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Making Time in the UK Horological Industry Today

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Making Time in the UK Horological Industry Today
A paper presented at the British Sociological Association Annual Conference 2000, ‘Making Time
– Marking Time’, University of York, 17-20 April, 2000

Glenn Rikowski Senior Research Fellow in Lifelong Learning, Faculty of Education, University of Central
England, Birmingham, UK

I‟m going to finish this thing. Not for Fenster, not for anybody else, but for me.
(Dean Keaton, in McQuarrie, The Usual Suspects, 1996, p.99)

Background and Introduction

I was brought up surrounded by things horological. Noon (but not midnight, as noisier
clocks were silenced for eventide) was always a big event. My father was a trade watch
and clock repairer for a jeweller‟s shop when I was very young, but by the mid-1950 he
had established his own repair and restoration business. He retired a few years ago, and
my brother now runs the business.

By the early 1980s, my father was making his own grandfather and wall clocks (the later
with fusée movements), including cases and dials. The works were largely based on
traditional designs, but he incorporated some novel design features too. He is currently
working on a pair of millennium clocks. My father has been a longstanding member of
the British Horological Institute (BHI), the leading professional and educational body for
the UK horological industry. He has attended many BHI seminars over the years, and
given workshop demonstrations.

I started tinkering with watches when I was five years old. By age ten I could
repair simple alarm clocks. I progressed on to striking and chiming clocks and by my
early tens I was repairing long-case, wall and mantel clocks. I never did get really to grips
with watches (though pocket watches more so). By my late teens I was doing substantial
restoration work and renovation work on clocks, including some clock case restoration.
Then I got into philosophy, then sociology, Marxism and then teaching, and more latterly
education and training research: for me, the times changed.

But in 1995, a lot of this started to come together. Whilst working as a research
fellow in the School of Education, University of Birmingham, I came across a tender put
out by the Crafts Council on learning through making. It was obviously aimed at craft,
design and technology (CDT) in school, but I thought it worth a shot anyway. I spoke to
my father, contacted the BHI1 and produced a research proposal, Making Time:
Horologists, Craft and Skill – where the proposed research focused on how some of the

1
Helen Bartlett, then BHI Secretary, was most helpful, then and also in the next five four years up to her
retirement in 1999.

1
UK‟s leading horologists (identified by the BHI) had gained their skills over the course of
their lives. The proposal had an explicit lifelong learning focus (and I had no inkling then
that by 1999 I would be a senior research fellow in lifelong learning). The research
proposal was not funded: most of the money went to school-based CDT research projects.
Case closed.

A year later, I was contacted by a representative from The Worshipful Company

of Clockmakers, an organisation dedicated to exploring the „art and mystery of
clockmaking‟. They had read the original Crafts Council bid (passed on to them by the
BHI), they liked it and invited me to draft a research plan (Rikowski, 1996). The research
presented in this paper is essentially based on the research plan I wrote in September
1996 for The Worshipful Company.

Why The Worshipful Company of Clockmakers (WCC) had contacted me at that

precise moment was significant. There had been a perceived shortage of watch repairers
for some years in the UK. Whilst quartz watch technology had revolutionised the watch
industry by the late 1970s, in the brief boom of the late-1980s there was increasing
interest in quality mechanical watches (Hunter, 1989). In the early 1990s, demand for
quality mechanical watches was so great that „… Swiss watch manufacturers became a
little panicky, as there were too few horologists to service and repair all the pieces they
were selling.‟ (Crace, 2000). By the mid-1990s some of the lustre was taken off this
resurgence in expensive, top-end mechanical watches (Downing, 1996), but recovery
followed and the issue of skill shortage for mechanical repairs remains to this day.
Secondly, watches from the 1950s became collector‟s items – whilst there were fewer
and fewer people who had the skill and knowledge to repair them. Third, some of the big
watch houses with maintenance and repair facilities in the UK were having problems
finding skilled watchmakers, in a few cases importing labour from France and Germany.
Fourth, the antiquarian horological repair and retail trade was suffering through the
decline in the numbers of skilled horologists being trained for antiquarian horological
repair and restoration work. Finally, the few remaining UK clockmaking firms were
having problems finding people with the right skills. However, the key point was that
there had been rumours that London‟s only horological training facility – at Hackney
College – was in financial trouble, and was set for closure. Thus, the urgency behind the
WCC‟s interest in funding research in the UK horological industry was that at a time of
skill shortage, training capacity was being run down. By early 1997, reports about the
impending demise of horological training at Hackney College surfaced in the
Horological Journal (see BHI/BHF, 1997a,b), the official journal of the BHI and the
British Horological Federation (BHF – the body representing UK manufacturing
companies). In the summer of 1997, Hackney College did indeed close its horology
department – part of a Further Education Funding Council-imposed (FEFC) £1.5million
package of cost savings involving 50 redundancies across the college (BHI/BHF, 1997b).

The WCC and the BHI were determined to demonstrate to the FEFC, and other
education and training funders, that there was a strong case for regenerating and
expanding horological training – particularly in London and the south-east. For this, hard
data was required to convince sceptics. The upshot was two small research projects,
funded from the Charitable Trust of the WCC. The first project, undertaken in the

2
summer of 1997, when I was officially engaged one hundred per cent of my working time
on a project for the Higher Education Funding Council for England (Thomas et al, 1998),
consisted of 56 telephone interviews with horologists from 10 sectors of UK horology.
The second project, undertaken in 1999 when I was officially engaged on four other
projects concerned with Education Action Zones (Hatcher et al, 2000), was a survey of
enterprises from 12 sectors of the UK horological industry. Thus: both projects were, as
Nietzsche might say, „written with blood‟, and much of the work was carried out at
weekends, in so-called „holiday‟ slots and after-hours work at the University of
Birmingham.

