Team training
The complete FHH Academy programme
From a first diagnostic of your team's knowledge to the FHH's highest certification, delivered in person at your chosen location, live online, or through your own learning platform.
Partner brands of the FHH receive a preferred rate on all FHH Academy courses. Our FHH courses are taught by FHH certified trainers.
- AssessFHH Diagnostic
- Level 1 · Watch AdvisorWatch Essentials course
- Level 2 · Watch SpecialistWatch Specialist course
- Level 3 · Watch ExpertWatch Expert course
About the FHH
About the Fondation Haute Horlogerie
The Fondation Haute Horlogerie is a Swiss non-profit foundation created in Geneva in 2005 by Audemars Piguet, Girard-Perregaux and the Richemont Group. Its mission is to preserve and pass on the cultural heritage of fine watchmaking, as a neutral reference for the whole industry.
Since 2014, its FHH Academy has trained and certified watchmaking knowledge worldwide.
- 50,000+people trained
- 18,000+people certified
- 24trainers worldwide
- 20countries
hautehorlogerie.org ↗
Team training
FHH certification levels
Three courses, three certificates: a clear path from a solid foundation to the most complete watch knowledge in the industry.
Level 1 · Watch Advisor certificationPrepared by the Watch Essentials course: 1.5 days in person or 4 online sessions of 2.5 hours. Builds a solid horological foundation tied to day-to-day sales: Watch Industry, History & Icons, Components & Material, Watch Movement & Finishing.
Level 2 · Watch Specialist certificationPrepared by the Watch Specialist course: 2 days in person or 7 online sessions. Manufacturing, complications, chronographs, advanced materials and crafts such as enamel, skeletonwork and gem setting.
Level 3 · Watch Expert certificationPrepared by the Watch Expert course: 3 days in person, for certified Watch Specialists. The most demanding course and the most complete watch knowledge in the industry.
Watch Advisor
Watch Specialist
Watch ExpertCertification
Why the certification counts
The FHH certification is the only internationally recognised certification of theoretical watchmaking knowledge. Three certifying levels: Watch Advisor covers the fundamentals, Watch Specialist goes deeper and introduces the main complications, and Watch Expert requires knowledge of every aspect of watchmaking.
- Taken online, from anywhereAll tests are digital. Candidates pick a time from open sessions available on any business day.
- No prerequisitesCandidates may sit any level directly, with or without a course first.
- Questions, time and pass marksAll three levels cover the same four themes. Watch Advisor: 80 questions in 1 hour, 70% to pass. Watch Specialist: 120 questions in 1.5 hours, 75%. Watch Expert: 160 questions in 2 hours, 80%.
- Why certifyA globally recognised credential that shows clients and employers what your team knows, and supports careers in the watch industry.
Source: FHH Certification, hautehorlogerie.org ↗
Team training
FHH Diagnostic
The FHH Diagnostic measures what your team already knows, and how sure they are of it. Built on docimology, the science of evaluation, it maps each participant's strengths and gaps and recommends the right FHH Academy training before certification.
- History
- Technique
- Materials
- Market players
How it works
- 80 questions in 45 minutesTaken on the FHH Diagnostic Platform, on a computer or a phone.
- Accuracy and confidenceEach question offers four answers plus "all" or "none". After each answer, participants rate how confident they are, so results show both what they know and how certain they are.
- A campaign on your scheduleAccounts are set up for your team and you choose the dates; a three-week campaign is recommended for large groups. Launch e-mails exist in 9 languages, participants are supported throughout, and the test can reopen for 2 to 3 days for latecomers.
Your results
What the report contains
An English PDF booklet with your group's average and a one-page result for every participant, compared with the group and with training recommendations. Afterwards, an optional meeting to go through the booklet, an overview of training needs and help building your training plan.
Recommended 2-hour modules
Describe a Watch, Mechanical Movements, Complications I and II, History, Iconic Watches, Materials and Decorations, Materials II, Introduction to Market and The Brand Experience.
- Questions
- 80
- Duration
- 45 minutes
- Format
- Online, works on a phone
- Themes
- History, technique, materials, market players
- Group
- One person or a whole team
- Report
- English PDF, group view and one-pagers
Source: FHH Diagnostic, hautehorlogerie.org ↗
Team training
Speaker Series
Think of it as a discovery channel for watchmaking. Your teams simply tune in to a 60-minute live lecture on Zoom and listen to stories, anecdotes and expert comments on one topic of fine watchmaking at a time.
