Also called: Horologist, Certified Watchmaker
Repairs, restores and services fine mechanical watches and clocks with parts smaller than a grain of rice.
You sit at a bench with a loupe in your eye, taking apart a luxury watch into 200 tiny pieces, cleaning each one and oiling the jewels with a needle-thin tool. Then you rebuild it and adjust it until it keeps time to a few seconds a day. Brand service centers sponsor training because good watchmakers are rare.
BLS watch repairer median is about $50k; brand-certified watchmakers earn much more.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Certificate, about 2 years after high school. Two-year watchmaking school (often free or sponsored by brands like Rolex or Swatch Group) plus years of bench experience.
Ways in: Trade school, Certification, Apprenticeship. Training cost: Under $15k.
Majors to look at: Watchmaking (WOSTEP / SAWTA program), Horology.
Shrinking (about -2% over 10 years). BLS projects a small decline overall, but certified watchmakers for luxury brands are in short supply.
Low risk for 10 years. Repairing fine mechanical watches is precise hand work that machines and AI cannot do, and watchmakers are scarce.
Classes: Physics, Art, Shop class.
Official data: O*NET occupation 49-9064.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.