Das Geheimnis der Schweizer Uhren (360° - GEO Reportage)

The cradle of watchmaking lies in the mountains of French-speaking Switzerland. La Chaux-de-Fonds and Le Locle – connoisseurs associate the names of both towns with the highest precision. It was here in the 18th century that the world-famous Swiss watchmaking industry emerged – in a highly unusual way. In winter, when there was little work on the farms, some of the farmers began to craft complicated watches. A craft that has been perfected over the centuries in this region. Today, the students who make the leap from simple watchmakers to watch restorers are hand-picked. This qualification is sought after by luxury watch brands such as Cartier, Zenith, and Ulysse Nardin. 360° GEO Reportage took a look inside the luxury watches and the famous watchmaking school. A film by Caterina Klusemann © 2008, Licensed by MedienKontor / ARTE Season 10 - Episode 5 Subscribe to wocomoTRAVEL: https://goo.gl/tIk2Qc Follow us on Facebook:   / wocomo   Press Release: It's quiet in the light-filled studio. There's a quiet ticking and whirring at the workbenches. A young woman jumps up and looks despairingly at the floor. Emilie Choulat, a second-year restoration student, has lost an irreplaceable screw. For her diploma exam, she must restore a historic clock and attempt to restore its original functions. There are no spare parts – each clock is unique, handcrafted down to the tiniest cog. But restoring a pendulum or pocket watch involves more than that – they have a philosophy, a uniqueness in their production, that a restorer must explore. Complications are watches that have additional functions besides minute and hour displays. For example, they can stop in fractions of a second, display the date or astronomical information, or indicate the time with acoustic signals. Diego Azconegui is one of the six to eight young restorers who are accepted each year at CIFOM, the Le Locle Institute of Technology. Like Emilie, he's not just battling with the watch, but also against the clock to finish in time before the exam. Nevertheless, he loves his profession: "Here, I've found passionate people who don't count the hours, who live only for watches... The worst thing, ultimately, is being constrained by time. That's not easy even for a watchmaker to bear."