes.Recent Examples on the Web At the turn of the millennium, Louis Vuitton was a luxury fashion brand with virtually no connection to the world of horology. The second option is courses run by the watch companies’ own in-house training centres. Trainee watchmakers have three routes to choose from, the most popular of which is the Advanced Federal Certificate programme at one of the six watchmaking schools, dotted along the arc jurassien (Biel, Geneva, Le Locle, Le Sentier, Porrentruy and Grenchen).
Schools of horology professional#
Nowadays, all professional watchmakers re training programmes combine classroom-based teaching and practical training in a company. Before long, all watchmaking schools in Switzerland had adopted the “Saint-Imier model”. Not one to give up easily, the far-sighted engineer decided that Longines, which was based in the village of Saint-Imier, should set up its own in-house training centre.
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David’s visionary ideas did not sit well with the schools’ conservative approach to education. He recommended that the watchmaking schools should introduce machines in their training laboratories and instruct students on the fundamentals of mechanics. In 1876 he returned home from the Philadelphia Universal Exhibition, convinced that the Swiss watchmaking industry needed to adopt the American model if it was to rise to the challenge of stiff foreign competition and rapid industrialisation. It was Jacques David, the technical director of Longines in Saint-Imier, who would shake up the watchmaking schools as well as the industry itself. However, very few students managed to graduate, leading many watch producers to withdraw their support, citing the overly theoretical emphasis of the teaching dispensed by the schools. Generally speaking, watchmaking schools then offered a three-year course which combined theoretical studies with practical training.
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Since watchmaking in Switzerland at that time amounted to a highly decentralised cottage industry, it was particularly important to keep track of every stage of this complex production process. The early yearsįollowing calls from watch producers, the first Swiss watchmaking school was founded in 1824 in Geneva over the next few decades others would open in Neuchâtel and Bern. It is thanks to these institutions that each new generation of watchmakers is able to master age-old techniques alongside state-of-the-art technologies, and understands the importance of innovation. Watchmaking schools were, and continue to be, instrumental in safeguarding the glowing reputation of the Swiss watch industry across the world.
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