Hi all, I'm planning to do a watchmaking class. - Is there one you'd recommed? I'm based in Geneva. - Is a weekend enough or should I do a longer course? Many thanks for your guidance!
What do you want to achieve? Become a watchmaker? Learn how to open a watch and do basic stuff? There's a HUGE difference in time to be expended on one or the other.
I started with some online courses and reading every book I could find. I then took a 1 week class at the AWCI in Harrison Ohio. It was their watchmaking 101 class. I learned far more from the 1 week class, there is no substitute for working with an actual instructor. I’ve also now taken a 3 day class that only covered the Swiss lever escapement. The 1 or 2 day build a watch type classes would give you taste of watchmaking. A week long would give you a better appreciation of it.
Our oldest kid unit [Hannah] and I attended the AWCI “Build a Watch” course in Harrison, Ohio in 2018. It was 3 full days in length with 12 students and 3 instructors [1 CMW21 and 2 CW21 instructors]. We were each assigned an individual watch. We disassembled / cleaned / reassembled / timed / adjusted / timed again / cased / timed again / pressure tested generic fliegers with ETA 6497-1 movements. We had the option to purchase our fliegers at the end of the course [which our oldest child and I did]. The cost of the course was $600 and if you purchased your flieger it was another $300. This was a phenomenal course...both fun and frustrating for myself. It was NOT a watchmaking certification course of any sort...more of an introduction to watchmaking that provided a gateway for an individual to pursue further watchmaking courses that could lead to watchmaking certification [CW21]. If I pursue any further courses, I would repeat the AWCI “Build a Watch” course...27 times. My ETA 6497-1 during reassembly... Our completed fliegers... Bonus pic...our oldest kid unit [Hannah] sleeping at the bench during the AWCI “Build a Watch” course...
Quick search turned this up. https://www.initium.ch/en/classes/# I wish I had the time and most importantly PATIENCE to work on watches. I have tools and play watchmaker a couple times a year. I almost always break something or loose a screw, get mad, then put the tools away for another 6 months lol.
Cannot stress this enough. On-line courses may give you a small taste of what this is all about, as will reading books, watching videos, etc. But there really is n substitute for having a live instructor there to guide you.
You could also ask someone at you local OB. I was offered to take part in a little workshop with their watchmaker last year.