The following section outlines the two projects, including the research methods.
Two sections exploring some of the data from the projects follow this. From there, the
paper connects up – in the later sections – with issues central to Marxist theory: the
nature of value and surplus-value. Value is the substance of the social universe of capital,
the universe in which we live (Neary and Rikowski, 2000). Hence, in this paper I connect
some of the forces flowing through and driving on my own life (and in the case of value,
the lives of us all). In this paper, I truly „come home‟, only to find that the times are
weird.

The Two Studies

This section describes briefly the two studies undertaken for the WCC. The basic aim of
these studies was to provide statistical and other evidence that could used for attempting
to obtain funding for new horological training capacity from UK and EU education and
training funding bodies. The motivations behind the research for those sponsoring it
(principally the WCC, but with backing from the BHI, the BHF and some major watch
houses) were pecuniary, pragmatic and practical: to use it to gain money for new
horological training capacity. I shared those motivations. Although an outsider, I had
enough roots in UK horology to be aware that I was not playing the sad stereotypical role
of the passionless social researcher. On the other hand, I was concerned to provide data
that would convince those (FEFC, DTI etc.) with harder noses. The task was to
harmonise emotion, passion and anger with sound research technique and carefully
crafted presentations of research findings. The result was the two studies described
below.

Phase 1: telephone interviews

The first phase of research for the WCC was a series of tape-recorded telephone
interviews with representatives from 10 sectors of the UK horological industry. These
sectors were:

 Large scale manufacture an/or assembly of clocks or watches

 Small scale, craft, or single piece production of timepieces

3
 Watch and/or clock design
 Retail: clocks and/or watches
 Wholesale and/or Marketing companies
 Import/export of time products
 Horological materials supplies
 Manufacture or retailing of horological tools and equipment
 Manufacture of parts and peripherals and associated trades (dial making, straps, cases, horological
engraving etc.)
 Repair and/or Restoration.

In practice, many enterprises straddled several of the above categories, but they were
asked what their main area of activity was – in terms of production, sales or services. The
telephone interviews were conducted in the summer of 1997, following a standard sent to
prospective interviewees. There were only three refusals. Most were very willing to talk
and many referred to the fact that their views had not been sought on the issues covered
by the interview by others (such as professional bodies, the careers service, the local
Training and Enterprise Council and other national and local government departments
and agencies). Interviews generally lasted between 20-30 minutes, with a few going on
up to an hour. The purpose of the interviews was to gain data on the structure of the
industry, where enterprises saw themselves within the totality of UK horology (in terms
of their products and markets) and to gather information on the following topics and
issues:

 Trading relations
 Productivity and profitability (barriers to increasing)
 Recruitment and skill shortages
 Training: types, methods and finance – including ideas on improving the training infrastructure
 Prospects: perceived prospects for own enterprise and the UK industry as a whole.

Commitments on other research projects made for tortuously slow tape-transcription of

the interview tapes. The results of this first phase of research were presented at a meeting
to address horological training in the south-east, held at Alfred Dunhill Ltd. in August
1998 (Rikowski, 1998), and summarised in BHI/BHF (1998b). An Executive Summary
of the key findings of the Phase 1 research was sent out to all participating enterprises in
early 1999. Hereafter, interview data extracts presented in this paper are followed by „97‟
to indicate that they originated from the Phase 1 telephone interviews.

Phase 2: Survey

Phase 2 of the WCC research consisted of a four-page questionnaire sent out to

representatives from 12 sectors of UK horology (the original 10 in Phase 1, plus
antiquarian horological retailers and time recorder and electronic time systems
companies). The questionnaire included four main sections, with sub-topics, on:

[1] The enterprise and its place within the horological industry
 Areas of activity (which of the 12 types of activity the enterprise was involved in)

4
 Trading with other sectors
 Establishment and ownership
 Size (numbers of employees and apprentices) and location.

[2] The workforce – recruitment difficulties, skill shortages and training

 Recruitment (including recruitment difficulties)
 Skill shortages
 Training of horologists – methods, finance, mode, travel to training site
 Age profile of the workforce.

[3] Pay rates and productivity

 Rates of pay
 Barriers to increasing productivity and profitability.

[4] Prospects for the UK horological industry

 Prospects (own, sector, UK horological industry, international horological trade)
 Future employment (intention to take on workers in next 6 months, beyond 6 months)
 Membership of organisations (BHI, BHF, BWCG2, APH3).

In addition, there was space left at the end for „any other comments and observations‟,
and respondents were encouraged to send in any additional comments in separate letters,
e-mails or voicemail messages. Hereafter, qualitative data extracts from these sources are
followed by „99‟ – to distinguish them from the telephone interview data extracts from
Phase 1.

Addresses for sending out the questionnaires were gleaned from the Yellow
Pages, the BHF membership list, various BHI lists, from the Horological Journal and
from Clocks, and from the Yearbook of the British Jewellers Association. The
questionnaires were sent out in batches from late January to late March 1999. The data
presented here, and in the final report (Rikowski, 1999c), in a summary article
(Rikowski, 2000a) and a paper presented to the BHI in February 2000 (Rikowski, 2000b)
are all based on data from the 756 questionnaires returned by 14th May 19994. Two
preliminary reports (Rikowski, 1999a and 1999b), and an article (Rikowski, 1999d)
presented limited data on the first 230 questionnaires returned. In total, 795
questionnaires were returned on the 5,666 sent out – a response rate of 14%. Key
characteristics of the 756 firms can be found in an Appendix to this paper.

The next two sections focus on some of the data drawn from these two studies.
Rather than discussing the data in detail (this has already been done in Rikowski, 1999a-
d), the argument builds towards a problem within Marxist theory: the nature of value as
substance of the social universe of capital.

