Chinese Production Technology, Engineers, Craftsmen Sourcing

[Mustafa Umut Sarac]

Do you ask yourself , how China produces 4 dollar mechanical watch and send to the world postage free ?

I want to know how did they start to making mechanical watches ,
how do they train their craftsmen, how do they educate their engineers ,
how do they produce complicated parts?

One time , I thought may be everything was foreign investment or their managers were japanese or swiss retired
watchmakers ? Is it true ?

What are the ways to produce complicated 3 dimensional hybrid gear parts so cheap ?

Thank you,

Mustafa Umut Sarac
Istanbul

[KleineSekunde]

Hello,

Do you ask yourself , how China produces 4 dollar mechanical watch and send to the world postage free ?

Given your initial question, I have to admit that it sounds interesting for me. I am not involved in watchmaking and I have no idea, if it economically could make any sense to ship a "4 dollar" watch for free...

But just some very basic ideas / comments from my side:

1) It is not "rocket science" to produce (simple) mechanical watches. This knowledge is commonly available.
2) "Learning by doing" could be a good approach to improve your skills. An absence of a dedicated trainer would increase the needed time to reach a desired level, but I would assume that such a trainer would be available...
3) Which level of margins do you expect?
4) I assume that also complicated parts could be machined / produced automatically today. As long as these parts only need to work and no (manual) finishing is needed, they could be "cheap"...
5) If finishing would be needed, it is also a question of labpor costs. Should also be cheaper in China...

Just some ideas...

Best regards

Guido / KleineSekunde