GoKawiilThe audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.
Canada’s only watchmaking school probably isn’t what you’d expect.
For one thing, the École national d’horlogerie is located on the third floor of an elementary school in Trois-Rivières – a city of about 140,000 people, halfway between Montreal and Quebec City.
And, despite an entire wall covered in cuckoo clocks, a half-dozen grandfather clocks standing side by side, cabinets full of watches, and mantel and wall clocks taking up entire shelving units, the space is surprisingly quiet.
Benoit Mercier says the near-silence is necessary.
“It requires a lot of patience and peace of mind to work with so many tiny pieces,” said Mercier, one of two full-time teachers at the school.
“We’re lucky, we have the whole floor to ourselves.”
Mercier says the school was founded 80 years ago, after the Second World War, with the purpose of helping veterans learn a new skill to help them reintegrate into society. But he says the goal today is much different.
“We try to teach watchmaking from the basics to be professional on the market,” he said.
Cuckoo clocks line one of the wall's at the decades-old school in Trois-Rivières, Que. (Alison Brunette/CBC)
... continue reading