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Canada's only watchmaking school still ticking after 80 years

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51–60 of 166 posts

Re: Canada's only watchmaking school still ticking after 80 years

#51
post #5

I believe this is exactly the kind of high-paying job that is difficult for AI to replace.

I don't know how high paying it is, although I can see how it can be, especially given there is a shortage of watchmakers in the developed world, even in Switzerland.

Re: Canada's only watchmaking school still ticking after 80 years

#52
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe it was a touch lamp? (Like a clapper but works when you touch the body not through sound)

Not unless touch lamps are supposed to give you an electric shock :)

Some of the older/cheaper touch lights did/do give a slight shock! It was a different time lol

Re: Canada's only watchmaking school still ticking after 80 years

#53

My grandfather was a master watchmaker and jeweler who learned his trade in the Soviet Union and then in Europe. After emigrating to Toronto after the war, he opened his own jewelry store, where he repaired watches and clocks, as well as crafted and repaired fine jewelry. He was a true master of his craft and built a successful business based on his exceptional skill. He Was well known for his craftsmanship and his r…

Is this still a viable career?

highly doubtful if it was your career and you are just starting

probably would make more $ from it if you were a YouTuber or TikTok creator and did "watchmaking" content.

Re: Canada's only watchmaking school still ticking after 80 years

#54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm glad fountain pens came up here. There's a shop a few hours away from where I stay in an old town in India called the "Pen Hospital". It was a thriving business in the 60s when my father went to college. Lots of people came there mostly to repair fountain pens. He's mostly just a stationery store right now but if you take a fountain pen there for repair, he does it for free just as a nod to the tradition I guess.

My friend told me when he visited India that they repair everything over there: it's a beautiful thing IMO

That's an exaggeration. Things are not as repairable as they used to be and people are not as thrifty as they used to be. However, I do think the culture of repairing things is strong and mostly financially motivated.

Re: Canada's only watchmaking school still ticking after 80 years

#55
post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean people do make a living doing it, but my understanding is that it requires a lot of hustle—as a hobbyist you can just take your time and meditate and take a million pictures, but if you're trying to make a living you have to focus on volume, volume, volume... So you have to have a system, this one goes in the cleaner and you are immediately disassembling the next, another is in a tray next to the machine that…

Can one end up working for TAG out of this for example? What does it take for that career ladder to happen?

[dead]

Re: Canada's only watchmaking school still ticking after 80 years

#56
post #5

I believe this is exactly the kind of high-paying job that is difficult for AI to replace.

Yes, and it's a great example of an industry that was completely decimated by automation - you can get a functional watch for a fiver, whereas back when every watch was handmade and a de-facto inheritance piece.

But bespoke, handmade, high value, low volume stuff is still around.

Re: Canada's only watchmaking school still ticking after 80 years

#57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am literally wearing a watch right now that was produced without any of these artisans’ specialized labor and which boasts among its features access to AI. In a very real sense I have replaced use of the skills of watchmakers with AI. Sorry about that. To be fair most watchmakers were already put out of work by quartz oscillators and integrated circuits in the 1980s.

The reason that you bought your watch and the reason that other people buy these hand crafted mechanical watches are very, very different. Once upon a time, utility used to be what necessitated an accurate movement, and it came at great cost because of the skill, knowledge, precision, and artistic talent needed to make one; this justified further embellishing the movement with a beautiful case and band because it wou…

I think the fact that you can have a compact device on your wrist that accurately keeps time all without any battery or circuitry is really remarkable as well. Moreover that the “technology superior” smart watches are kind of distracting and don’t have a great deal of use value. My watch tells the time and the date, that’s really all I need it for

Re: Canada's only watchmaking school still ticking after 80 years

#58

The 8th highest voted HN submission is on mechanical watches. I imagine that's the type the watchmaking school involves themself with because afaik all high end watches are mechanical. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31261533 4 years ago 413 comments They have a certain beauty in their intricate details working together for function. I do really like looking at the glass back which shows some details and you can…

If you are using a mechanical watch to keep time (accurately for long) you are doing it wrong

Re: Canada's only watchmaking school still ticking after 80 years

#59
post #5

I believe this is exactly the kind of high-paying job that is difficult for AI to replace.

Correct, AI will not replathe 3 high-paying watch maker jobs that exist. You are the best kind of correct, technically. But you are distracting from the fact that most people aren't doing anything even remotely physical related in the space that some people posit will be decimated by AI: white-collar jobs where you are a keyboard jockey all day.

Re: Canada's only watchmaking school still ticking after 80 years

#60

The 8th highest voted HN submission is on mechanical watches. I imagine that's the type the watchmaking school involves themself with because afaik all high end watches are mechanical. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31261533 4 years ago 413 comments They have a certain beauty in their intricate details working together for function. I do really like looking at the glass back which shows some details and you can…

> all high end watches are mechanical.

No, most high end male jewelry are mechanical watches (and much of women-oriented jewelry as well).

High end watches are such a solved problem we don't even talk about them anymore. Either the G-shock, the Garmin watches, or the Apple Watch run circles around mechanical watches in terms of functionality with each satisfying a different niche (100% self-contained, long lived smart functionality, glance-oriented integration with full-stack personal tech ecosystem).

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