Patek Philippe offers elite and free 2-year watchmaking school in New York

NEW YORK (WABC) -- Fresh off its October 2015 inauguration, the Patek Philippe Horology Programme of New York is seeking to teach the next generation of watchmakers.

And the best part about the elite two-year program is that it is free.

The second program of its kind located outside the watchmaker's Geneva headquarters, the establishment of the watchmaking training center in the Big Apples is designed to reinforce the company's commitment to customer service and to servicing the U.S .market.

"Opening a new watchmaking training center in New York will allow us to respond to increasing demand for customer services as well as provide us with qualified trained professionals," head of international customer service Laurent Cantin said.

Company officials say that in the United States, the younger generation is not as aware of watchmaking as a potential career choice, as is traditionally the case in Europe. There are few candidates coming out of the handful of watchmaking schools in the US, and of these candidates, even fewer are able to be considered for the Patek Philippe workshop.

The selection and specialized training the program offers hopes to resolve this issue.

The school aims to become the most comprehensive in-house training center, where apprentices will follow the complete two-year training program. They are selected from a large pool of candidates and will be offered a long-term position once they have successfully completed the curriculum. Almost 300 applications were received for the six positions offered for the fall program.

The two-year program aims to train apprentices in advanced theory and practice of fine watchmaking, more particularly machining and manual skills, to fully master Patek Philippe quartz and mechanical movements. At the end of their training, graduates will be able to successfully repair all Level 2 watches.

For more information, visit Patek.com.