British School of Watchmaking opens applications for one-year course starting in January

Applications for the British School of Watchmaking’s (BSoW) 1800 hour programme have opened, with potential students needing to register before August 31 for a course that starts in January.

The one year course provides expertise required for people entering the watchmaking industry, particularly for working in service and repair centres for major brands and retailers and covers the mechanics and processes involved in watches from simple quartz pieces through to complicated automatic chronographs.

It is a highly commercial course, with most students employed by the industry before they even graduate.

BSoW is an affiliate of the Watchmakers of Switzerland Training and Educational Program (WOSTEP), and all of the school’s full-time courses are recognised as being equivalent to the Swiss Certificat Fédéral de Capacité (CFC) 3-year & CFC 4-year watch repair educational programmes.

The school recruits eight students each January and all training is given in fully-equipped classrooms, with multi-media teaching equipment and comprehensive training schedules.

BoSW courses had to adapt to keep students working throughout this year’s pandemic. Jon Weston, BSoW president, said that teaching had to be suspended when the lock down was first imposed, but the teaching staff and students learned to adapt before returning to the classroom a few weeks ago.

“Following the start of lock down, all teaching in the school was suspended. To begin with our goal was continuation of theory learning at home, however, as the lock down continued this quickly evolved to include practical lessons too. Watches and training materials were sent out to the students who then all set up temporary home workshops and lessons were given online. This was extremely successful and continued throughout the lock down and as a result, very little learning time was actually lost. We are happy that everyone has now returned and that the students are where they should be at this stage of the course,” Mr Weston reveals.

Students currently on the one year 1800 hour course are expected to graduate on schedule in December.

For the two year, 3000 hour course, a final exam scheduled for July was postponed until December.

To get more information about the 1800 hour programme and to apply, please email james.robinson@bsow.co.uk.