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Is there a shortage of watchmakers? The state of play in 18 countries

Writer: IPR – Instituto Português de Relojoaria
IPR – Instituto Português de Relojoaria
22 hours ago
14 min read
Students of IPR's Relojoaria Grossa (clockmaking) course at their workbenches

IPR's Relojoaria Grossa (clockmaking) course during Kari Voutilainen's visit. © IPR


In 2022 the Swiss industry expected to have to train or recruit 3835 people by 2026 and, in 2025, it recorded its first fall in headcount since the post-Covid period. In the United States, employed watchmakers went from 2780 to 1310 in six years. In six of the 18 countries analysed, official training depends on a single school.


The answer to the question in the title changes from country to country and depends on what is being counted. In Switzerland, the figures refer to an industry with about 65,000 workers, in which the watchmaker is one of many occupations. In Germany, the United States or Spain, they refer above all to people who repair watches.


That is why the figures in this article cannot be added up or compared directly between countries. They come from official statistics, industry associations, schools and the press, and always carry the year they refer to. Each country has its own block, which opens with the state of play.


The overall state of play



  • Where there are data series, the trend is downwards. In the United States, employed watchmakers went from 2780 in 2019 to 1310 in 2025. In Germany, workshops went from almost 3700 to 2100 in 20 years. In Japan, candidates for the national exam went from 1277 in 2019 to 692 in 2025.

  • In Switzerland, the two main figures point in different directions. In 2022, companies expected to need 3835 people by 2026. In 2025, the industry had 835 fewer jobs than a year earlier.

  • Training is concentrated in a few schools. Canada, Spain, Denmark, the Netherlands, Australia and Finland have a single school providing official training. Classes are small: 12 students in Mérignac, 15 places a year at Casa Pia de Lisboa, 27 at the Rolex centre in Dallas, 30 in Espoo.

  • Demand for training varies. There are more applicants than places in Dallas (more than 560 for 27), in Espoo (180 for 30) and in Trois-Rivières, which has a waiting list. In Austria in 2021 and in Australia in 2015, there were classes left unfilled.

  • Some figures are also rising. That is the case for employment in the sector in the Netherlands, for intake at the Danish school and for companies and jobs in the United Kingdom.


The four countries with the most data


Switzerland


State of play: in 2022, companies expected to need 3835 people by 2026. In 2025, the industry lost 835 jobs, the first fall since the post-Covid period, and more than a quarter of companies were using short-time working.

The Employers' Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry (CPIH) asks companies every five years how many people they are going to need. In the survey published in November 2022, the answer was 3835 people to train or recruit by 2026: 2369 to replace those retiring and 1466 for new posts. In the previous survey, there were 400 new posts. Needs were growing by 12.5%, against 3% in 2016.


The occupations most in demand were the termineur en habillage horloger, who finishes the watch's external components (up 54%), the quality technician in microtechnology (up 24%) and the watchmaking operator (up 18%).



The census by the same CPIH, published in December 2025, shows a different movement. At the end of September 2025, the industry had 64,807 workers, 835 fewer than a year earlier, a fall of 1.3%. Production occupations lost 1341 jobs, according to Le Temps. There were 1685 apprentices.


At the end of November 2025, more than a quarter of companies were using short-time working, and the maximum duration of the scheme was extended from 18 to 24 months.


On 22 October 2026, Zenith, part of the LVMH group, announced a restructuring and opened a consultation process covering about half of the nearly 200 jobs at the Le Locle manufacture and about 100 in other countries. The brand wants to concentrate on higher-end watches. The Unia trade union had until 12 November to propose alternatives to the redundancies, and a consultant attributes the brand's difficulties to structural causes.


Buildings of the Zenith manufacture in Le Locle, Switzerland

The Zenith manufacture in Le Locle, in the canton of Neuchâtel, in a 2007 photograph. Photo: Office du patrimoine et de l'archéologie de Neuchâtel / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)


Germany


State of play: in 20 years, watchmaking workshops went from almost 3700 to 2100 and apprentices from more than 200 to about 130. The trade association estimates that 300 to 400 master watchmakers are lacking to provide training.

