4. 1987 WOSTEP Neuchâtel (Watchmakers of Switzerland Training and Education Programme)

Neuchâtel is a small university town with approximately 30,000 inhabitants.

The Introductory course we were taking at WOSTEP was four months long, and ran up to Christmas. For each stage the theoretical element was followed by a practical one and involved performing all the necessary techniques repeatedly. 

We started with pocket watches and worked our way down in size to ladies’ watches. From closing up holes worn in barrel bridges and adjusting end shakes, we moved on to making balance springs and Breguet over-coils. As each task was completed, it was reviewed, and accepted or rejected by Mr Simonin. 

The next phase wouldn’t start before all the students had finished the current section; we were all kept at the same pace for the main parts of the course. Faster students made their way through these fairly quickly and would have spare time, which was taken up by watch repairs.

During some evenings, a couple of cohorts and I would stay after hours. We would turn all the ceiling lights off, crank up the music piped through a small system situated in the corner of the workshop and we would work, illuminated only by the individual bench lights above our heads, we were in seventh heaven.

To complete the course, every few weeks there were written and practical tests. The most entertaining part was towards the end of the course and the visits. WOSTEP is sponsored by a multitude of watch companies and some of these would invite the students to visit their ateliers and factories. They would wine and dine you and show you around, as well as offering visits to Swiss cultural parks and museums, it was wonderful.

A visit from the COO of Watches of Switzerland lead several of us back to the UK and into our first commercial jobs.