MAKER.MAKER (F.)

The word maker refers, in horological tradition, to a craftsman specialized in manufacturing a specific component or type of part; it is always completed by its specialty: spring maker, hairspring maker, secret maker, hand maker, dial maker, escapement maker. This vocabulary reflects the historical organization of horology, the « Établissage », where the watch was not produced as a single piece but assembled from parts made by a multitude of small independent workshops, each master of a specific expertise. The maker often worked at home or in a small workshop and delivered to the établisseur, who coordinated the manufacturing and carried out the Assembly. This division of labour, highly developed in the Jura Arc, fostered extreme specialisation and the excellence of certain rare trades. The term persists today, tinged with prestige, to designate craftsmen who are the custodians of ancient techniques (for example, the Makers of secrets, specialists in hinges and case closures). It embodies the culture of the horological trades.

This organisation into specialised Makers enabled the rise of horology in the Franco-Swiss Jura Arc from the 18th century onwards: each workshop, sometimes each valley, was devoted to a specific manufacture — springs, ébauches, cases, hands — with the parts then converging towards the Établissage for final Assembly. This culture of piecework production was recognised in December 2020 by UNESCO, which inscribed the craftsmanship of mechanical watchmaking and art mechanisms of the Franco-Swiss Jura Arc on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Although the verticalisation of modern manufactures has caused many of these trades to disappear, the term Maker endures to designate the last craftsmen capable of reproducing, by hand, techniques that are now rare. To find out more: UNESCO listing (International Museum of Horology).