The Fondation Haute Horlogerie (FHH) struck a strategic academic collaboration agreement with the GIA (Gemological Institute of America) and its School of Gemology and Jewelry Arts, aiming to bring more watch industry knowledge, training, and certification to a wider audience.
The agreement will have the two non-profit organizations collaborate on educational initiatives, certification, and instruction, using the GIA’s international physical and online infrastructure. Founded in 1931 with campus, laboratory, and research center locations ranging from the U.S. and the U.K. to Africa and Asia, from Bangkok to India, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, the GIA has trained more than 200,000 professionals in jewelry and gems.
Johanna Levy, (left) Vice President, Communications & Corporate Affairs, Gemological Institute of America, Aurélie Streit, Vice President of the FHH.
Image Courtesy FHH
The collaboration could significantly expand the FHH mandate to provide watchmaking, culture, and industry knowledge to more industry professionals, collectors, and consumers, while broadening the GIA’s educational scope for professionals in this closely linked sector. “For GIA students and alumni, it’s such a great opportunity to be able to access a completely new set of knowledge with watchmaking,” Johanna Levy, vice-president of the ESG Programs at the GIA, said in an interview.
“There is a desire to learn more, to learn more craft, to learn more in person. So it’s really not only to equip our students to thrive in this industry – it’s also to answer a trend that we’re seeing of people asking to learn more,” Levy added. Delivered through the FHH Academy, the educational arm of the FHH responsible for training, assessment, and certification of watchmaking knowledge, the two organizations say they will draw on their know-how and global networks to educate the next generation of professionals while extending the reach and accessibility of watchmaking globally.
FHH Academy training.
Courtesy: FHH
An independent, non-profit organization, the GIA is widely considered the world’s foremost authority on gemology. It invented the ‘Four Cs of Diamond Quality’ — Color, Clarity, Cut, and Carat Weight — and, in 1953, created the International Diamond Grading System, which is recognized around the world as the standard for diamond quality. Through research, education, gemmological laboratory services, and instrument development, the GIA is dedicated to ensuring confidence in gems and jewelry while advancing innovation and know-how.
Funded and supported by about 40 watchmaking companies, including Audemars Piguet, Richemont, and Girard-Perregaux, the FHH has a mandate to promote and spread knowledge of watchmaking, industry culture, skills, and techniques to a global audience. Its FHH Academy, founded in 2014, trains industry professionals in retail, marketing, and communications through certification programs at various levels; it has instructed more than 50,000 people and certified some 18,000 people across 20 countries. In 2025, the FHH Academy opened its training and certification studies to the general public. Available in-person and online in multiple languages, the FHH Academy certification aims to preserve and spread watchmaking culture and knowledge.
The tie-up is expected to expose watchmaking knowledge and culture to a wider audience, as the jewelry industry dwarfs the watch industry in size, with estimated annual sales of about $400 billion compared to about $100 billion for watches. “Watches are definitely a smaller community, and so for us it’s also another opportunity to be in greater contact with the jewelry community. There are more bridges to build between our two domains,” Aurélie Streit, Vice President of the FHH, said in an interview.
As part of the new collaboration, the GIA will offer FHH Academy programs to its students across its global campus network, beginning in early 2027. The level of ‘Watch Advisor’ — the Academy’s first level of certification — alongside open sessions with a dedicated tutor will be available. Further programs and initiatives are expected to be announced later.
For more info on GIA education and training, click here. For more info on the FHH Academy, click here.