The figures on workshops and apprentices were published by the Deutsche Handwerks Zeitung, the newspaper of the German skilled trades, in July 2025.



The requirement to hold a master craftsman's title to open a watchmaking workshop ended in 2004. Since then, according to the same newspaper, the number of workshops has fallen to about half, apprentice training has dropped by a third and there are half as many masters.


Albert Fischer, president of the sector's central association, the Zentralverband für Uhren, Schmuck und Zeitmesstechnik, estimates that 300 to 400 masters are lacking to ensure training in workshops. The association supports each apprenticeship place with up to 7000 euros and takes a mobile workshop, the Uhrmacher-Mobil, to schools and training fairs.


The magazine Faktor A, published by the federal employment agency, gave two other figures in September 2023: in 2022, 70 apprentices passed the final exam and about 600 watchmakers left the profession. Watchmaker Timo Boxberg told the same magazine that the country had about 5500 watchmakers before the pandemic and about 4800 during it.


Building of the former German Watchmaking School in Glashütte

The building of the former German Watchmaking School in Glashütte, which now houses the German Watch Museum. Photo: Philipp Nitzsche / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)


United States


State of play: official statistics counted 2780 employed watchmakers in 2019 and 1310 in 2025, less than half. Projections keep employment stable until 2034, with about 100 openings a year.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics, the US labour statistics agency, counts watch and clock repairers who work as employees. The self-employed are left out. These are survey-based estimates, with a relative standard error of around 14% to 15%.



The same agency's employment projections for 2024–2034 keep the occupation at 1400 people, with about 100 openings a year.


On 15 October 2026, at the FHH Watch Summit in New York, Richemont's chief executive for the Americas, Christophe Massoni, said that the United States has fewer than 2000 watchmakers. He also said that the group's partner school in Dallas, the North American Institute of Swiss Watchmaking, opened in 2009, has more than doubled its number of graduates.


In 2023 Rolex opened a free training centre, also in Dallas, with an 18-month course. In 2024 it received more than 560 applications for 27 places and it has about 50 students, according to Fortune.


Montage of photographs of the North American Institute of Swiss Watchmaking in Dallas: students and bench work

The North American Institute of Swiss Watchmaking in Dallas, Richemont's partner school. Photo: WatchPro


Japan


State of play: the national watch repair exam had 1277 candidates in 2019 and 692 in 2025. Since 2020, it has never exceeded 826.

Japan has a state skills test for watch repair, in three grades. Grade 1 requires seven years' experience. The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare publishes the number of candidates every year.



Between 2012 and 2019 there were always more than 960 candidates a year, with a peak of 1277 in 2019. In 2020 there were 524. Since then, the highest figure has been 826, in 2022.


The exam was passed by 466 candidates in 2022, 370 in 2023 and 379 in 2025.


Europe, country by country


Portugal


State of play: Casa Pia de Lisboa has a three-year vocational course, with a maximum of 15 students a year. The Instituto Português de Relojoaria trains adults.

  • Casa Pia de Lisboa: watchmaking has been taught there since 1894. The vocational course for watchmaking technicians lasts three years and includes 630 hours of on-the-job training. In 2019 it had 32 students and, according to the course's management, all graduates had found work (Diário de Notícias).

  • Instituto Português de Relojoaria: a DGERT-certified training provider, it runs the Alfaiates do Tempo course, for adults.


Spain


State of play: there is a single official watchmaking qualification, taught at one school in Barcelona. COPE radio speaks of fewer than 300 independent artisan watchmakers.

  • Training: the Institut Mare de Déu de la Mercè, in Barcelona, is the only school with the official qualification, a 2000-hour course. According to the website Xataka, in April 2024, 15 students graduate there each year.

  • The profession: according to COPE, in July 2026, there are fewer than 300 independent artisan watchmakers, eight in ten artisan workshops belong to people over 60 and one workshop opens for every ten that close.


