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Canada's only watchmaking school still ticking after 80 years

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

#91

Post by b112 »

Someone wrote: post #81
titanomachy wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think most people when they hear "high-end watch" picture some sort of mechanical jewelry watch. When G-shocks, Garmins, and Apple Watches are a few hundred dollars and well-known luxury watch brands start at a few thousand, it's reasonable to consider the latter more "high end". Personally I'm not interested in owning a luxury watch, I like the Garmin ones.

> When G-shocks, Garmins, and Apple Watches are a few hundred dollars and well-known luxury watch brands start at a few thousand, The price of the most expensive Garmin a quick internet search gave me is $3,100; the most expensive G-SHOCK €8,800 ⇒ IMHO, G-SHOCK definitely is a luxury brand. Apple Watches, relative to those, are cheap at €999 max.

And regardless, Apple products aren't "luxury" anything. They're just computing products, with a range of buildout from low to high. Not a single thing Apple has ever made has been in the luxury category.

They're more like VW. A range of products low to high, but more expensive than domestics.

Luxury cars, luxury products are typically hand made, extremely niche. Apple is certainly not niche market.

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

#92

Post by WillAdams »

Analemma_ wrote: post #17
seemaze wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mechanical timepieces are a luxury item, and these students are essentially artists in training. Wrist time was solved in the late 1970's with the commoditization of quartz movements. These 'jobs' will get replaced by AI at approximately the same pace as your local sculptor.

I don't know if watchmaking is one of them, but there are a bunch of traditional crafts which are actually approaching a danger point because there aren't enough up-and-coming acolytes in the discipline to replace them, even though the craft still enjoys enough popular support to have a thriving economy. Anecdotally, I see enough mechanical watches on wrists and in duty-free shops that I imagine there's enough of a p…

Good example of that is engraving:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yH3MtWln2Og

(ages ago, I was in touch with a person who described himself as "the last hand engraver in New York City" when considering an apprenticeship --- couldn't commit to the move --- always wondered if he found a successor)

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

#93

Post by WillAdams »

Someone wrote: post #83
culopatin wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is this still a viable career?

I would think so, in the same way instrument maker or painting maintenance can be careers: not for many, but a decent career for a few aficionados. It’s not likely to employ millions of people, but there will be demand from people with serious money. For instrument making, research labs will need specialized glass parts, for example; for painting maintenance, museums have a need to keep their centuries-old pieces in…

Availability of parts is something of an issue --- couldn't get my father's 27-jewel Seiko repaired for want of parts, and still trying to justify the expense of either salvaging from another watch or paying someone to fabricate a replacement part.

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

#94

Post by fragmede »

throwatdem12311 wrote: post #13
ElenaDaibunny wrote: post #9

kid me thought AI would replace people doing insanely precise hand work. turns out it replaced me writing emails, and this school's still going strong after 80 years. lmao we got played

AI was supposed to do my laundry so that I could make art and code for fun but now the AI is coding and making art while I do laundry.

it's a funny meme but it's because software can iterate faster than hardware. Give it a few years for robot maids to come out that can do your laundry, then we'll see society upturn.

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

#95

Post by [deleted] »

WillAdams wrote: post #93
Someone wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would think so, in the same way instrument maker or painting maintenance can be careers: not for many, but a decent career for a few aficionados. It’s not likely to employ millions of people, but there will be demand from people with serious money. For instrument making, research labs will need specialized glass parts, for example; for painting maintenance, museums have a need to keep their centuries-old pieces in…

Availability of parts is something of an issue --- couldn't get my father's 27-jewel Seiko repaired for want of parts, and still trying to justify the expense of either salvaging from another watch or paying someone to fabricate a replacement part.

[deleted]

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

#96

Post by pfdietz »

kazinator wrote: post #66

Antrax lead guitarist Dan Spitz went on to become a watch maker: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Spitz

I would have expected guitar repair. One of my recent youtube channel finds was a young woman who repairs old guitars, rewinding pickups and such. Fascinating. I didn't realize one of the uses for Formvar (aside from films for use in electron microscopes) was insulation on electric guitar pickup wires.

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

#97

Post by xutopia »

14 wrote: post #4

As a Canadian cool! Never heard of this school before but on the west coast so probably why. I've watched many watch repair videos online and the knowledge base required is huge. Also there are many tools needed which are not cheap. There is just so much to know that takes years to learn. Very cool that the knowledge is being shared and the skill passed on. In my small town there was only one guy who worked on clocks…

I live in Quebec and this is the first time I hear about it.

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

#98

Post by cik »

noufalibrahim wrote: post #88
cik wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My dream is to visit this store. I've heard that it's by far the greatest modern fountain pen store in the world. I'm dying to go, just for this. I've ordered from them before - all the way to Canada and Israel. A gem, might be my favourite store in the world.

I don't know if that's the same. There's another here called Kim and Co. which makes ebonite pens without fillers. They became popular via. social media and a lot of people ordered pens from them. Perhaps that's the one you're referring to?

No, I'm referring to Pen Hospital in Kolkata: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/kolkata-pen-hospital. By ordered, I mean had friends who have stumbled across it and brought me things. If there were a website mind you.

I don't have the socials, so I don't see things like what you mentioned.

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

#99

Post by loloquwowndueo »

annzabelle wrote: post #29
LzeYing wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Haha, so you're going to do something AI can't replace, right?

Thinking about it. I'm pretty attracted to the idea of a career with some kind of protectionist licensing system, like doctor or actuary, but that may just be staving off the inevitable. Might teach high school. After I got laid off in the US, I moved to a mountain town in New Zealand planning on being a ski lift operator while I think about the future, but got a software developer job by accident instead.

Taxis had a protectionist system. Took a single competitor with deep pockets and disregard for the system to upend the whole thing.

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

#100

Post by [deleted] »

gleenn wrote: post #58
Cider9986 wrote: post #43

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

[deleted]
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