AI Resilience Report forWatch and Clock Repairers

If you love precision, tiny parts, and craftsmanship, here's some good news: watch and clock repair is one of the trades where AI is mostly augmenting skilled humans rather than replacing them. At the top of the industry, Rolex CEO Jean-Frédéric Dufour publicly confirmed for the first time that the brand uses AI, telling interviewers "We use AI for many aspects. It helps you program the machines.

It helps you maintain the machines. But we're not using it when it comes to human interaction. If you call after-sales service, it won't be AI answering.

AI can also help with the final quality test. But you cannot replace human eyes with AI." In a WatchPro feature from February 2026 ^[1], Dufour added that "AI helps program and maintain the machines. It enhances human capability." Audemars Piguet's CEO told CNN in April 2026 ^[2] that "We service watches (even) from 150 years ago, and AI helps us to recover the design of the watch, the components of the watch...

In the supply chain, in restoration, in client services, AI is a fundamental tool." Independent shops are testing AI-assisted diagnostics ^[3] that analyze a watch's performance data to help identify potential problems before they become severe and suggest optimal repair strategies, which is particularly valuable for complicated timepieces where multiple intricate systems must be balanced. Notably, current AI still can't reliably handle one of the simplest watch tasks: a University of Edinburgh study reported by ScienceDaily ^[4] found that state-of-the-art AI models can't reliably interpret clock-hand positions or correctly answer questions about dates on calendars, because understanding analogue clocks requires a combination of spatial awareness, context and basic maths.

Adoption is moving fast at huge factories but slowly at the repair bench. A Deloitte Swiss Watch Industry Study ^[5] found that AI use is evolving in the industry, with nearly a third (29%) of brands now planning to use AI to support creative product development, up from 20% in 2023, and WatchPro ^[1] notes that watchmaking at scale cannot be done profitably today without robotics, precision machinery and artificial intelligence — Rolex invests roughly CHF 100 million a year to refresh and upgrade these tools. But for the people actually fixing watches, three forces slow AI down.

First, the work is highly physical: tasks like fabricating tiny parts on a lathe or adjusting a balance wheel score only 7–9% on automation risk because they require steady hands and feel. Second, customer trust in luxury repair is built on human craft — Rolex deliberately frames AI as a tool, not a replacement, used to support precision while the craft still lives in the hands and eyes of watchmakers. Third, there's actually a severe labor shortage; the same CNN report ^[2] highlights how brands are turning to technology partly to keep up with demand.

So if you're considering this career, the realistic future is one where you'll use AI diagnostics and digital records as helpers — while your hands, eyes, and judgment remain the most valuable tools on the bench.