You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. – Wayne Gretzky
After our recent appointment with the doctor, and on the way home; we discussed not only the biopsy appointment (which is at 7am local time tomorrow as of 2:30pm EDT on October 14th, 2025), but also the horology program at Rolex.
I know what you’re thinking … you’re talking about watches whenever your wife is having a procedure done?! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!
To my credit, I did find out about the Rolex Watchmaker Training Center prior to the cancer diagnosis; via notable YouTube creator (and watch boutique owner) Teddy Baldassare posting a video about American watchmakers being in short supply; and that Rolex was trying to step in and help fill that void … and that their training center was close to home. And come to find out, so is the training center for the Swatch group.
Let me explain. We live near Tyler, Texas; a town of about 105,000 … and the Dallas-Ft. Worth metropolitan area is about 90 minutes away from our apartment. It just so happens that Rolex has a service center in Dallas; and the Swatch group service center is in Ft. Worth. Both programs are extremely competitive in their admissions process; with less than 50 persons accepted into their respective programs yearly. Where the programs deviate from each other is that with the Rolex program, you are guaranteed employment with a above average yearly salary at one of their ADs (short term for Authorized Dealer), but with the Swatch program you earn a industry-wide certification that can find you employment at any establishment that services watches, not just Rolex dealers and boutiques.
(If any of my tech friends are reading, the differences between the two would be akin to learning how to repair Apple devices in the case of Rolex, and Android devices in the case of Swatch).
I am going to try to apply for the Rolex program, confident that I can get through the admissions process and become a student.