WOSTEP

WOSTEP paves the way for tomorrow’s watchmakers






Katja Schaer

Setting the standard for tomorrow’s Haute Horlogerie professionals. This is the mission that WOSTEP (Watchmakers of Switzerland Training and Educational Program) has given itself, through a specially-devised training method, the guarantee of excellence, which it makes available to watchmaking schools around the world. "We ensure that the 70 million highly technical watches manufactured over the past 15 years benefit from the care of qualified watchmakers," explains the centre’s director, Maarten Pieters.

Established in 1966 by the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry and Ebauche (which now makes ETA movements), WOSTEP has over 40 years of Swiss watchmaking history to its name. It has followed the progress of an industry whose misfortunes it has sometimes shared and to which it owes its present-day structure. "The centre has come a long way since its early days," notes Maarten Pieters. "At that time we thought mainly in terms of after-sales. WOSTEP would train Americans who spent a few months in Switzerland learning the trade."

The lean years

The 1980s were tough times for the Swiss watch industry, and a turning-point for WOSTEP. At a time when quartz was supplanting mechanical watches, drained and about to give up the fight, WOSTEP was given a lifesaving injection of funds by some twenty watch brands.

In 1984 WOSTEP was back on its feet and, rather than concentrating on lessons given within its walls, put together a training plan. This methodical guide, comprising a 3,000-hour curriculum and specific assessment criteria, is proposed to partner schools. And so WOSTEP has become synonymous with quality in watch training.

The early 1990s brought the WOSTEP training programme its first American partner, in Oklahoma State University. "We maintain teaching standards as faculty staff come to us to refresh their knowledge, and we check students’ exam work, thereby guaranteeing quality," continues Maarten Pieters.

An eye on new markets

Currently with 14 partner schools, the Neuchâtel institution has its sights set beyond Europe and the United States. It already has two partner schools in Japan and one in Shanghai. Now WOSTEP is going with the growth and preparing for partnerships with schools in Hong Kong, Bombay and Malaysia.

"We’ve also received requests from Venezuela, India and Singapore," affirms Maarten Pieters. "However, we choose our partners carefully. It costs over CHF 1 million (over €600,000) for a school or university to set up a watchmaking department. It must also have the resources to maintain a relatively expensive infrastructure. The chosen partner must be able to take on these costs over the long term."

The challenge of tomorrow

While WOSTEP has, over the years, made its name as an international reference, drawing on support from the industry’s foremost brands, there are still new challenges to be faced. "For a number of years the industry focused on electronic watches, meaning few people trained on mechanical movements. We’re now lacking specialists with the skills to work on Haute Horlogerie products," notes Maarten Pieters with regret. Indeed, more than half the profession is over 50 years old, and no-one can say for sure who will take over. The first challenge is finding the qualified teachers to train them, given the apparent incompatibility of the two professions: "Watchmakers tend to live in 30 square centimetres," jokes Maarten Pieters. "They’re not always known for being extravert and communicative."

And this isn’t the only challenge. The profession of watchmaker, even at the high end of the market, no longer has what it takes to attract young people. "The luxury and desirability conveyed by the product don’t reflect on the image of servicing and repair, which are often perceived in a negative light. In Europe and the United States we’re already having a hard time finding people with the necessary motivation and dexterity. And it’s a shame because we could see one of the world’s most beautiful manual trades die out." And see a piece of history disappear with it. This is exactly what WOSTEP is intent on preventing, by guaranteeing the quality of Swiss Made on the one hand but also, to borrow Maarten Pieters’ words, "by defending the emotion and the dream that are part of the product and part of the watchmaker’s profession." ■