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Alamo Colleges DistrictCareer Explorer

Watch and Clock Repairers

Part of Manufacturing, in the Maintenance, Installation & Repair pathway.

Job zone 3: medium preparationO*NET 49-9064.00

What the work is

Repair, clean, and adjust mechanisms of timing instruments, such as watches and clocks. Includes watchmakers, watch technicians, and mechanical timepiece repairers.

On a typical day

  • Oil moving parts of timepieces.
  • Repair or replace broken, damaged, or worn parts on timepieces, using lathes, drill presses, and hand tools.
  • Clean, rinse, and dry timepiece parts, using solutions and ultrasonic or mechanical watch-cleaning machines.
  • Disassemble timepieces and inspect them for defective, worn, misaligned, or rusty parts, using loupes.
  • Reassemble timepieces, replacing glass faces and batteries, before returning them to customers.
  • Test timepiece accuracy and performance, using meters and other electronic instruments.

What it pays

$59,950
Median pay per year, Texas (no San Antonio figure published)
New workers start near $50,180
Experienced workers reach $94,070
  1. $50k10th
  2. $59k25th
  3. $60kMedian
  4. $77k75th
  5. $94k90th
Wage percentiles: 10th $50,180, 25th $59,030, Median $59,950, 75th $76,530, 90th $94,070

Job outlook

U.S. projection, 2024 to 2034.

-1%

U.S. employment change

100

openings a year nationwide, from growth and people leaving

1,400

employed nationwide in 2024

Typical entry education: High school diploma or equivalent · Training: Long-term on-the-job training

Skills this career uses

The skills O*NET rates most important for the job, with how much of each the work needs on a 1 to 7 scale.

  1. Repairing3.5
  2. Critical Thinking3.0
  3. Operations Monitoring2.5
  4. Equipment Maintenance3.1
  5. Troubleshooting3.1
  6. Active Listening3.0
  7. Quality Control Analysis3.0
  8. Judgment and Decision Making3.0

Education people in this job have

Share of workers by highest education, from O*NET surveys. It shows what others did, not what you must do.

  1. High school or less24%
  2. Certificate46%
  3. Some college8%
  4. Associate degree21%
  5. Bachelor's degree2%

Job zone 3, medium preparation: Training, an associate degree, or a few years of related experience.

Alamo programs that lead here

No Alamo program is mapped to this career yet. Many careers start from a transfer pre-major or a related program.

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  1. $60kSan Antonio median