2
BWCG – British Watch & Clockmakers Guild.
3
APH – Association of Professional Horologists, a renegade offshoot from the BHI, based mainly in the
south-west of England.
4
This date was chosen as cut-of point in order that the findings could be analysed and presented to the
Court of The Worshipful Company of Clockmakers at its Michaelmas Meeting on 4 th October 1999. The
final report, The Current State of the Horological Industry in the British Isles (Rikowski, 1999c) was
completed in August 1999.

5
UK Horological Skills Shortfalls
There is a problem with the repairs of old mechanical watches and cocks. Few
old „watchmakers‟ are to be found and there are no apprentices these days!
(Retail enterprise – London, 99)
There are twenty watchmakers in Northern Ireland, and only one apprentice.
(Retail enterprise – Northern Ireland, 99)
In the past 9 years we have experienced difficulty in recruiting qualified
watchmakers (Wholesale & Marketing company – London, 99)
Our main problem is lack of reliable, skilled clock repairers. We want to give a
fully guaranteed service, not a „just get going‟ fix! (Repair and restoration
business – Midlands, 99, words emphasised by underlining on questionnaire).

This section focuses on the main motif flowing through both Phase 1 interviews and the
Phase 2 survey: substantial, longstanding and debilitating skill shortages within UK
horology. Many others have indicated this over number of years, recent commentators on
the topic being Adlam (1997), Crace (2000) and the BHI (2000). Researchers have also
pointed towards a European-wide skill shortage in horology (Simonin, 1992; Simonin in
BHI/BHF, 1998a; Simonin, 1998), and shortage of horologists in the USA (Simonin,
1998) and indeed a world-wide dearth of horological skills (BHI, 2000; Simonin, 1998).5
Others have pointed towards a general problem of skill formation in a range of craft
trades, including horology (Redman, 1999).

Phase 1 telephone interviewees pointed to recruitment problems for the following

categories of staff (adapted from Rikowski, 1998, p.4):

 Skilled engineers
 Sales managers
 Watchmakers/repairers (5 firms)
 Production clockmakers
 Metal polishers
 Managers with engineering experience
 Marketing
 Apprentices (2 firms)
 Sales staff (4 firms)
 Sales executive
 IT staff
 VDU invoice clerk
 Book-keeper
 Materials selectors (2 firms)
 Toolmaker

5
Some time ago (Rikowski, 1990) and more recently (Rikowski, 2000c,d) I have pointed towards problems
in the concept of „skill shortage‟. I have argued that what employers are basically after when they recruit
workers is labour-power (Rikowski, 1990, 1992, 2000c-d, 2001), not just „skill‟ or skills – and that the
drive to enhance human labour-power within the social universe of capital is infinite. Thus: there is no
(logical) upper limit for skill acceptability (as skills are incorporated within labour-power) in capitalist
society, but a restless social drive for increase in the quality of labour-power, a kind of „learning unto
death‟ (Rikowski, 1999e). For the moment, for this paper, I let these points rest.

6
Thus: recruitment difficulties were reported for a wide range of occupations, not all of
them that might be viewed as narrowly „horological‟. Overall, 21 firms (37.5%) reported
that they had experienced recruitment difficulties in the 12 months prior to interview.

A similar story unfolded when interviewees reported on occupations where there

were current skill shortages:

 After sales servicing

 Sales people/staff (5 firms)
 Information Technology (3 firms – 1 specifically for IT-based stock control)
 CNC machining (2 firms)
 Computer-aided design
 Watchmakers (9 firms)
 Production clockmakers
 Metal polishing
 Manager with engineering background
 Marketing (3 firms)
 Licensing staff
 Pearls (jewellery)
 Skilled technician/trainer (2 firms – both for apprentice training)
 Electronics
 Repair of radio-controlled timepieces
 Jewellers
 Glasswork – bevelling
 Solar-powered watch repairers
 Clockmaking
 Materials selectors (2 firms)
 Telephone sales and ordering
 Engineering
 Mineral glasswork.

Overall, 30 firms reported that they had various skill shortages (54% of the sample). An
additional manufacturing/assembly enterprise reported that there were no current skill
shortages, but that they expected future skill shortages for watch repairers (these findings
adapted from Rikowski, 1998, p.3 & p.5). The shortage of watchmakers was of especial
concern:

… there is a general decline in the number of new watchmakers coming onto

the job market. That has been a steady but substantial decline over many years.
(Repair and restoration business – 97)
If twenty half-reasonable watchmakers came trooping through the door
tomorrow from different parts of the country I could fit them up with work.
(Large chain watch repair and servicing business – 97)
I‟ve talked to people that know the numbers, and they say that by the turn of
the century there will be 4,000 watches per week that can‟t be repaired because
there won‟t be enough people to do it … There‟s a shortage of watchmakers
(Clock manufacturing company – 97)

A BHI survey of 19 companies employing 215 watch technicians carried out in 1998
showed that over the five years from 1998 that these 19 companies would need to recruit
a further 69 watch technicians (reported in Rikowski, 1998, p.1).

7
 The 1999 Phase 2 survey showed a similar picture of recruitment difficulty and
skill shortage. Between a quarter and a third of the enterprises (28%) survey had recruited
(or attempted to recruit) workers 12 months prior to survey (Rikowski, 2000b, p.3). Of
these recruiting companies, getting on for two-thirds (60.6%) indicated that they had
experienced recruitment difficulties of one sort or another. Recruitment difficulties were
particularly prevalent in large-scale manufacturing/assembly enterprises (81.8% of
recruiting companies), in repair and restoration business (76.7% of recruiting businesses).
In terms of location, recruitment difficulties were particularly severe in the North West of
England (82.4% of recruiting companies), in Northern Ireland (75.0% of recruiting
companies) and in Wales (72.7% of recruiting companies) (ibid. all data).