France


State of play: training changed in September 2026. The four-year route, with two years of CAP and two of BMA, gave way to a single three-year diploma, the BNMA.

  • The reform: the education ministry justifies it by the recognition and clarity of the diploma.

  • The hours: in written questions to the minister, several members of parliament cite the calculations of the professional association Ateliers d'Art de France for the craft trades as a whole. According to those calculations, teaching goes from 2474.5 hours over four years to 1611 hours over three, and work placements from 24 to 30 weeks to 16.

  • One class: at the Lycée Marcel-Dassault in Mérignac, one of the few in the country with a watchmaking course, the class has 12 students. Previously, the 24 CAP students competed for 12 places in the BMA. A teacher interviewed by L'Étudiant puts the teaching hours lost at more than 800.

  • Jobs: according to Onisep, the public careers guidance body, jobs are mainly in the Paris and Lyon regions, in the east of the country and in Switzerland.


United Kingdom


State of play: the sector is growing. The British association's survey counts more than 140 companies and about 1600 jobs. In 2018, the two main schools together trained about 20 students a year.

  • Companies and jobs: the second Bellwether survey by the Alliance of British Watch and Clock Makers, released in 2025, identified more than 140 companies, two thirds of them founded since 2015, and about 1600 jobs. Revenue reached 206 million pounds, 65% more than in 2021.

  • Training: the British School of Watchmaking has been running since 2006, with WOSTEP programmes of 1800 to 3000 hours. In 2018, this school and the Birmingham City University course together trained about 20 students a year, according to WatchPro.


Upton Hall, the British Horological Institute's building in England

Upton Hall, in Nottinghamshire, headquarters of the British Horological Institute. Photo: Andrewrabbott / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)


Italy


State of play: the leading school is the one in Milan, with a two-year course. Watchmakers appear on the lists of declining trades, in a craft sector that went from 1.7 million to almost 1.3 million workers in ten years.

  • Training: the Scuola di Orologeria in Milan, run by the trade association (Assorologi) and the Capac training centre, has been operating for about 40 years and has trained about 700 watchmakers, according to the newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore, in July 2024. The Watchmaking Technician course has 20 places and 1800 hours over two years, 636 of them on work placement. It is free, funded by Italy's recovery plan.

  • The profession: Italian artisans numbered 1.7 million in 2015 and almost 1.3 million in 2025 (Sky TG24). The CGIA research centre in Mestre includes watchmakers among the declining trades.

  • A local figure: in the province of Modena, watch and jewellery repair workshops went from 43 at the start of 2013 to 30 in 2023, according to Lapam Confartigianato.


Netherlands


State of play: in ten years, the number of companies fell from 328 to 314 and employment rose from 427 to 580 full-time jobs. 62% of owners were aged 55 or over, and all training goes through a single school.

  • The source: a labour market study of the sector by SBB, the organisation that links vocational education with companies, and by the sector's federation, with data from 2021 and 2022.

  • Training: the Vakschool Schoonhoven is the only school. In the 2021–22 school year it had 13 students on one course and 30 on the other.

  • Prospects: 64% of companies rated graduates' job prospects as good or very good.


Building of the Vakschool Schoonhoven in the Netherlands

The Vakschool Schoonhoven, in the Netherlands. Photo: Gouwenaar / Wikimedia Commons (public domain)


Belgium


State of play: there are two training centres, in Namur and in Antwerp. In 2026, a student from Namur won first prize in an international apprentices' competition in Switzerland. Training depends on education reforms that are under way.

  • Schools: IATA, in Namur, with a full-time course and work placements, and the Technicum Noord-Antwerpen, in Antwerp.

  • Results: in June 2026, in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Aymeric Peters, of IATA, won first prize at the 28th edition of the Prix Cartier des Talents Horlogers de Demain, in the apprentices category. Layla Sluysmans, from the same school, finished second ex aequo.

