Having spent over 50 years in the watch making profession, Antoine Simonin is confident that watchmakers and their craft are firmly secured in times when mass demand fuels preference for simpler, cheaper and largely mechanised production of movements in complications. Returning to India for the third time as a member on the jury panel for the Chitralekha group’s Watch World Awards 2012, Simonin said, “Watchmaking is still strong in places like Switzerland, where I am from. The Japanese, Chinese and the Americans have made large contributions to the industry in terms of technology and they have also fuelled growth.”
The crisis in watchmaking when demand and production took a dive, says Simonin, was way back in the 80s. Since then things have been improving and even younger watchmakers are displaying interest in carrying forward the traditions of the watchmaker as a craftsman.
Pointing to the audience in attendance at the awards show, Simonin feels that the milieu of the watchmaking industry is ripe for a change of guard. “The space is filled with senior people at the moment. Younger watchmakers with appear more prominently in the next 5 to 10 years as these people begin to step down,” he said.
This lack of younger faces he added was because watchmaking is a craft that requires intensive training before a person is qualified. According to Simonin, who was the Director of the Watchmakers of Switzerland Technical and Educational Program (WOSTEP) for 27 years, “A minimum of ten years of basic training goes into making a watchmaker” and still more work is left before a student is qualified.
Simonin believes that award shows are a great way of bringing together people and help in giving “exposure to new ideas and concepts” in the sphere of horology. He says, “Watchmaking is not just a business, it is also as much about the craft and the craftsman’s effort”.
An alumnus of the Ecole d’Horlogerie Bienne, Simonin feels that the watchmakers of tomorrow will come not just from the traditional watchmaking regions like Switzerland but from all over the world. He points out that to this effect WOSTEP has partnered with horology schools in 15 locations spread across North America, Europe, Asia and now Africa.
On probing into any plans for a similar venture into India, Simonin quickly raises a finger to his lip and lets out that “something is in the works.”