In terms of skill shortages, 27% of respondents to the survey reported that they
were experiencing skill shortages. The highest levels of reported skill shortage were in
large-scale manufacturing/assembly companies (40.0%) and design companies (also
40.0%) (Rikowski, 2000b, p.4).

On the other hand, horological training was carried out in 25.1% of the 756
enterprises surveyed, with the highest frequencies of horological training being in
enterprises involved in the manufacturing of parts + peripherals and associated trades
(50.0% undertaking horological training), large-scale manufacturing/assembly companies
(46.7%) and 43.8% of importers/exporters. In terms of location, firms in the Midlands
(31.0%), the South East of England (29.9%) and the North East of England (also 29.0%)
were most likely to be undertaking horological training (Rikowski, 2000b, p.4). Only 32
out of the 755 firms (1 missing case) surveyed, reported that they had apprentices (4.2%)
– leaving 95.8% without apprentices. In total, there were only 54 apprentices in these 32
firms (Rikowski, 1999c, p.7). There were no apprentices at all in the 28 firms from Wales
responding to the survey. Apprenticeships were also highly concentrated in four main
sectors: design companies, wholesale/marketing companies, import/export companies
and large-scale manufacturing/assembly companies (ibid.).

Despite apparent tightness in the UK horology labour market, the main method of
replacing horological retirees was to recruit new workers from the local or UK labour
markets (45.7%) or to attempt to keep the services of „retired‟ workers on a part-time or
casual basis (35.5%). The latter being an indicator of desperate measures and lack of
available workers of an acceptable standard (Rikowski, 2000b, p.5). The third most
important strategy for replacing retiring horologists was to take on apprentices, but this
must have been a hope rather than reality for most citing this method given the low level
of apprentice recruitment throughout the UK horological industry (ibid.).

Although the firms surveyed were experiencing skill shortages and recruitment
difficulties they were relatively upbeat when asked about their prospects for the next 1-2
years post-survey. The 18.8% who reported that prospects for their own business were
„very good‟ and the 39.8% who reported they were „good‟ outweighed the 2.6% who
noted prospects for their own firms were „very poor‟ and the 7.4% whose prospects were
designated as merely „poor‟.6 Data from the Merlin Scott Associates Report on large UK

6
The rest were either „Don‟t know‟ or „Neither poor nor good‟.

8
horological companies (Merlin Scott Associates, 1997) indicated that sales for the 110
companies surveyed7 increased 1994-97. Pre-tax profits had declined sharply 1994-95,
then recovered 1995-97 (but not reaching 1994 levels). Pre-tax profit margins increased
1994-97, indicating greater cost control (ibid.). The 9 companies present at the meeting
held at Alfred Dunhill Ltd. in August 1998 (when I outlined key findings from the Phase
1 interviews to leading players in the UK horological industry in August 1998, Rikowski,
1998) had sales of £262million in 1995, and £28million in pre-tax profits in the same
year.8

Firms in the Phase 2 survey were much less positive about the prospects for the
UK horological industry as a whole, however. First, many firms (96 in all) did not
respond to this question at all. Second, many did not have any clear idea about what
prospects for the UK horological industry were. Of those that answered the question,
23.7% indicated that they thought that prospects for the UK horological were very
good/good, but 30.5% indicated that they were very poor/poor9 (all data in this para.
Rikowski, 1999c, p.70). This last point, on the prospects for the UK industry as whole,
raises two related issues for this paper. The first is that this pessimistic view of the UK
horological industry (but not respondents own businesses) was supported by more
qualitative data surrounding key themes to with globalisation, tragedy and nostalgia. The
second issue is that of the nature of the „UK horological industry‟. Some interviewees
(Phase 1 interviews) and some respondents (Phase 2 survey) denied its existence: I was
researching a non-existent, or „dead‟ industry.

The discussion of these issues launches this paper on a quest for a deeper level of
significance. The form, presentation and style thus far reflect the original motivations and
forces behind the research. This was a practical concern, using data as ammunition to
influence UK training funders. Without a deeper analysis, the paper remains at this user-
friendly, world-weary, unreflective level. What was the social scientific value of this
research? What is the social scientific value of this paper? What can these modest studies
of desperation in a much-neglected but significant „industry‟ (we all need to keep track of
time) tell us about life in the social universe in which we live: the social universe of
capital? If the answer is „nothing much‟ then maybe the drive towards more policy-
centred, user-oriented research, much favoured by the ERSC, but also by the DTI and
DfEE (especially in relation to education research), is ill-conceived for social science.
The next two sections move towards an argument that suggests that, as an instance of
user-dominated research, these studies of UK horology can nevertheless offer worthwhile
insights and lines of future analysis and enquiry. The next section appears to offer some
social scientific point to the whole enterprise. The section is at one with mainstream
sociology of time studies, the sort of studies discussed and critiqued in the first half of my
other BSA Conference 2000 paper written with Michael Neary (Neary and Rikowski,
2000).

7
Data was gathered principally from annual reports.
8
Data derived from Merlin Scott Associates (1997).
9
The rest were either „Don‟t know‟ or „Neither poor nor good‟.

9
Globalisation, Tragedy, Nostalgia
Time keeping is no longer the mysterious science that it was in the 17 th and
18th century and accurate timepieces are available to anyone at incredibly low
prices which makes it difficult to charge commercially viable rates for repair
work. (Antiquarian horological retail business, South East – 99)

The „UK‟ horological industry is one of the most highly-globalised industries in the UK
today. For many of the surviving manufacturing/assembly companies, horological design
work may well go on in the UK. But original manufacture may be carried out in Hong
Kong or mainland China, with perhaps some peripherals (dials, cases) being made in
Europe or the UK – with assembly being carried out in the Far East. Some companies
undertake various degrees of assembly work. For UK horology „globalisation‟ really
means something. The antiquarian horological retail trade has been operating on a global
stage for some time now (though Europe and the USA are still principal markets). This
section concentrates principally (but not exclusively) on data pertaining to horological
enterprises‟ views of prospects for the UK horological industry as a whole. It is these
comments that seem to uncover some of the key debates and fears concerning the nature
of, and future for, the UK horological industry.

