Cartier founded the Cartier Watchmaking Institute (IHC) in 1993 with a view to passing on to future generations its legacy of craftsmanship in Fine Watchmaking. The Institute trains students in fields as diverse as watchmaking, polishing and micro mechanics.

The IHC also offers a range of skills-development courses and refresher courses to qualified craftsmen. As part of its mandate to promote the expertise of watchmaking trainees in general, for over 15 years the Institute has held a contest to showcase the technical and artistic talents of watchmaking students.

Cartier Watchmaking Institute contest

The contest is open to all third-year watchmaking students in Switzerland. Since watchmaking training tends to focus exclusively on technical aspects, the contest provides students with an opportunity to showcase their creative talents as well as their technical skills.

The contest has a different theme every year. Contestants are informed of the theme and allocated 32 hours to complete the task. Each contestant is given a Cartier watch movement and required to submit an attractive, technically-sound solution either by adding a mechanism or by adapting the display systems.

Over 1,000 students have enjoyed the opportunity to show off their technical and artistic talents since the contest began.