What the sessions do
The goal is simple: raise awareness of and interest in watchmaking, while everyone learns something useful for their work. No preparation and no exam required. Episodes are dynamic and entertaining, and designed for anyone working in fine watchmaking, from 25 to 200 people at a time.
Episodes
- Market & BrandsThe luxury watch market and its major brands.
- History & IconsA plunge into the meaning of time and the most recognisable watches.
- MaterialsMaterial properties and their applications in watchmaking.
- Watch TrendsAn analysis of the year's new releases and most talked-about watches.
- The Watch MovementQuartz and mechanical movements: their advantages, function and handling.
- The ChronographThe historical appeal of chronographs, their functions and many variations.
- Calendar WatchesThe origins of the calendar and its mechanical interpretations in watches.
- The TourbillonThe real purpose of a tourbillon and the mechanical artistry behind it.
- The Craft of EnamelingThe high stakes of making an enamel dial, and the main enamelling techniques.
And more
- Timezone watches
- Skeletonwork
- From design to manufacturing: the birth of a watch
- Jewelry watches
- Striking complications
- Duration
- 60 minutes
- Format
- Live lecture on Zoom
- Frequency
- As often as you like
- Group
- 25 to 200 participants
- Level
- Entry
- Outcome
- Horological curiosity
- Leads to
- The Watch Advisor test
Price per lecture, USD| Participants | Price | FHH partners |
|---|
| Up to 25 | 1,500 | 1,200 |
|---|
| Up to 50 | 2,500 | 2,000 |
|---|
| Up to 100 | 4,000 | 3,200 |
|---|
| Up to 150 | 4,875 | 3,900 |
|---|
| Up to 200 | 5,000 | 4,400 |
|---|
FHH partner brands benefit from a 20% preferred rate. Prices in USD, subject to change.
Team training
Customer Service Workshop
Customer service is the future of luxury watch retail. In four hours with a professional watchmaker, your team gets its hands on a movement, learns how a watch responds to the way it is worn and used, and practises the service conversations it has with clients every day.
2Shocks8Motion
A watch lives through the same shocks and motion as the person wearing it. The workshop shows your team what they do to a movement, and what to tell a client about them.
How the four hours run
- Hours 1 and 2 · Hands on the movementThe workshop opens with a two-hour hands-on experience working on a movement, so everyone becomes familiar with the mechanics of timekeeping.
- Break
- Hours 3 and 4 · Functions in daily useWinding and time setting: how they work, and how the way a client uses the watch influences them.
- What affects a watchPrecision first: how it has evolved and what clients can expect. Then the influences that can affect how a watch runs, with anecdotes from the bench and the first advice to give a client for each.
- Service casesThe training ends with service cases adapted to your brand's real service scenarios.
- Temperature
- Shocks
- Gravity
- Aging
- Humidity
- Sun exposure
- Salt water
- Motion
- Magnetism
- Wear
- Pressure
- Quality of the watch itself
- Duration
- 4 hours, with a break
- Format
- Classroom workshop, workbenches and tools
- Group
- Up to 8
- Level
- Advanced
- Outcome
- Watch service fluency
- Location
- Travels worldwide
- Price
- USD 4,000
"Can you please fix my watch?" We work through real cases, including what to do and what to avoid when taking in a repair.
Event animation
Watchmaking demonstrations
We bring our Etablee workbench to your boutique, launch or gala and work on your brand's own movements in front of your guests, explaining each part and each gesture as we go.
Guests watch the watchmaking up close and talk with someone who has done it for years.
Why our watchmakers
- Broad watch knowledgeProfessional watchmakers who can answer far beyond the script, from movement mechanics to watchmaking history.
- The sales angleYears of training sales teams means they know how to link what guests see back to your collection.
- Collector's talkComfortable going deep with seasoned collectors, so your best clients feel among peers.
Event animation
FHH Quiz
A watchmaking quiz in the spirit of the FHH Quiz Night: your guests play in teams, answer questions on screen and compete for the top spot. A lively way to learn and test watch knowledge during your event.
How it plays
- Teams and a hostGuests form teams while our watchmaker hosts, reads the questions and explains the answers.
- Questions from the FHH AcademyHistory, technique, materials and the market, with multiple-choice answers on screen.
- A winner and a prizeScores build round after round, and the evening ends with a champion team.
Ideal for client evenings, team events and collector gatherings, and easy to pair with a watchmaking demonstration.
