Crafts
Watchmaker CV: example and template
This example is for watchmakers working at brand service centres, watch repair shops, jewellery stores and clock restoration workshops, and for watchmaking school graduates.
The employer wants to know which movements you service, with which equipment, and which manufacturer training you have completed. We show you how to describe this on your CV.
How to write a watchmaker CV
Professional summary
Write which movements you service, how many years you have worked and where: an authorised service centre, a workshop or a store. Add manufacturer training, because brand service centres often require it.
Watchmaking school graduate with work placements at a workshop. I replace batteries, straps and crystals and repair simple quartz movements. I want to learn to service automatic movements.
Experience: duties and achievements
Describe the types of movements, the scope of service, the equipment and the number of watches. Show diagnosis and pricing, because the customer first asks whether the repair is worth it.
Weaker: Repairing watches.
Better: Full services of automatic and manual movements, about 20 watches a week.
Weaker: Setting watches.
Better: Timing regulation on a measuring device, replacing parts and lubrication.
Weaker: Checking seals.
Better: Water resistance tests and replacing gaskets.
Skills worth listing
List movements, tasks and equipment. In your soft skills show precision, patience and responsibility for customers' expensive items.
Professional skills
- Mechanical movements
- Quartz movements
- Regulation and measurement
- Water resistance
- Polishing
- Watchmaking tools
Personal skills
- Precision
- Patience
- Responsibility
- Talking to customers
- Independence
Qualifications
List manufacturers' service training, a journeyman or master certificate and a watchmaking school diploma. In this trade formal proof of skill carries a lot of weight.
Watchmaker CV with no experience
Describe your school or course, your work placements and the movements you have serviced. Add precision hobbies, for example model making or electronics.
Write that you want to learn in a workshop. There are too few watchmakers, so many masters are looking for apprentices.
Tailoring your CV to the job offer
An authorised service centre looks for manufacturer training and mechanical movements, a workshop for a wide range of repairs, and a jewellery store for customer service and small repairs on the spot. Move to the top what the job ad is about. If you have worked with your own tools for years, list them under additional information, because the employer then knows they do not have to equip a workbench for you from scratch. At a brand service centre add the names of the calibres or groups of movements you know, and at a workshop the clocks you have restored, for example pendulum wall clocks or mantel clocks. At the interview you may be asked to take apart and reassemble a simple movement, so it is worth naming on your CV what you feel most confident with.
Questions and answers
What should a watchmaker put on a CV?
Types of movements, scope of service, regulation, water resistance, polishing, the number of watches, manufacturer training and trade certificates.
Is manufacturer training important?
Yes, at authorised service centres it is often a condition of employment or of working on your own.
How do you become a watchmaker with no experience?
Through a school or course and practice at a workshop. On your CV show precision work and that you want to learn.
Should a watchmaker know English?
At brand service centres, yes, because technical documentation and training are usually in English.