U.S. Watch Industry Recruits Veterans.

By William George Shuster, Senior Editor

Hire a veteran. Save a profession.

That's the premise of the new War Veterans Watchmaker Initiative of the American Watch Guild, a group of a fine-watch retailers and suppliers.

The aim is to persuade veterans of America's wars to consider watchmaking as a career, and for the U.S. watch and jewelry trades to provide apprenticeships, scholarships, and jobs for them. The program also would benefit the U.S. watch trade, which has seen trained watchmakers shrink from more than 30,000 three decades ago to less than 4,400 now, an all-time low. Half of those will retire within a few years.

Yet U.S. watch sales are at an all-time high, boosted by exceptional growth in mechanical watches. That has generated rising demand for qualified watch professionals to service timepieces bought by U.S. consumers. However, North America's 11 watch training schools graduate only a few dozen people annually, half their enrollment capacity. Trade experts say up to six times that many are needed yearly just to replace watchmakers who retire or die.

"Since we now have many returning and existing war veterans, this program could especially benefit those who are disabled or need …