- Format
- Team quiz on screen, hosted
- Duration
- A short round, or a 2 to 3 hour evening
- Themes
- History, technique, materials, market
- Languages
- English or French
Event animation · Team training
The Conquest of Time
A TimeTechnics talk that travels through humanity's quest to measure time: from shadows and water to tower clocks, pocket watches and the wristwatch, all the way to our days, with stops on some of the most iconic watches ever made.
How the talk begins
It begins with the oldest question of all: when are we? Long before the first instrument, people set the foundations of time by watching the sun, the stars and the seasons. Then came the first ways of reading it, in a shadow cast on stone, in water dripping from a vessel, in sand falling through glass.
The Conquest of Time
~3500 BC~1400 BC~900 AD~1300~1400 AD
InventionSundialAncient Egypt~3500 BC
InventionWater clockClepsydra, Egypt and Greece~1400 BC
InventionCandle clockAl-Jazari, Tang dynasty~900 AD
Historical pointTower clocksMedieval Europe~1300
InventionHourglassThe first portable timekeeper~1400 AD
Where the story goes next
Gears, weights and springs moved time into towers, then into the hand, and the industrial revolution put it on every wrist, railway and factory floor. From there the story becomes a search for precision, from the pendulum and the balance spring to the marine chronometer, quartz and the atomic second, all the way to our days.
Along the way we stop at the iconic pieces each era gave us, and at the people and stories behind them.
Shock protection
Water resistance
Precision as a promise
Every problem solved, a new category
A stop on the journey · Historical point
Rise of Wristwatches
1930
The war settled the argument. The 1920s answered the next question: not whether to wear a watch, but which one, and what it said about you.
More on the 1930s
Art Deco finds its object in the geometric dial and the integrated bracelet. The wristwatch and the design movement of the interwar years were made for each other.
Automatic winding, shock protection, water resistance, anti-magnetism. Every problem solved created a new category: pilot, diver, chronograph, dress, sport.
Fun fact1900: a man wearing a wristwatch would be laughed at. 1930: a man without one seemed unfinished.
It is an entertaining and informative talk, full of anecdotes and surprising historical facts. And it gives substance to a question every watch lover eventually asks: why, in an age when a phone keeps perfect time, do we still desire mechanical watches that are far from the most precise timekeepers? The answer runs through the whole journey.
Two formats, one story
- As a client eventAn evening talk for collectors and guests, rich in images, anecdotes and fun facts, that sets the scene for your watches and opens the conversation.
- As a team trainingThe same journey with more depth for sales and boutique teams: the milestones, the vocabulary and the stories they can retell to clients.
- Duration
- 90 minutes to 2 hours
- Format
- Illustrated talk, in person or online
- For
- Clients and collectors, or sales and boutique teams
- Level
- Open to all
- Languages
- English and French
- Tailoring
- Stops on your brand's own milestones and icons on request
Team training
1-day specialty classes
One day, one complication. Each specialty class walks your team through the many facets of a single topic of fine watchmaking, curated to be eye-opening and entertaining while carrying real substance.
Five topics
- The ChronographThe historical appeal of chronographs, their functions and their many variations.
- Calendar WatchesThe origins of the calendar and its mechanical interpretations in watches.
- The TourbillonHow a tourbillon truly works, and what its advantages really are.
- Striking WatchesSome of the earliest complications gave the time by sound. Learn how they do it.
- Timezone WatchesWhat GMT and UTC stand for, and how watchmakers developed complications for a travelling, connected life.
Each class stands on its own, so they can be taken in any order, and each one leads naturally to the others.
- Duration
- 1 day
- Format
- Classroom training at your chosen location
- Group
- Up to 12
- Level
- Advanced
- Outcome
- Fluency in the topic
- Leads to
- The other modules
- Price
- USD 4,750 per class of 12, USD 475 per extra participant
- FHH partners
- USD 3,800 per class, USD 380 per extra participant
FHH partner brands benefit from a 20% preferred rate. Prices in USD, 2026, subject to change.
Event animation
Watchmaking experiences
A hands-on watchmaking class for your clients, collectors or team, in your boutique, office or event venue. Each guest sits at a real watchmaker's bench, takes a mechanical movement apart and puts it back together, guided by a professional watchmaker. We bring the benches, tools and movements; you bring the guests.
Choose the format
- Horology 101 · 2 hoursThe timekeeping system: guests open the movement, follow the energy from the balance to the escapement, and discover what makes a watch tick. No experience needed.
- Horology 101-102 · 3 hoursAdds the gear train: how the mainspring's energy travels through the wheels to the hands.
