At HEAD Geneva, the world’s only art university with bachelor’s and master’s degree programs specializing in watch design, Valerie Ursenbacher is the head instructor. The Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie, a major global institution promoting watch culture and education, is co-helmed by Aurélie Streit. The head curator at the International Watchmaking Museum in La Chaux-de-Fonds is Nathalie Marielloni. Kelloseppäkoulu, the Finnish School of Watchmaking, with legendary alumni like Kari Voutilainen and Stepan Sarpaneva, is led by Hanna Harlainen. How does having women in such key positions affect the future of watchmaking?
“There were very few women in the field when I started,” said watch designer Valerie Ursenbacher who since 2010 leads the watch design education at HEAD, an arts university in Geneva. “At first, I was scared,” she admitted, adding that you must still tread carefully with some people that are reluctant to working with women. But to Ms. Ursenbacher “women have become indispensable for the watch industry,” a positive development towards gender balance, which she finds necessary for any industry.
In the past Ms. Ursenbacher “sometimes had to take a deep breath” due to certain (design) remarks from male decision makers. However, she also turned a sometimes-difficult environment around to her advantage. She listened and asked questions about manufacturing, which gave her the knowledge needed to make her designs more manufacture-friendly without compromising aesthetic values. This gave her an upper hand on many (male)colleagues and has been one of the reasons for a successful career. Now, with the next generation – at HEAD the ratio of male and female design students is 50/50 – Ms. Ursenbacher feels that the floodgates are about to open with women taking the place of the usual suspects of male designers of an older generation. “Male designers have dominated the profession for many years and have created iconic models. Now we need to give female designers time for their models to become iconic too,” she said, adding that issues like pay equity still needs to be addressed.
Leading by Example
Aurelie Streit, co-CEO of the educational organization Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie, pointed out that women have always shaped the watch industry without getting proper recognition. “Since the 1960s 52 percent of the population in the watch industry are women. And women like Marie Antoinette, Caroline Murat and other women of the high society in the 18th century pushed people like Breguet to innovate more advanced movements,” she said.
For Ms. Streit, the road ahead lies in leading by example. “We must show modern roles, we must show women holding significant roles in the industry. To reassure and encourage women in the industry we must show them that women existed in leadership positions for a while, that it is possible; that you can do it. Our mission is to inspire and educate,” she said.
Another important aspect in an industry developing its values around sustainability and inclusion is the growing number of female watch collectors that are extremely interested in and knowledgeable about the mechanics of watches. Such ladies are part of panel talks and other events that the FHH organizes in cities like New York, Paris, London, Geneva, Dubai, Hong Kong, and Tokyo. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to understand that there is also a commercial aspect of this, as the target group for technical, traditionally male-oriented watches can potentially be doubled. “Totally!” Ms. Streit exclaimed. “Today women can wear any kind of watches.”
Curating the Past for the Future
Just like you can wear any watch, women can be found in any position if you take a proper look. According to Nathalie Marielloni, curator at the International Watchmaking Museum in La Chaux-de-Fonds it was like that for a long time. “Sandrine Stern the head of design Patek Philippe, is very discreet. But she has been around for 20–25 years. And look at Jasmine Audemars, she has been instrumental in the history of Audemars Piguet for decades, but she only received the Gaïa prize two years ago. So, women have always been here, but the recognition has been slow,” she said.
Ms. Marielloni also stresses the importance of positive role models, citing Estelle Fallet, the director of the watchmaking department at the Museum of Art and History in Geneva, as her own inspiration.
Ms. Marielloni learned the ropes at auction houses, and a couple of decades ago it was quite rare to be a woman and a specialist of antique watchmaking and auctions. She has always felt it was an advantage being a woman in the watch industry. Only a handful of times was she confronted with rudeness, citing a time when a man yelled at her for giving the proper appraisal of circa 10,000 CHF to a watch, which he was convinced was worth a lot more. But this particular client needed to hear it from a man. “But in general, it was an advantage being a woman, because a woman is less of a threat. This makes people share more, and you get more visibility if you are a woman. I used to be annoyed by this, but now I enjoy it and I hope I can inspire other young women and men. I feel that it is less and less of a gender thing though. If we have the opportunity to say things because we know what we are talking about we should take it – whatever gender we are,” said Ms. Marielloni.
Apart from being a source of knowledge paving the way towards the future, the museum also takes on internships in its workshop. These spaces, where the students restore very complicated objects, are sought after, and it is like threading the eye of a needle to get in. “We take on one student with top grades every six months,” she explained. (Occasionally the museum also takes on young men doing their military service as civil servants. Yes, in Switzerland you can do your mandatory military service in as watchmaker!)
To Ms. Marielloni another way of reshaping the future through the past is the use of English as a lingua franca, which was not the case in the French-speaking canton where the museum is located. “We have to do the principal work in English to reach out to the next generation. It is important to be historically relevant and correct, because there is so much about watch history that is simply wrong when you just google or use Chat GPT.”
Finns Leading the Way
When talking to Hanna Harilainen, principal of Kelloseppäkoulu, the Finnish School of Watchmaking, she highlights the general change in society. “We have all these women in leading positions in general, both in businesses and in politics, just look at Sanna Marin,” she said of the former prime minister, who at 34 was the youngest person to ever lead a country. The general trend of more women than men attending universities, has however not quite made it to the watchmaking school. “In our latest intake of 30 students, 10 were women. So now we have one third, whereas it used to be only 2–3 per year,” Ms. Harilainen said, adding that the institution has also understood the value of English. “Last year, after teaching in Finnish for 80 years, we started our first two-year-course in Independent Watchmaking, in English, which has attracted female and male students from all over the world, for instance from South Korea, Brazil, India, Turkey, and the UK.”
To have female students is also at the very core of the school’s history, as the major donation that made the school possible to establish 81 years ago came from a woman.
Ms. Harilainen feels that watchmaking could be a very suitable career for a woman. But, at the end of the day she doesn’t want to talk about different qualities between genders. “That could become very cliché, and I don’t think it is a gender issue. This profession was very male-dominated, and this tradition is changing little by little. Role models used to be male, and with more women entering the business and showing the way, they also become role models,” she said.
With role models like the above, the watch industry has a bright future ahead.