For some, the globalised nature of the industry was regrettable. It was felt that the
UK government ought to be doing more to „control fair competition‟:

One of the biggest problems – and I must say this otherwise I might forget it –
one of the biggest single problems is that we are competing with the Chinese
and the only way I can think we can compete – and either we‟re gonna go out
of business – is to get ahead technologically. Having said that, I don‟t always
know how to get ahead, although I‟ve dome it in some areas. But when we do
find those areas then we need very rapid and precise training. (Large-scale
clock manufacturer/assembler - 97)

Something will have to be done about the unfair competition aspect of China
and the Far East. … When we can‟t use cheap labour, and when their stuff
comes in and competes with mine then there‟s devastation, I can tell you! …
But as long as they steal our designs and go and make the things at half the
price our industry will be at a huge threat … (Large-scale clock
manufacturer/assembler – 97)

Coupled with far and loathing of foreign competition and cheap imports, was a feeling of
betrayal. Sometimes professional bodies (such as the BHI and the BHF) were pinpointed
as having failed to set adequate professional standards. Or, Training and Enterprise
Councils (TECs) and other local agencies (e.g. Business Links) or colleges might be
singled out. The TECs, in particular were seen as time-wasters:

They‟re all a dead end [TECs]. What you do is that you spend your time going
round to all these agencies, who are great at coming to give you a bit of advice.
But all of it tends towards: “Well, we can do you this for a consultancy fee” –
which I can‟t afford at the moment anyway. And all you do is to waste a lot of
time going round from one to another person … They‟re all a waste of time.
Spongers! (Midlands clock manufacturer – 97)

10
But the most anger was reserved for the Department for Trade and Industry (DTI):

As we are probably the last company in the UK making clocks, right, they [the
DTI] might try to contact us. … The DTI have put every obstacle in our way to
refuse us a grant, to exhibit in Switzerland. And yet, we were surrounded on
the British stand [at a Swiss exhibition] by a company importing Chinese
watches! (Midlands clock manufacturer –97)

The DTI would rather see me collapse [than help me] – I can tell you. I‟ve not
a good word to say about them. (Midlands clock manufacturer – 97)

Some viewed the current state of the UK horological industry as a tragic one. A situation
where brave enterprises were struggling for survival in the face of an uncaring
Government, toothless and bickering professional bodies (a particular favourite) and the
harsh winds of foreign competition. The sense of tragedy flowing through the industry for
some interviewees and survey respondents was epitomised in some responses to the
demise of the Hackney College horological training department. For example:

„… saving the facility in Hackney is paramount!‟ (London-based clock

manufacturer – in Rikowski, 1998, p.6 – 97)

So when you‟ve got things like packing up the course at Hackney College and
stuff like that. That‟s been quite a shock to the system in a sense. (London
horological materials supplier, interviewee’s emphasis, in Rikowski, 1998, p.6
– 97)

However, at the meeting I attended at Alfred Dunhill Ltd. in August 1998 (Rikowski,
1998), many speakers pointed to the fact that the Hackney College course was itself very
outdated. This sense of tragedy in the face of fast, globalised horological industry was
underpinned by recourse to nostalgia in many cases. First, in many of the comments
written into questionnaires in the 1999 survey (and in additional letters and e-mails) there
were many references to respondents‟ own training experiences and experiences of their
own sectors of the horological industry going back many years. Secondly, there were a
number of references to the demise of the Clerkenwell area of London as a centre for
horology – an area that I know well myself, based on visits there with my father in the
1960s and early 1970s. These references figured particularly strongly in the interviews
1997 with London-based clockmaking and horological materials supplies firms. But the
case of Clerkenwell also figured in a few 1999 questionnaire comments:

The writer has seen the disappearance of 95% of the industry in Clerkenwell
and elsewhere. Doubtful if the professional bodies will survive for 10 years.
(Repair and restoration enterprise, London & South East – 99)

The state of the horological materials supplies firm was a key concern. One of the firms I
interviewed in 1997 went bust a year later. As one interviewee from 1997 noted:

In the 1960, there was something like 165 materials suppliers. Now you‟d have
trouble to find 20. (Horological materials suppliers – London – 97)

Such perspectives sometimes generated a kind of backs-to-wall bunker mentality, of

retreat into the sheltered heartlands of a specialised trade:

11
 Unless things change, basically what you‟re gonna end up with is an industry
where firms like mine will disappear. Probably end up with people like myself,
who I regard as being very skilled, as going to a specific area, and not
bothering with repairs because of the restricted parts and all the other
problems. And all the branded stuff just ending up back with the
manufacturers. So we‟ll be doing specialist stuff like repairing antiques,
manufacturing – or very old watches, obsolete stuff. It‟s heading that way. And
all the relatively modern stuff will just end up totally going back to the
manufacturers because of the parts supply and the specialist and dedicated
parts and all that. (Repairer and restorer – with small-scale clock and watch
manufacture, East Anglia – 97)

I think that the British horological industry, from a manufacturing point of

view, has got to be small workshops now that we‟ve lost the mass volume
international business, and we‟re not price competitive where the low price
volume watches are being done. The retail side, then, that is simply following
along with the consumer demand in what is in vogue at the time. (Midlands
watch design company – 97)

As well as a harsh economic climate, the retreat into niche markets or specialised trades,
many others pointed towards an unfavourable cultural climate for quality horological
products. The phrase „throwaway society‟ was common in comments in the 1999
questionnaire. For example:

