From early 1950s to late 1970s, the Hong Kong economy depended largely on the manufacturing industry and the watch and clock industry was one of the major industries in the labour market. However, the local manufacturing industry has lost its edge in the past 20 years as a result of sharp rises in price, land premium and labour costs and the consequent upsurge in production cost. In a bid to save cost, manufacturers began to relocate their manufacturing operations to the Pearl River Delta Region in the 1980s, leading to the economic restructuring of Hong Kong. In HongKong, training and development opportunities have long been focused on the services sector. The watch and clock industry has been deprived of a comprehensive and systematic training mechanism, and their employees' training needs have long been ignored.

At present, Hong Kong is Asia's largest watch and clock manufacturer, and one of the world's top exporters in terms of annual export value. The quantity of timepieces exported grows steadily too. As a result of global economic recovery, more people are now willing to spend money on consumer products and services. Therefore,a significant growth in the local demand for timepieces is anticipated.

It is also expected that the industry will benefit from the opportunities provided by the Mainland/Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA). The new arrangement opens up the Mainland market, so that Hong Kong enterprises can enjoy zero tariff preferential treatment. Attracted by CEPA, many employers are now willing to invest in local manufacturing industries, especially those involving high value-added operations, such as the watch and clock industry. Since the development of the industry will require technological innovations and design of new products, the industry expects an increase in the demand for relevant technical staff.

Besides CEPA, the relaxed policy for Mainland travellers to visit Hong Kong also has a positive effect on the watch and clock industry, especially outlets which mainly serve Mainland tourists. Thanks to the Individual Visit Scheme, members of the industry now cherish a high hope for the future and are planning new outlets to cater for the needs of the tourists. In view of the increase in retail and wholesale activities, the industry expects an increased demand for salespersons and relevant production / technical workers. In the long run, the industry will invest more on quality control and manufacturing operations, with a view to establishing their own brand names through continuous improvement in product quality.

The pre-vocational or in-service training provided in Hong Kong cannot catch up with the development of watch and clock in different categories. Instead, workers receive limited in-service training provided by individual employers. Most frontline employees, such as technicians, designers and maintenance personnel, learn their skills from the more experienced fellow workers or their seniors through apprenticeship, and they can only perform simple routine duties. Since the practice of traditional apprenticeship is diminishing, many employees fail to obtain sufficient professional knowledge about the correct workflow, composition of various materials, product maintenance and application of technological innovations, etc.