A passion for watchmaking… can also be taught
Portugal’s passion for watches is as big as it is old. We buy them, we collect them and even train the watchmakers who will later take care of them. This passion goes back to 1894, when the country’s first watchmaking school was founded at Casa Pia de Lisboa. For more than 100 years now, this institution has trained youngsters to such a high standard that they even go on to teach… in Switzerland!
Jorge Dinis*
While no one can explain why the Portuguese are so attached to their "time machines," Swiss watchmaking history gives several examples of the ties between the two. Who hasn’t heard of the Portuguese by IWC, made at the request of Portuguese ship-owners, or the Leroy 01, the most complicated watch in the world, made to order for a Portuguese collector?
The complexity of this watch, with its 25 complications and 975 parts, earned it the Grand Prix at the 1900 Paris World Fair. Proof of its extraordinary quality, the Leroy 01 was one of several watches purchased by King D. Manuel himself, the Portuguese monarch at that time and a loyal customer of Leroy. The Leroy 01, owned by Carvalho Monteiro, has gone down in watch history. Today it is surpassed only by the Patek Philippe 89 Caliber, and is the star of the Musée du Temps in Besançon (France).
In 1894, Casa Pia opened one of the few watchmaking schools in Europe
Clearly, Portugal and Swiss watches share a long history… and their relationship doesn’t end there. Under the reign of King D. Carlos, a watchmaking school was opened at Casa Pia, an institution founded 100 years earlier, on June 3rd 1780, at the initiative of Diogo Inácio Pina Manique in response to the social disarray caused by the earthquake that shook Lisbon in 1755. Casa Pia originally opened in São Jorge Castle to give shelter to poor, orphaned and abandoned children. Another of its roles was to give them instruction and teach them a trade that would help them make their way in life. Casa Pia became the most popular educational institution of that time, and the most important body helping children in need.
In 1894, Casa Pia opened one of the few watchmaking schools in Europe, training and "exporting" many of the finest professionals. Throughout its almost continuous history, the Casa Pia watchmaking school has trained professionals for the industry in Portugal… and Switzerland. Indeed, it is common to find Portuguese watchmakers in Swiss watch factories and even master watchmakers teaching at such prestigious schools as WOSTEP in Neuchâtel.
The course is divided into two levels
Area coordinator for watches and precision instruments at Casa Pia is Américo Henriques, a man whose knowledge of watches is unsurpassed in Portugal. It is thanks to him that more than 600 watchmakers have been initiated in the craft of repairing, restoring and caring for our beloved "time machines."
The course is divided into two levels. Students at level two are able to carry out basic maintenance on the most common mechanical and quartz watches, perform technical functions in watch factories and on assembly lines, and perform specialised commercial roles.
Students at level three can analyse, identify, disassemble, clean, repair, assemble and adjust various types of mechanical and quartz watches, analyse functioning, detect malfunctions and replace parts, organize and manage a technical support service, and set up their own business.
Graduates of the school can go on to work in watch manufacturing, assembly, technical assistance, retailing and other related services.
Four master watchmakers give the skills
But these are not the "only" areas in which these young people can practice their trade. It isn’t uncommon, after internships in Swiss factories, to find Casa Pia’s graduates working alongside the best professionals and master watchmakers. It is thanks to them and their love of this particular art form that timekeepers, victims of age or poor maintenance, are brought back to life.
Despite some difficulties (the school lacks mechanisms with which to teach students how to assemble and disassemble column-wheel chronographs), four master watchmakers now give tomorrow’s professionals the skills they will need to resuscitate a watch that had stopped ticking.
This is how the Portuguese passion for watches is kept alive, in a school that teaches the virtues of repairing, or simply loving, these instruments of time. ■
Adress:
Escola de Relojoaria da Casa Pia
Rua dos Jerónimos 5
1400-210 Lisboa
Portugal
*Editor of Chronos do Tempo
