A “workforce crisis” in the watchmaking industry has watchmakers like Rolex rolling out the carpet for wannabe watch tinkerers.
In September, Rolex launched the Rolex Watch Training Center in Dallas for aspiring watchmakers, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The school offers an 18-month curriculum that’s tuition-free and, in fact, comes with $1,800 monthly stipend to encourage students to pursue the program full-time instead of alongside work or other studies.
Classes start in September.
Watchmaker ⌚️
Rolex Watch Training Center in Dallas
Salaries starting in the range of $75,000 to $85,000 pic.twitter.com/HQCCZ4TdLN— Buck Parish (@flatbush711) July 29, 2025
Students of all ages are welcome, though most students tend to be young.
“The average student age among the first two classes is 28; some have been admitted straight out of high school, and others have a college degree,” according to the Times.
“Students have backgrounds in areas such as engineering and accounting, and have had careers as musicians, teachers, and communications professionals,” the report continues.
The curriculum is reportedly focused entirely on Rolex watches, meaning students won’t learn how to fabricate/repair other watches as well.
Once students graduate, they’ll be welcome to pick up work at a Rolex-affiliated jeweler or for the company itself.
“Most of the school’s first class, which graduates next February, have already secured jobs,” the Times notes, citing a Rolex spokesperson. “They can expect annual salaries starting in the range of $75,000 to $85,000, depending on location.”
The opening of the training center comes 24 years after Rolex opened a traditional watchmaking school covering all watches in 2001. That school — the Lititz Watch Technicum in Pennsylvania — closed after its final class graduated earlier this month.
We have a Rolex technician school in Lititz, PA where I live – one of two in the United States. Each course culminates with a final exam at Rolex headquarters in Geneva. A few years ago I spoke to one of the workers. During the 2008 financial crisis workers were scared for their…
— Ian Cassel (@iancassel) February 26, 2025
The importance of these schools cannot be overstated.
“It took a lot of networking” and hard work to find just six watchmakers for his own eponymous watchmaking company, J.N. Shapiro, owner Joshua Shapiro told the Times.
One of his employees, 25-year-old Spencer Torok, graduated from Lititz.
“After high school, the Hilliard, Ohio, native attended Ohio Dominican University, where he took accounting classes,” according to the Times. “But Torok realized during the COVID-19 pandemic that he wanted to make a change. He’d long been interested in watches, he said, and enrolled at Lititz.”
Torok told the Times that he probably would have never gotten hired if it hadn’t been for his Lititz education.
“No way,” he said. “It takes a lot of resources to train someone.”
Finding qualified watchmakers has become so difficult that some watch companies have had no other option but to look overseas.
“I’d been looking for someone with that skill level for the last 12 years,” watchmaker Cameron Weiss said, describing how he had to travel to Switzerland to find qualified staff for his company.
The problem is that there just aren’t enough watchmaking schools left in the United States, save for a select few like the one at Paris Junior College in Texas.
“Paris Junior College offers Associate in Arts, Associate in Science, Associate of Arts in Teaching, and Associate in Applied Science degrees, as well as Certificates of Proficiency in technical/workforce fields,” according to the school.
The school specifically offers certificates for “Jewelry Computer Aided Design” and “Jewelry Fabrication and Repair Technician.”
The “Jewelry Fabrication and Repair Technician” program is two semesters long and teaches marketable skills such as creating jewelry from gold/silver/platinum, repairing jewelry, smoothing soldered joints and rough spots, and stone setting.
Some of the other top remaining watchmaking schools in the United States include the Gem City College School of Horology in Quincy, Illinois; the Nicolas G. Hayek Watchmaking School in Miami, Florida; and the North American Institute of Swiss Watchmaking in Fort Worth, Texas.
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
V. Saxena is a staff writer with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University. Saxena also contributes to BizPac Review.
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