Hublot "Montre École"
Hublot "Montre École"

In 2016, Hublot realized that a skilled workforce is everything, and decided to open the Hublot watchmaking training center. The company has taken a serious approach to training the watchmakers of the future, so that they’ll be capable of crafting sensational sell-outs and technical masterpieces.

 

The training program is spread over four years, and students who successfully complete the basic vocational training course are issued a federal certificate of proficiency (EFZ) within the Swiss vocational education and training system (VET). First-year students take units on manufacturing parts and tools before getting to work on basic movements. Caliber adjustment and learning how the main components interact are the main focus in second year. In third year, students are introduced to the subject of complications, and begin to get acquainted with the chronograph. In the fourth and final year, training focuses on after-sales service.

 

The number of students admitted offers another indication of just how serious Hublot's watchmaker apprenticeship course is. Only two students are accepted each year! There are currently only 8 future watchmakers honing their skills at the Hublot Manufacture. Is that too few? According to data from September 30, 2019, a total of 59,103 people were employed in the watch and microtechnology sector, which is just slightly less than there had been when the industry was at its peak in the mid-1970s. In 1975, 62,567 people worked in the watch industry, but that figure has been falling since then, and there were barely more than 30,000 employed in the industry in the early 1990s. Now, despite all the talk about pressure from modern technologies, the industry appears to be on the rise if the latest figures are anything to go by.

 

 

As it happens, LVMH brands TAG Heuer and Zenith have also begun taking an active role in training. In 2014, the luxury goods company founded its own university-level vocational training program in traditional crafts and design — Institut des Métiers d'Excellence, IME — which also works with watchmakers. Two thirds of graduates stay on in LVMH studios and workshops.

 

As might be expected, watches were the final year project for the first graduates of the Hublot school. Students were invited to base their projects on the Classic Fusion model in a 45 mm diameter titanium case. As a result, the Hublot "Montre École," or school watch, was developed, equipped with a hand-wound movement and a five-day power reserve, with a power-reserve indicator on the back of the caliber and a precision moon phase indication. In a regular movement, this complication needs to be adjusted every 2.5 years, but the watch the graduates created only needs to be adjusted every 122 years.