A watchmaker is a craftsman who makes, assembles, repairs and services watches. Historically the trade combined great precision with considerable specialisation, and many components such as springs, wheels, cases, dials and hands were produced by separate outworkers before being finished and signed by the master whose name appears on the movement.
In Britain, the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers in London regulated the trade from the seventeenth century, and makers such as Thomas Tompion and George Graham earned international reputations. Thomas Mudge is credited with inventing the detached lever escapement, which later became standard in quality watches, while Abraham-Louis Breguet in Paris was responsible for many refinements of design and mechanism. English watchmaking was centred on Clerkenwell in London, Coventry and Prescot in Lancashire, while Switzerland, particularly Geneva and the Jura, grew into the leading watchmaking region of the world. The signature of a respected watchmaker adds significantly to value, and researching a name in reference works on makers can help date a piece. Today the term also describes the skilled restorers who keep antique watches running.