We are very much in the throwaway age as far as watches are concerned.
Fashion seems to win over quality which concerns me greatly. However, it is
not all bad news, as people seem to buy watches more often than ever as they
do not last a fraction of the time they used to. (Retail enterprise, location not
stated – 99)

The main problem for a lack of quality horological business is cheap foreign
imported goods combined with a „throwaway society‟. (Retail enterprise,
North East – 99)

Others took a braver line, though even with more optimistic comments there was an
underlying fear about the harsh economic and cultural climates. For example:

… for speciality items (clocks, for example), England has a tradition and based
on this tradition, I think that the clockmakers who can do exceptional pieces, I
think there is a market. But of course, there is competition from Switzerland,
from France, from Germany and even Italy. (Watch and clock manufacturer,
London – 97)

Britain doesn‟t have, or hasn‟t had, a history of manufacturing watches for a

very long time. In clocks it has. There are companies like _____ in Liverpool
that are still manufacturing under their own label. And I think there is a
demand, strangely, for British clocks, possibly more so than any other
country‟s clocks, and, from a manufacturing point of view, there are prospects
there – but hopefully something other than just whacking a £1.50 quartz
movement through a dial and putting a British name on it. Like ______ [UK
clock company] do. I mean proper clocks. (Watch repair and service company
– 97)

12
Whilst English “tradition” might not save clock production, it was a start. A more
proactive stance was reported by others aiming to „go with the flow‟ and not seeking to
retreat into “tradition” or specialism:

The whole situation is changing rapidly. We‟ve got an agent in the States.
You‟ve got to be in communication with people like that. We might get
involved round television – you‟ve got to have someone who can do that. It‟s
different to what it used to be. (London clock-making company – 97)

You‟ve got to research the world manufacturers to produce a product which is

the most competitive for the British market, bearing in mind that most clocks
are bought as a gift. (London-based clock-making company 97)

The above comments suggest a different approach, using some of the forces associated
with globalisation (such as the media, communications technology). The 1997 interviews
showed that most of the Phase 1 enterprises were investing in information technology,
and the larger companies were either thinking about designing their own web site or
already had their own web site. The BHI set up its own web site a few years ago.
However, the comments below suggest that some firms were starting to chart a way
through the perceived threat of cheap imports and devising strategies for an optimistic
future:

Cheap watches are nothing new. There are ways of making money out of the
repair of watches. Whilst it might not be full overhauls and restoration work,
there are nevertheless, ways that you can, as a watchmaker, make money at
working on watches at any price level. (Watch repair and service company –
97)

The threat of course is of imported products. Being familiar with that I think
it‟s peaked. They‟re obviously getting better at what they do. But it‟s peaked in
terms of the products that lend themselves to that type of thing people are
already aware of and are already buying. The products that lend themselves to
UK manufacture are still quite strong. So far as the whole industry is
concerned I don‟t think that things will decline as such in terms of UK
manufacture. (Wholesale and marketing company - 97)

Such optimism was more recently nurtured by the start-up of a new line of luxury watch
production in the UK. Boodle and Dunthorne‟s new „Greenwich‟ watch - designed in the
in the UK, the prototype was home-made too, the cases are made in Birmingham –
indicate possibilities for a renaissance of UK watch production at the top end of the
market (Treffry, 1999).

Whilst this section starts to connect with some of the themes in the sociology of
time, and (with globalisation) one of the leading concepts in contemporary sociology, for
me, the significance of the two WCC studies lies elsewhere. The final, rather speculative
section, unfolds a particular approach towards the data gathered in the two WCC studies,
an approach resting on an exploration of the substance of the social universe of capital:
value.

13
The Mirror of Capitalist Development and Value as the Substance of
the Social Universe of Capital
For me, one of the most fascinating aspects of the data collected, and consideration of the
history of UK horology and the articles in the BHI‟s Horological Journal over many
years, is that the UK horological industry seems to be a mirror of capitalist development.
Today, small craft producers are still making long-case clocks to eighteenth-century
designs. These are being sold and can be found in (middle-class) homes up and down the
country. The equivalent in terms of the car industry would be making a model-T Ford to
the original designs and driving them around the M25.

Although the UK horological might be viewed as a mirror of capitalist

development, for some 1997 interviewees and 1999 survey respondents the mirror was a
circus mirror, a trick. This was because these commentators either held that there was no
UK horological industry, or that I had incorrectly attempted to forge, reconstruct or
magic one into existence with my various questions. In turn, this reflects back onto the
question about what an „industry‟ is, and whether the concept of „industry‟ holds a valid
image when set against the reality of contemporary life. Let‟s explore WCC data in order
to start to unravel some of these complexities thrown up by the data itself.

First, on the validity of the notion of a “UK horological industry”:

What industry? I mean the main industry is supplying tools and bits and pieces
to amateurs. To hobbyists, as I see it, and I‟ve got a limited experience in this
business. I‟ve been eighteen months in this business and everybody I speak
too, who‟s got out of manufacturing, asks me: “What are you doing
manufacturing clocks? „Cos there‟s no money in it!” They‟re either in
servicing or repairing, and they‟re individual people working out of a garage,
or they‟re small companies like ______ and _______ supplying hobbyists. I
mean, everybody‟s giving up the clockmaking – apart from idiots like me!
(Midlands clock manufacturer – 97)

Is there an industry? I classify an industry as something that actually produces

finished products made in-house. (Horological materials suppliers – East
Anglia- 97)