- Horology 101-103 · 4 hoursThe full experience: winding and setting too, all the way to a complete movement assembly. Guests leave having been the watchmaker for an afternoon.
Build your class
USD 4,400USD 550 per guest · Horology 101-103 · 8 guests
Request this classAll prices per class, USD| Guests | 101 | 101-102 | 101-103 |
|---|
| 2 | 1,300 | 1,500 | 1,700 |
|---|
| 4 | 2,200 | 2,600 | 3,000 |
|---|
| 6 | 2,700 | 3,300 | 3,900 |
|---|
| 8 | 2,800 | 3,600 | 4,400 |
|---|
Prices include the instructor, benches, tools and movements. Travel expenses are added for locations outside the instructor's city. Larger groups run as several classes in a row or with additional instructors.
- Guests
- 2 to 8 per class
- Duration
- 2, 3 or 4 hours
- Level
- Beginners, no experience needed
- Setting
- Boutique, office, hotel, home or event venue
- Provided
- Portable benches, lamps, tools, loupes and one movement per guest
- Instructor
- A professional watchmaker from our team
- Languages
- English or French
Ideal for
- Boutique client eveningsAn unforgettable moment for your best clients, and a natural conversation about the watches in your cases.
- Brand launches and VIP eventsLet guests feel the craft behind a new model before they see it.
- Collectors' clubsA step beyond the dial: understand the movements you collect.
- Team events and giftsA shared, focused activity that every participant remembers.
Event animation
Instructor provision
Already have your own watchmaking class or client experience? Our watchmakers can deliver it for you. They adapt quickly to a brand's programme, its movements and its tone, so your class runs the way you designed it, in any city.
We bring the outline: the watchmakers, the bench, the know-how. You colour it in with your brand, your movements and your story.Why our watchmakers
- They adaptEach instructor is used to stepping into a new format, audience and venue, and making it their own without losing your brand's script.
- They know the marketThey follow the brands, the novelties and the collector conversation, so they can place your watches in context.
- They speak collectorThey are at ease with seasoned collectors and first-time buyers alike, and keep the conversation going after the class.
- They learn your product fastGive them a new calibre or collection and they quickly find its key selling features and how to explain them.
- They demonstrate at the benchLive watchmaking, with each part and each gesture explained, is their daily work.
- They understand the saleThey know an event is also a sales moment, and support your boutique team without ever turning into salespeople.
- For
- Brands with their own watchmaking class or client experience
- Who
- Professional watchmakers, FHH certified trainers and HSNY instructors
- Where
- Your boutique, event or venue, North America and Europe
- Languages
- English and French
- Equipment
- Your benches and movements, or our Etablee benches
Team training
Public sessions
Not every team needs a full class. Send one or two sales associates or collaborators to an open FHH Academy or HSNY session, rather than dedicating an entire class to the team.
- Who1–2 peopleAssociates or collaborators, no group minimum
- FHH4 × 2.5 h onlineWatch Essentials, live on Zoom
- HSNY2 h or 4 hEvening classes or a half day, in person
- WhereOnline and on siteNew York and touring cities
- CertificationWatch AdvisorOptional FHH test, ticket with or without it
- BookingEventbriteOnline, paid by credit card
01Upcoming open sessions
Each date links straight to its Eventbrite booking page. Seats are limited, and we refresh this schedule from Eventbrite every day.
FHH AcademyWatch Essentials, online
Online in English, up to 12 participants, taught by Ashton Tracy. Prepares for the Watch Advisor certification; tickets with or without the test.
HSNYHorology classes in New York
Evening classes and a half-day weekend class at HSNY in Manhattan. No experience needed for 101; 101 is the prerequisite for 102 to 104.
HSNYTraveling Education
The four-hour 101 to 103 class covers the gear train, winding and setting, and the escapement on a real movement.
See all HSNY classes on Eventbrite 02Why open sessions work for brands
- One seat is enoughBook a single place for a new hire, or two for a pair of associates. There is no group minimum and no need to close the boutique.
- Keep the floor coveredStagger staff across dates and cities so the team learns without emptying the sales floor on a busy day.
- Online or in personFHH Watch Essentials runs live on Zoom, so anyone can join from any store. HSNY classes take place in New York and on tour in cities across North America.
- Onboard new hires as they arriveSlot each newcomer into the next open session instead of waiting until a whole cohort is ready.
- A path that leads somewhereWatch Essentials prepares for the FHH Watch Advisor certification, and a ticket with the test included is available. At HSNY, 101 leads on to 102, 103 and 104.
