In a major development for the luxury goods sector, the Fondation Haute Horlogerie (FHH) has struck a strategic academic collaboration agreement with the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) and its School of Gemology and Jewelry Arts. The partnership is designed to bring more watch industry knowledge, training, and certification to a wider, global audience by leveraging the extensive reach and educational infrastructure of both non-profit organizations.
The newly formed agreement will unite the two entities in educational initiatives, professional certification, and instruction. They plan to utilize the GIA’s formidable international physical and online infrastructure to deliver these programs. Founded in 1931, the GIA boasts an expansive global footprint with campus, laboratory, and research center locations stretching across the United States, the United Kingdom, Africa, and Asia—including major operational hubs in Bangkok, India, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Over nearly a century of operation, the GIA has trained more than 200,000 professionals specializing in gems and jewelry.
This collaboration is expected to significantly expand the FHH’s core mandate: to provide watchmaking history, culture, and industry knowledge to a broader spectrum of industry professionals, enthusiastic collectors, and everyday consumers. Simultaneously, it will broaden the GIA’s educational scope for professionals working in a closely linked sector where timepieces and fine jewelry often intersect.
"For GIA students and alumni, it’s such a great opportunity to be able to access a completely new set of knowledge with watchmaking," said Johanna Levy, Vice President of ESG Programs at the GIA, in an interview discussing the partnership.
Levy noted that the initiative taps into a growing demand from students and professionals alike. "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," she added.
The educational programs will be delivered through the FHH Academy, which serves as the educational arm of the foundation and is directly responsible for the training, assessment, and certification of watchmaking knowledge. According to representatives from both organizations, the partnership will draw on their combined know-how and expansive global networks to educate the next generation of industry professionals while extending the overall reach and accessibility of horological education worldwide.
The GIA operates as an independent, non-profit organization and is widely recognized as the world’s foremost authority on gemology. Among its historic contributions to the trade, the institute invented the globally accepted ‘Four Cs of Diamond Quality’—encompassing Color, Clarity, Cut, and Carat Weight. Furthermore, in 1953, the GIA created the International Diamond Grading System, which remains the universal standard for evaluating diamond quality today. Through cutting-edge scientific research, comprehensive educational programs, gemological laboratory services, and instrument development, the GIA maintains its dedication to ensuring consumer confidence in gems and jewelry while continuously advancing industry innovation and technical know-how.
On the other side of the partnership is the Fondation Haute Horlogerie, an organization funded and supported by approximately 40 elite watchmaking companies, including prominent houses such as Audemars Piguet, Richemont, and Girard-Perregaux. The FHH carries a distinct mandate to promote and disseminate knowledge regarding watchmaking, industry culture, artisanal skills, and mechanical techniques to a global audience.
Its educational wing, the FHH Academy, was founded in 2014 to train industry professionals working in retail, marketing, and communications through structured certification programs across various levels of expertise. To date, the academy has instructed more than 50,000 people and successfully certified roughly 18,000 individuals across 20 countries. In 2025, the FHH Academy expanded its mission by opening its training and certification studies directly to the general public. Made available both in-person and online in multiple languages, these certification programs are designed to preserve and spread watchmaking culture and knowledge to anyone with an interest in the craft.
Industry analysts point out that the tie-up is expected to expose watchmaking knowledge and culture to a vastly wider audience, particularly given the stark contrast in scale between the two markets. The global jewelry industry dwarfs the watch industry in sheer size, boasting estimated annual sales of about $400 billion compared to approximately $100 billion for the watch sector.
"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, explained in an interview regarding the strategic alliance.
As part of the rollout for this new collaboration, the GIA will begin offering FHH Academy programs to its students across its global campus network starting in early 2027. Students will have access to the ‘Watch Advisor’ curriculum—which represents the academy’s foundational level of certification—alongside open sessions led by a dedicated tutor. Both organizations indicated that further specialized programs and collaborative initiatives are expected to be announced at a later date as the partnership develops.