The above comments (as with many others) suggest that „UK horological industry‟ refer
mainly to the manufacture of finished products – clocks and watches – made entirely on
site, or in-house. This seems to be a very „traditional‟ approach to industry, one quite at
odds with the reality of globalised, fragmented production processes often spanning two
or more continents and thousands of miles. Certainly, the widespread conception of
industry as „traditional‟ industry explains some of the puzzlement of respondents to the
Phase 2 questionnaire:

This survey is for people employed in the industry – not for individuals like
ourselves. (Retail enterprise, Midlands – 99)

This questionnaire is not strictly relevant to us as a company as we are

designing, sourcing and assembling clocks for the gift trade, mail order houses,

14
 department stores, National rust shops etc. (Import/export company, London –
99)

Most of these questions are not relevant, as I am self-employed in a small

business (family run) with my wife. (Repair and restoration enterprise, North
West – 99)

There is virtually no UK horological manufacturing industry in watches. It

follows that the future of the industry as a whole will only be in importing and
servicing horological (watch) products, plus clock assembly on a medium scale
and restoration. Hardly enough to be termed an “industry” any longer.
Basically, my view is extremely pessimistic. (Import/export company, London
– 99)

Given this view of what „industry‟ was – manufacturing only – the part of the pessimism
regarding the UK horological industry might be explained by this designation. As there
was little UK horological „industry‟ left (on this narrow definition), then the future for
this „industry‟ seemed bleak indeed:

The future for Horology as an industry in this country is bleak … [Therefore]

… an examination of this trade or industry should concentrate on the retail
sector in improving retailing … (Antiquarian horological retail business, South
East – 99)

There were some respondents that took a wider view of the UK horological industry.
Indeed, some of these held that all the sectors of the industry should pull together in order
to reverse the training shortfall:

The UK horological industry requires more good quality training to bring into
the trade watch and clock repairers. We support the idea of funding the courses
via the whole trade, e.g. manufacturers, importers, wholesalers and retailers.
We all co-exist and profit from horology and it is time to support our roots
more. Retail enterprise, Midlands – 99)

I feel it is essential to train up new watchmakers and craftsmen … The cost of

this training is best shared by as wide a spread of interests as possible –
including shops. (Retail enterprise, South East – 99)

Whilst politically this may be a sharp move, the two comments above are not identical.
The first refers to horological firms profiting from horology (a shared interest in profit),
the second points to a bringing together of diverse interests. It is the first comment,
however, which hits the deeper mark: all firms in the survey are connected as producers
of value and surplus-value (including the self-employed repairers and restorers) from
time products, whether manufacture goes on or not.

This runs counter to the usual distinction between manufacturing and service
industries. It also runs counter to many „traditional‟ Marxist analyses of productive and
unproductive labour. This is because the substance of the social universe of capital is
value – not labour as in „traditional‟ Marxism, and indeed in the labour theories of value
held by Adam Smith and David Ricardo.

15
 In Theories of Surplus-value (Part One), Marx (1863) argues that productive
labour is exchanged against capital. Productive labour is defined as such „from the
standpoint of capitalist production‟ (p.157). Productive labour is productive of capital,
which in the first instance is value, or, as ground for the existence of capital, surplus-
value. Capital has a duality such that it is a social relation (Postone, 1996) but also value:
capital is value-in-motion. It moves and changes its form – into state-form, labour-power
as human-capital, money-form etc.); hence, capital moves (Holloway, 1995).

There is also a prior movement, from labour-power as social force into labour
(labour acts in the labour process) that produces value and finally surplus-value (surplus
over-and-above that represented in the wage). Value is the pivotal point, and through this
process of value production labour moves (Neary, 1999) too (and moves onwards as
value morphs into capital on the basis of surplus-value). Thus, there is a double
movement:

1. labour-power/labour/value/surplus-value, and,
2. value-/suplus-value/capital/myriad forms of capital.

Value is arises as social substance from the activity of labour-power/labour, whilst

simultaneously giving a definite social form (the value-form) to labour itself and a to
labour-power (human capital, humans as capital). Value is thus the substance of the
social universe of capital.

In the production of value and surplus-value, notes Marx, it is irrelevant whether

the commodity takes on material form, whether it is a „hard‟ commodity or not. This is
also irrelevant therefore as to whether the labour is productive labour. For:

These definitions are therefore not derived from the material characteristics of
labour (neither from the nature of its product nor from the particular character
of the labour as concrete labour), but from the definite social form, the social
relations of production, within which the labour is realised. (Marx, 1863,
p.157)

Value, then, as substance of capital (and its social universe in toto) is essentially an
immaterial substance that can be incorporated in either material (bricks, sugar) or
immaterial (transport, drama performances, selling clocks) commodities. The later
involve materiality as grounds of realisation and expression (drama performances require
actors, props etc., which are material entities) – but the performance as commodity is
transitory and itself immaterial.

In the transport of horological products around the world, ships, boats and planes
have materiality, but transport itself does not change the timepieces in any way, and it an
immaterial commodity. Marx discusses many other such examples (1863, pp.157-160).

16
Conclusion
As value-producing capitals centred on time-related commodities, horological businesses
have substantial and real commonality on the basis of value – whether they manufacture,
sell, repair or import clocks or watches. On the one hand, the current state of the UK
horological industry – fragmented, globalised and with a myriad of sectors – is an
excellent laboratory for exploring value as the substance of the social universe of capital.
On the other hand, value as the substance of the social universe of capital is a take-off
point for the analysis of the UK horological industry.

The social scientific value of the two WCC studies is that they highlight the UK
horological industry a useful starting point for exploring the substance of the social
universe of capital. The weirdness of time becomes the time of weirdness.