  • Context: in January 2025, IATA teachers went on strike against education ministry measures that put the seventh year of watchmaking and jewellery at risk (DH). The Belgian edition of Forbes writes that training depends on a system weakened by the reforms under way, in a country with no watchmaking industrial base.


Austria


State of play: the watchmaking school is in Karlstein an der Thaya and has about 65 students. About 15 watchmakers qualify each year, a number close to that of retirements. In Vienna, the vocational school for watchmaking apprentices may close for lack of applicants.

  • School: founded in 1873, the Karlstein school is the only one in the country with a school-based watchmaking course. The course lasts four years (ORF, October 2023).

  • Apprentices: they went from 43 in 2010 to 29, according to chamber of commerce (WKO) figures published in March 2020. Many graduates go to work abroad.

  • Intake: the Karlstein school normally takes 10 to 12 new students a year. In March 2021 it had six enrolments for the following year.

  • Companies: there are about 400 across the country, 65 of them in Vienna, according to the chamber of commerce. Many are one-person businesses and do not train apprentices (ORF, July 2025).

  • Vienna: in July 2025, the training workshop of the organisation Jugend am Werk had ten watchmaking apprentices and three applications for a maximum of six places. According to Johannes Barotanyi, representative of Vienna's watchmakers at the chamber of commerce, the city needs about five new watchmakers a year and the vocational school may close if no apprentices come forward.


Building of the watchmaking school in Karlstein an der Thaya, Austria, in black and white

The watchmaking school in Karlstein an der Thaya, in a 1991 photograph. Photo: Tiefkuehlfan / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)


Denmark


State of play: there is a single school, in Ringsted. In ten years, intake went from a maximum of ten to about 40 students a year. About 20 watchmakers qualify each year.

  • School: Den Danske Urmagerskole, at the ZBC training centre in Ringsted. The course lasts four and a half years.

  • Intake: the figures are from the regional television channel TV 2 Øst, in 2022. Many graduates go into the medical, hearing-aid and high-tech industries.

  • Jobs: unemployment in the profession is practically nil and few workshops take apprentices, according to the website ligeher.nu, in April 2026.


Finland


State of play: there is a single school, in Espoo, with 30 places a year. In 2024 it had 180 applicants. In 2025 it opened a course in English for foreign students.

  • School: Kelloseppäkoulu, founded in 1944. The course lasts three years and has no tuition fees.

  • Demand: 180 applicants for 30 places in 2024, across the watchmaker and micromechanic courses, according to the principal, Hanna Harilainen (MTV Uutiset).

  • International course: it lasts two years, is taught in English and costs 50,000 euros (Monocle).

  • Alumni: Kari Voutilainen, class of 1986, and Stepan Sarpaneva.


Building of Kelloseppäkoulu, the Finnish school of watchmaking, in Espoo

Kelloseppäkoulu, the Finnish school of watchmaking, in Espoo. Photo: Markus Säynevirta / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)


Outside Europe


Canada


State of play: there is a single school, in Trois-Rivières, Quebec. It has 20 students, its maximum capacity, and 11 names on the waiting list.

  • School: the École nationale d'horlogerie, founded in 1946, has been the only one in the country since those in Montreal and Toronto closed in 1988. The course has 1800 hours, over two years.

  • 2026 figures: 20 full-time students, the most the school can take, and 11 people on the waiting list. Companies contact the school looking for future employees (CBC, July 2026).

  • Earlier signs: in 2012, a committee of Quebec's education ministry recommended ending the course, which then had 10 to 15 students a year (The Globe and Mail).


Australia


State of play: there is a single course for the whole country, in Sydney, taken as an apprenticeship over four years.

  • Training: TAFE NSW, the public vocational education network of New South Wales, is the only body offering the Certificate III in Watch and Clock Service and Repair, a 48-month apprenticeship.

  • Earlier signs: in 2015, the minimum of 15 students was not reached and first-year classes were postponed. In 2016, the public broadcaster ABC told the story of Barry Kalms, then the only watchmaker in North Queensland.


