Going into the exam, David and I wanted to see how we would do without any external preparation or study. As two people who invest the majority of their time writing about and studying the watch industry, it was going to be interesting to see how we would do on a regimented exam designed to test our knowledge. Sitting in a room with distinguished industry veterans and colleagues, we felt like being back in school as proctors monitored us in the quiet setting, in a room away from the hustle and bustle of the watch trade show environment.
David, always the efficiency enthusiast, strove to complete the exam as quickly as possible and I believe was the first person in the room to finish – quietly exited as everyone else was still carefully ensuring a proper set of responses to the 160 questions. I wasn’t in too much of a rush, but clearly didn’t want to be the last man in the room given the fact that a lot of people consider Ariel Adams to be a watch expert. Was I?
I didn’t push through the questions with too much speed, but I believe I was the second or third person in the room done with the exam. I found some of the translations from French to English a bit confusing, but overall, the test questions were fair and relatively diverse in their range of inquiry. Some questions were so esoteric in their request for information of a specific date or inventor of historic horological technology that I was simply unable to answer with any confidence at all.
The HH Certification teased me by waiting over a week to report my results via e-mail. Of course, the exam being digital should have allowed the test administrators to offer immediate results, but perhaps there is a manual process behinds the scenes that I was not aware of. The exam itself is a great start, and I think is a fair and comprehensive look at the types of things watch industry professionals need to know about communicating the values and history of traditional watch making. I would like to see more skill-based questions that help watch sales professionals demonstrate they understand how watches work, how to service and care for them, what differences there are in terms of quality of execution, as well as how to match the right watch with the right customers. There is, of course, room for such improvements in the future as the HH Certification continues to develop and monitor the impact it makes on the industry it intends to serve.
Moreover, the FHH has the duty to inform the watch retail environment as well as the consumer community about the values of certification. Watch sales people need to be educated about the virtues of taking and passing the exam, and watch buyers need to be informed that watch sales people who have taken and passed the exam with an accompanying certification are to be taken more seriously as consultants, when it comes to the selection of a new timepiece. With their resources and apparent will, I believe that the FHH will continue the mission of the HH Certification and further refine these areas, while spreading awareness of this initiative that they have clearly put so much time and effort into.
I have to admit that I was a bit anxious about my exam results. In law school, I went so far as to create a personal policy to not even check my grades or exam results – true story. My theory was that if I did well on the exams, it had the potential to create a sense of overconfidence causing me to study less in the future. And if I received a poor grade it would unduly hurt my morale. I should add that in law school, you can’t argue for better grades if you feel the result was unjust, and that all grading was done in a purely anonymous manner. In any event, it was very nice to see that my status as a watch expert was echoed in my HH Certification results. According to them, Ariel Adams is an “Expert in Fine Watchmaking.” I’ll wait for the paper certificate and find a place for it in my office. Perhaps now I should apply for a job selling these things too?
To learn more or take the HH Certification, visit their website: hhcertification.org
