Career Explorer Production
Human edge, steady
Timing device assemblers and adjusters
Perform precision assembling or adjusting, within narrow tolerances, of timing devices such as digital clocks or timing devices with electrical or electronic components.
Changing faster than most: more resilient than 27% of the 831 careers we score. AI exposure is low (the Bureau of Labor Statistics rates it moderate), and US jobs are projected to change by -6.1% by 2035, expected to shrink. The work leans on physical dexterity.
AI struggles with much of this work. Hiring is expected to grow slower than average, or to shrink.
- Median pay (2025)
- $62,620
- Job growth to 2035
- -6.1%
- Openings a year
- fewer than 100
- People doing it (2025)
- 200
- Usual route in
- High school diploma, then moderate on-the-job training
Where people already use AI for this work
- Read documents or materials to inform work processes
- Measure physical characteristics of materials, products, or equipment
From Microsoft Research, Working with AI (2025).
Work AI rarely helps with
- Inspect completed work or finished products
- Repair workpieces or products
- Position materials or components for assembly
What the work looks like
- Change timing weights on balance wheels to correct deficient timing.
- Assemble and install components of timepieces to complete mechanisms, using watchmakers' tools and loupes.
- Adjust sizes or positioning of timepiece parts to achieve specified fit or function, using calipers, fixtures, and loupes.
- Observe operation of timepiece parts and subassemblies to determine accuracy of movement, and to diagnose causes of defects.
- Test operation and fit of timepiece parts and subassemblies, using electronic testing equipment, tweezers, watchmakers' tools, and loupes.
From O*NET 31.0, US Department of Labor.
What the Bureau of Labor Statistics expects
- Fewer of these jobs, as production continues to increase efficiency even as demand shifts away from legacy timing devices.
Careers using similar strengths, with a stronger outlook
- Sewers, handHuman edge, steady, Index 46, -12.0%
- Fiberglass laminators and fabricatorsHuman edge, growing, Index 86, +4.6%
- Lathe and turning machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plasticHuman edge, steady, Index 29, -11.3%
- Structural metal fabricators and fittersHuman edge, steady, Index 54, -6.2%
Also known as: Calibration Specialist, Clockmaker, Watch Technician, Watchmaker, Calibrator, Horologist, Time Stamp Assembler.
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Sources: US Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections 2025 to 2035; O*NET 31.0; Microsoft Research (2025); Anthropic Economic Index (2026); Eloundou and colleagues (Science, 2024); Felten, Raj and Seamans (2023). How we score. Updated 12 October 2026.