China


State of play: the figure released by the industry association is for luxury watch appraisers, not bench watchmakers: at least 100,000 people do this work or need the skill.

  • The figure: at least 100,000 people work in luxury watch appraisal or need the skill, according to Zhang Hongguang, president of the China Horologe Association, quoted in August 2025 by the Chinese newspaper Xiaofei Ribao in an article republished by the Xinhua news agency. In 2013, the association counted 12,000 full-time professionals.

  • The market: the pre-owned watch market passed 100 billion yuan in 2023.

  • Training: appraiser classes are limited to about 25 students. The bank of 407 questions from two national watch repair competitions has been published.

  • Hong Kong: in November 2026, a watchmaker in Hung Hom told the website dotdotnews that there are public courses, but that shops rarely hire graduates without experience, and that there is no complete training system.


Brazil


State of play: “There is no school for watchmakers in Brazil,” says Filipe Canedo, a fourth-generation watchmaker at Casa Leal, in Rio de Janeiro.

  • The testimony: Casa Leal was founded in 1872. In October 2026, Filipe Canedo told Agência Sebrae that the profession is suffering from a labour shortage and that it takes at least ten years to become a good watchmaker.


The 18 countries side by side


Country

Training

Reference figure

Switzerland

1685 apprentices in the industry (2025)

64,807 workers; 835 fewer in a year (2025)

Germany

About 130 apprentices (2025)

2100 workshops (2025); almost 3700 20 years ago

United States

Brand schools in Dallas; 27 places at the Rolex centre

1310 employed watchmakers (2025)

Japan

National exam in three grades

692 exam candidates (2025)

Portugal

Casa Pia de Lisboa and Instituto Português de Relojoaria

15 students a year at most at Casa Pia

Spain

One school, in Barcelona; 15 graduates a year

Fewer than 300 independent artisan watchmakers (2026)

France

Single three-year diploma since 2026

12 students in the Mérignac class (2026)

United Kingdom

Two main schools; about 20 students a year (2018)

More than 140 companies; about 1600 jobs

Italy

Milan school; 20 places, 1800-hour course

Modena: 30 workshops in 2023; 43 in 2013

Netherlands

One school, in Schoonhoven

314 companies; 580 full-time jobs (2022)

Belgium

Two centres, in Namur and Antwerp

First prize for apprentices at the Prix Cartier (2026)

Austria

School in Karlstein; apprentices in Vienna

About 65 students; about 15 graduates a year

Denmark

One school, in Ringsted

About 40 entrants and 20 graduates a year

Finland

One school, in Espoo

180 applicants for 30 places (2024)

Canada

One school, in Trois-Rivières

20 students; 11 on the waiting list (2026)

Australia

One course, in Sydney

48-month apprenticeship

China

Appraiser classes of about 25 students

At least 100,000 people do the work or need the skill (2025)

Brazil

No school, according to Casa Leal

Ten years to train a good watchmaker


What the numbers show


In the three countries with data series on the profession or on access to it, the United States, Germany and Japan, the indicators have fallen.


In Switzerland, the fall in 2025 came after a forecast of staff shortages. The two counts measure different things: the first, the needs declared by companies in 2022; the second, the jobs that existed in 2025.


Training has little scale. Six of the 18 countries have a single school, and the annual intakes published range from about ten students, in Austria, to about 40, in Denmark.


Demand for training is not the same everywhere. Dallas, Espoo and Trois-Rivières have more applicants than places. Karlstein, in 2021, and Sydney, in 2015, had classes left unfilled.


Some figures are also rising: employment in the Netherlands, intake at the Danish school and companies and jobs in the United Kingdom. In China, the figure available is for luxury watch appraisers. In Brazil, a fourth-generation watchmaker says there is no school.


The answer to the question in the title therefore depends on the country and on what is being counted: jobs in the industry, workshops, employed watchmakers or places in schools.


On watchmaking schools in various countries, IPR published in 2021 the article Estudar relojoaria pelo mundo fora (in Portuguese).


Sources


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