References
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Foundation, Worksop, Nottinghamshire.
BHI (2000) The Future of Horological Training in the UK: Conference Address (BHI: Upton
Hall, Upton, Newark).
BHI/BHF (1997a) Hackney Threatened, Horological Journal, Vol.139 No.2, February, p.43.
BHI/BHF (1997b) Hackney in Limbo, Horological Journal, Vol.139 No.3, March, p.79.
BHI/BHF (1998a) Industry Support Sought, Horological Journal, Vol.140 No.6, June, p.187.
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October, p.328.
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Hatcher, R., Ranson, S., Rikowski, G. & Webster, F. (2000) Inside Education Action Zones
(Stoke-on-Trent: Trentham Press).
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Hunter, J. (1989) Mechanical watches dominate at Zurich, Clocks, Vol.12 No.7, pp.8-10.
Kay, G. & Mott, J. (1982) Political Order and the Law of Labour (London & Basingstoke:
Macmillan).
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McQuarrie, C. (1996) The Usual Suspects. A film script (London: Faber and Faber Limited).
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Associates).

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Neary, M. (1999) Labour Moves: A Critique of Social Movement Unionism, Unpublished paper,
Department of Sociology, University of Warwick.
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socially necessary labour-time. Paper presented at the British Sociological Association
Annual Conference 2000, „Making Time – Marking Time‟, University of York, April 17-
20th.
Postone, M. (1996) Time, Labor and Social Domination: A reinterpretation of Marx’s critical
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of Humanities & Modern Languages, Epping Forest College, Loughton, Essex.
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Saving Training in the London Area, at the premises of Alfred Dunhill Ltd., 27
Knightsbridge, London, 17th April.
Rikowski, G. (1999a) Early Findings from the Phase 2 Survey. A paper presented to The
Worshipful Company of Clockmakers, London, March.
Rikowski, G. (1999b) The Structure of the UK Horological Industry: Report on a Survey.
Summary Report, May (London: The Worshipful Company of Clockmakers).
Rikowski, G. (1999c) The Current State of the Horological Industry in the British Isles (London:
The Worshipful Company of Clockmakers)10
Rikowski, G. (1999d) Skill Shortages Now and to Come, Horological Journal, Vol.141 No.4,
April, p.115.
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Rainbird (eds) Apprenticeship: Towards a New Paradigm of Learning (London: Kogan
Page).
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11.
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Globalisation. Paper presented to the British Horological Institute Summit Meeting on „The
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Upton, Newark, Wednesday 16th February 2000.
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what they need. Paper presented at the School of PCET Seminar, University if Greenwich,
Queen Anne‟s Palace, 30 Park Row, Greenwich, 27th March.

10
A copy of this report, pp.90, is available from: The Worshipful Company of Clockmakers, Room 66/67,
Albert Buildings, 49 Queen Victoria Street, London, EC4N 4SE. Price £15 (inc. postage + packing).

18
Rikowski, G. (2000d) Education and Social Justice in the Social Universe of Capital. Paper
prepared for the „Approaching Social Justice in Education‟ Day Conference, Nottingham
Trent University, 31st March 2000.
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Journal of Education and Work, first issue of 2001.
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19
APPENDIX

Profile of the 756 enterprises participating in the Phase 2 survey

1. Areas of activity

AREA OF ACTIVITY Main area of Second most Third most

activity important area important area
(number of firms of activity of activity
involved in each (number of firms (number of firms
area, n=756) involved in each involved in each
area, n=598*) area, n=297**)
Large-scale manufact./assembly of c/w 15 10 5
Small scale, craft, single piece 15 25 31
Watch and/or clock Design 5 14 11
Retail: clocks and/or watches 278 124 52
Wholesale and/or marketing 21 30 19
Import and/or export 16 16 23
Horological materials supplies 12 18 24
Horological tools & equipment 2 6 7
Parts, peripherals & Assoc. trades 6 12 16
Repair and/or Restoration 333 260 36
Antiquarian horological retail 36 81 63
Time recorders & systems 17 2 10
Notes: *158 firms did not have a „second most important area of activity‟. These were mainly retail jewellers that did
not take in watch and clock repairs. **439 firms did not have a „third most important area of activity‟; their work was
concentrated in two sectors or one sector only.

2. Establishment

WHEN THE ENTERPRISE Number and per cent of firms (n=746)

WAS STARTED UP No. (%)
1990s 129 (17.3)
1980s 181 (24.3)
1970s 159 (21.3)
1960s 65 (8.7)
1950s 34 (4.6)
1940s 35 (4.7)
Early Twentieth Century 64 (8.6)
Late Nineteenth Century (1850-99) 48 (6.4)
Early Nineteenth Century (1800-49) 20 (2.7)
Pre-nineteenth Century 11 (1.5)
Notes: 10 firms did not indicate when they were started up, leaving a total of 746 respondents to this question.

20
 3. Number of Workers

NUMBER OF WORKERS AT Number and per cent of firms (n=755)1

THE SITE No. (%)
2
One only 140 (18.5)
23 206 (27.3)
3-5 239 (31.7)
6-10 105 (13.9)
11-20 34 (4.5)
21-50 25 (3.3)
51+ 6 (0.8)
Notes: 1. One missing observation. 2. These were nearly all „one man band‟ self-employed repairers and restorers. 3.
These were mainly either partnerships, a self-employed husband working with a part-time wife, or a father and
son/daughter partnership – and the vast majority of these were in the repair and restoration sector.

4. Turnover

TURNOVER Number and per cent of firms (n=736)1

No. (%)
Up to £50,000 260 (35.3)
£50,001 – 100,000 127 (17.3)
£100,001 – 500,000 254 (34.5)
£500,001 – 1,000,000 46 (6.3)
£1,000,001 – 5million 39 (5.3)
Over £5million 10 (1.4)
Notes: 1. 20 missing observations.

Dr. Glenn Rikowski, Senior Research Fellow in Lifelong Learning, Faculty of Education,
University of Central England, Westbourne Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 3TN.
E-mail: Rikowskigr@aol.com

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