First Weeks / Interviewing at LWT

Today is the beginning of my class’s fourth week of education at LWT. I’m sorry for not keeping to a regular schedule but if you were able to be in class, you wouldn’t blame me.

In four weeks time we’ve gone from not knowing what any of the tools on our benches were to actually making tools that we’ll use later in our careers. Our first project was a saw table–which we will use for the next two years (and beyond) for all our metal sawing needs. We’ve begun work on the escape meter project which we will work on until the end of our second year and also the base for another tool that will hold the balance of a mechanical watch. Outside of the micromechanics, we’ve been taking apart and putting together two fairly basic movements (6497 and 7750, stripped of chronograph, day/date, automatic works, etc) and having actual watch work in our first year has been a welcome treat. It’s all somewhat fast paced but the teachers are as helpful as they are demanding.

On that note, the teachers and support staff have been really nice to be around. It’s an extremely professional environment and they take the work we’re doing seriously–even if it’s something as simple as the dimensions of the base of a tool.

The real joy so far has been the other students. There are twelve of us in the class. All of us come from different backgrounds and different states (two from Pennsylvania, fairly local and another two are from Ohio). Ages range between 18 and (I’m guessing) early 40’s. Some have little experience working on watches, some have been working on them their whole lives. Every one of them is a character, and we’ve had a couple of out-of-class meet ups just to hang out.

I think it’s safe to say everyone is struggling with something… some more than others. But I’m optimistic that we’ll all end up doing just fine. As we’ve had repeated to us ad nauseam by our first year teacher: “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”

As far as the home situation, my landlady has been very welcoming and pleasant, and my roommate is currently in the running for “roommate of the year award.” We all interact quite often and share meals and stories together. The roommate and I carpool every morning. It makes being away from all my friends and family much more tolerable.

I did promise the details of the interview process. I’m choosing to recycle an email I sent to one of my previous music professors who was interested in the program:

I “interviewed” with two other guys who were trying to go to school there. They split us up for the first half of the day and we each had hour long blocks at interview stations that tested out manual dexterity, spacial cognition, observation/reasoning, mechanical know-how, logic, and of course our ability to take and follow instruction. I was told during/after each test that the completion of the test wasn’t necessarily what they were looking for and to not worry if I didn’t finish–implying they were looking at the process more than anything.

After the first half, we had a group lunch that included a Year 1 and Year 2 student as well as every teacher from the school. We were able to ask questions and the administrator made it very clear that the students were asked to answer the questions we asked honestly, even if it wasn’t something nice about the school. She, as well as the rest of the staff wanted to know it would be a good fit for us just as much as them.

After the lunch, we had a couple more hours of testing and then our meeting with the principal and former principal. They grilled us about why we wanted to come here and both of them were especially hard on us. They picked apart statements and tried to put doubt in our minds, or at least make us consider that we might not fully have our hearts in watch repair. That said, they did not find anything wrong with my statements and seemed mildly intrigued I worked with a watchmaker who had actually been here. The former principal (German man, very intense) said “I have no further questions for you. You’ve answered everything well enough.” It was the biggest compliment I’d had in a very long time. All said, it was an extremely humbling experience and one of the most draining days of my life. Second only to putting on a recital.

Nothing else to really report. That was how the day was. It truly was one of the most difficult interviews I ever attempted, but I couldn’t have done any better than I did. Of the three of us who interviewed, one other guy in addition to myself made it into this year’s program and sits adjacent to me. There were two other sets of interview partners who made it into class together as well.

If you have any questions feel free to message me on one of my social platforms or an old fashioned text message. I’m keeping up with people from home well enough, but I’m usually happy to chat (as long as it isn’t between 7:30am-4:00pm EST Monday-Friday).

Will update next time with other projects, what the week of class/life is like, and any other interesting things I can think of.

Thanks for reading,
Matt

Fully disassembled 6497 movement. I put it back together and it works just fine.