The Importance of Specialization in Watchmaking

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Adam Smith writes his first book, which I'm going to quote from in a minute, called the theory of moral sentiments. Then he publishes his grand opus, his most famous book, The Wealth of Nations in 1776. In that book among economists, Rebecca, maybe not so much among watchmakers, but he gives this example that I don't think he'd ever seen it himself. It's a pin factory. And what the pin factory idea is, is that it's about specialization and division of labor,. So not only are the watches cheaper to manufacture, but there's a lot more of them.

Called "a poem in clockwork," the self-winding Breguet watch made for Marie Antoinette was meant to be the most beautiful example of mechanical art in the world. Yet when she was imprisoned in the Tour du Temple, she wanted only a simple watch that would mark the passing of the hours until her meeting with the guillotine. Listen as Rebecca Struthers, the watchmaker, antiquarian horologist, and author of the Hands of Time talks with EconTalk's Russ Roberts about how our need to keep time has shaped watchmaking history, and how, in turn, the development of watches has shaped human culture and society. Other topics include the precise and painstaking craft of bespoke watchmaking and the challenge of restoring watches from another time.