WOSTEP
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
WOSTEP, the Watchmakers of Switzerland Training and Educational Program, is an internationally recognized professional qualification in the maintenance and care of fine-quality watches. It was devised by the Centre Suisse de Formation et de Perfectionnement Horloger and is sponsored by manufacturers and retailers within the horological industry in Switzerland.
During the 1960s, and at the request of the U.S. government, the Swiss government created what would eventually evolve into WOSTEP- Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry FH. It was originally designed to train American watchmakers in techniques of watchmaking that developed in Geneva and the Jura mountains as from the 16th Century.
It is important to understand that at the time of the founding of Wostep, America was losing its title as "world's largest watch producer" to the Soviet Union (mostly making poor-quality everyday watches). As American watch companies continued to slide into oblivion after the end of World War II, some were able to update by purchasing movements from Swiss companies, even establishing their own subsidiaries in Switzerland (e.g. Waltham Watch Company, Hamilton Watch Company, Benrus, Bulova), to keep them going another 10–20 years before folding completely in the U.S. It was this reason that the U.S. requested some sort of formalized training for its best watchmakers.
There had always been a small number of imports of ultra-fine Swiss watches, but after WWII, the number of watches imported as partial or complete watches increased exponentially. These "modern" watch movements were markedly different from the products of American companies, which grew out of 100 years of production (starting mass production of quality watches). American manufacturers were unable to develop new products or methods of competing, and they were destroyed in record time.
