Big hands on the little hands: students find a future in the not-quite-lost art of repairing mechanical, watches.

Despite the domination of battery-powered quartz watches and digital displays, mechanical watches that need to be wound are coming back into style.

But very few people are qualified to repair them. To help fill this gap, the Swiss watch industry has introduced special training programs in cities around the United States.

Harry Papathomas, 20, from Madison, N.J., is one of six students enrolled in a free, but highly selective, two-year training program at a school recently established in Secaucus, N.J., by the Watchmakers of Switzerland Training and Education Program.

MASTERING PRECISION

"This is an art form within the confines of a watch," says Papathomas. His first step toward becoming a watchmaker is to use a jeweler's saw to fashion a brass file-cleaner. It will be six months before he and the other students actually touch a watch. First, they must master the elements of microtechnology and precision sawing, filing, and sharpening.

When students graduate, they can command a starting salary of $55,000 a year. By tradition, they will be called "watchmakers," even though most won't be building watches from scratch. According to the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry, there are potentially 100,000 watchmaking jobs open in the U.S.

For a while, the watchmaking profession seemed done in by the "quartz revolution." In 1969, Seiko introduced the first quartz watch with hands, and in 1972 came the Hamilton Pulsar--the first watch with a digital display.

The Swiss, who had a near-monopoly on mechanical watch-making, worried that mechanical watches would soon become obsolete. But mechanical watch exports from Switzerland to the U.S. rose 25 percent in 2004, to 444,862 watches, according to the Swiss watch federation.

MINI-MASTERPIECES

Not everyone is right for the job of repairing and maintaining the machinery inside a fine mechanical watch. "Watchmakers have to be focused, detail-oriented, fastidious, and disciplined," says Paul Madden, the course instructor.

His students already show an appreciation for their craft.

"Opening a watch is like opening up a masterpiece," says Anna Vakhilt, a 23-year-old student from Bayonne, N.J. "Every watch balance feels like a heartbeat."

Glenn Collins is a reporter for The Times.