- Learn alongside your clientsAssociates sit with collectors and enthusiasts and hear the questions clients really ask.
- Try before you commitTest the teaching with one or two people before booking a private class or a Customer Service Workshop for the whole team.
- Buy seats in a few clicksPick a date and pay by credit card on Eventbrite for one or a few people on your team. No contract, no purchase order, no minimum.
Education advisory
Sales training programmes
Many brands need training but have no training department. We become it: we study your story, your products and the way your watches are made, and turn them into training your teams and retail partners will enjoy and remember.
How we work
- We analyse your brandYour history, your collections, their strong points and how your watches are designed and made, from the movement to the finishing.
- We write the storyWe turn that material into clear, engaging storytelling that sales staff can retell in their own words to a client.
- We build the presentationA ready-to-use PowerPoint training presentation, designed for the market: share it with your points of sale or send it to your sales managers to deliver.
- We coach your teamsWe train your trainers and sales managers to deliver it with confidence, in person or online.
- Ideal for
- Brands without an in-house training or education department
- You receive
- Brand and product storytelling, built into a PowerPoint training presentation
- Used by
- Points of sale, retail staff and your sales managers
- Coaching
- Your trainers and teams, in person or online
- Languages
- English or French
Our trainers have built and delivered training for the FHH Academy, the Horological Society of New York and watch brands since 2012, so your material speaks the language of both watchmakers and clients.
Education advisory
Press conference coaching
We prepare anyone who presents your products, from PR, marketing and communications to sales teams, to present this year's novelties to journalists, from newcomers to seasoned watch writers, with clarity, confidence and flair.
What we work on
- Ease with journalistsHelp your teams feel comfortable talking about launches with experienced and seasoned journalists.
- A presentation that makes senseBuild a press presentation with a clear storyline that shows your products in an attractive way.
- Clear and captivating deliveryPractical tips on presenting clearly, handling technical questions and keeping the room with you.
- Bringing out the noveltiesAdvice on which features of this year's novelties to put forward, and how to tell their story.
- For
- PR, marketing, communications and sales teams: anyone presenting products
- Format
- Coaching sessions and rehearsals
- Deliverables
- Press presentation and speaking notes
- For events
- Watch fairs, press launches and brand events
- Timing
- Start 1 to 2 months before the fair
Good press preparation takes time: the storyline, the presentation and the rehearsals all need to be ready well before the novelties are unveiled.
Education advisory
Multi-year ambassador curriculum
For large luxury and lifestyle houses whose sales teams move between jewellery, leather goods, fashion and watches. We help you build a multi-year programme that takes an entry-level salesperson from basic knowledge to a confident, high-end watch ambassador for your brand.
Why it matters
Why it matters for your advisors
In multi-category boutiques, the same advisor may present a handbag in the morning and a perpetual calendar in the afternoon. Without solid watch knowledge, many lack the confidence to talk about watches, and the watch counter suffers for it.
A general, cross-brand watchmaking education gives them that foundation. Tied into your own brand content and career milestones, it turns knowledge into confidence, and confidence into sales.
What we bring
- Programme design and set-upWe map the path with your education and retail teams: levels, milestones, timing and how each step ties into your own brand training.
- General watchmaking educationFHH Academy courses and certification as the backbone, from Watch Advisor to Watch Expert, recognised across the industry.
- Hands-on experiencesWatchmaking classes, demonstrations, quizzes and talks that make the knowledge stick and keep teams engaged year after year.
- Installation and coachingWe help you roll it out across markets and coach your internal trainers to run it.
- Ideal for
- Large luxury and lifestyle brands with several product lines
- Audience
- Sales advisors, from their first month to senior ambassadors
- Duration
- Multi-year, in progressive levels
- Milestones
- FHH Watch Advisor, Specialist and Expert certification, alongside your own brand levels
- Formats
- In person, online and hands-on, in English or French
We have helped establish multi-year ambassador programmes and partner on them with established brands, drawing on our years in the market with the FHH Academy and the Horological Society of New York.
Meaningful experiences along the way
Where the experiences come from
Our long partnerships with the FHH Academy and the Horological Society of New York, and our years building education for luxury brands, let us bring far more than courses into your programme: moments your teams look forward to at every level, and remember long after.
Horological Society of New York- Hands-on Horology 101 to 104 classes on a real movement
- The escapement, the gear train and winding, understood at the bench
- Access to a community and a calendar of lectures from the oldest watchmaking guild in America