The loyal and eagle-eyed among you might have noticed a lack of news alert from WATCHPRO yesterday.
Two of the team were on holiday, one was on a flight to New York and I was laid low by a reaction to having had an infected tooth extracted earlier this week.
Feet up on the sofa, my mind wandered inevitably to dentistry, and more specifically to whether people choosing that career might just as easily found their way into watchmaking.
The thought had actually occurred to me in the dentist’s chair, as this highly skilled (I hope!) professional flipped down her magnifying glasses, adjusted the overhead light and selected from her tray of precision tools.
I guess a pair of pliers to wrench out a dodgy molar is hardly precision, but in a way that led me to my next thought, which is whether it is more rewarding probing around in the mouths of middle-aged men or bringing watches to life using techniques that have been refined over centuries.
Who knows.
But which pays better?
Dentists do earn more. A newly trained dentist, according to the NHS website, will start on around £35,000, and community dentists will earn between £43,000 and £92,000.
Private practices no doubt pay even better.
According to payscale.com, watchmakers in the UK earn an average of £28,000 in their first four years, rising towards £50,000 after 20 years in the game.
I don’t know how reliable this data is, but it does not tell the whole story as I know that some of the best watchmakers in this country are earning £80,000, and that is before anybody takes the hugely exciting step of launching their own watch business.
There is also a severe shortage of watchmakers, so wages are rising fast in an effort to attract talent.
It takes five years to train to become a dentist, with student loans likely nudging six figures.
Training to become a watchmaker can take one year on the 1,800 hour British School of Watchmaking course, costing £9,000 (often private businesses sponsor students to help with these fees), or £20,000 for the 3,000 hour, two year, course.
Neither require a degree so, with the help of a sponsor, some watchmakers can start their careers debt-free.
Unlike in Switzerland, children in this country do not gaze wistfully out of their school windows dreaming of joining their parents at the bench of their local watchmaker.
That’s a pity, but there is plenty more that can, and should, be done to promote watchmaking as a fantastic career.
What’s the alternative? Carrying the torturous and thankless task of drilling teeth for a living? I know which I would choose.
And what about the Birmingham City University who are the only university in the world to offer a degree in horology, or the BHI who have been offering training for many years?
Rob,
With all due respect I found your column disturbing and misleading.
One does not become a watchmaker in ONE year. To become a professional watchmaker it takes at least as long as training to become a dentist and then the pay scale is on the opposite sides of the pole. Then to add insult to injury, a respectable independent trade watchmaker will find all doors from luxury watch manufacturers closed for spare parts. That leaves hardly any options to stay and remain in business.
Perhaps Cousins (UK) will persevere in their fight against restriction of parts as we begin to see similar action taken against smart phone manufacturers where consumers want to have rights to repair their phones themselves.
Regards,
Jack Freedman
When applying to dental school it is expected that you have been involved in a hobby that includes manipulation of small items accurately.