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Comment by bri3d | Hacker News Reader

Major luxury watchmakers are in such desperate need of not only service technicians but also full-blown watchmakers to the point that tuition is free (via private scholarship/subsidy) at all American watchmaking programs. I am surprised more people don't go into this industry - the pay isn't great by software standards, but it's reasonable by trade standards and the working conditions are better than in many other trades.

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I'm not surprised, it's not clear that traditional watches have a future at all. Right now they are still a fancy fashion accessory, but it wouldn't shock me to see that change in the next decade or two.

Betting your future livelyhood on an industry like that continuing to exist seems like a risky prospect for little reward, except to the extent that the skills you learn will be transferable to another industry.

I am pretty convinced that high end watches ($5000+) will be around for a long time. In terms of functionality a smart watch is probably better but I just like mechanical watches and I know a lot of people who feel the same way.

I’m sure there’ll always be some market, but looking at the numbers it wouldn’t be unreasonable to speculate that the sector is currently in a bubble.

And it’s obviously very vulnerable to recession.

I couldn’t imagine wearing a luxury watch on my daily walks through seas of tent cities, panhandlers, and car campers. I would feel embarrassed and vulnerable. Arguably I already should, but a Rolex would definitely push it over the top. Cities are increasingly looking like this, and we are increasingly living in cities and walking and taking transit. Wealth display won’t go away, but I predict it will shift towards venues that are less obvious when you’re a soft target waking around in public.

Digital watches were pretty cool when they were new, too.

In 10 years, smart watches will be bougie. Something about analog-everything has more staying power.

Smartwatches had their opportunity in the 80's Casios and Timex watches.

The new trend is an attempt to survive in the already saturated mobile market.

I bet in 10 years time, most smartwatches will join Casios and Timex ones on flea markets.

People want cushy gigs. A friend just shut down a 3 generation jewelry store because the kids wanted to get out of retail hours. They ended up getting into commercial banking.

Retail is also bad because you have to deal with the general public. I would never advise anyone to go into retail unless they have no other options.

That's interesting. There must be other similar trade opportunities as boomers start to retire in larger numbers.

I'd be fascinated to hear more if anyone is informed of other niche occupations that are in a similar position.

I heard Apple Watch sold more than all Swiss watches together. Seems like a risky bet to go into watchmaking.

Wrist watches are about style and individualism. Standard Apple Product™ doesn't really fit in.

Yeah, because the millionth Rolex or Swatch does...

Dropping four to five figures on a Rolex is definitely not the only way to buy a wrist watch.

That's a funny comment given how much watch makers spend on marketing and branding.

>I heard Apple Watch sold more than all Swiss watches together

To different people.

I realize this will not make or break the industry, but I wanted to point out one utility of luxury watches is to be a universally accepted, easily transferable bribe material. No technology product can for the foreseeable future compete on this level.

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