AI exposure: Timing Device Assemblers and Adjusters
Perform precision assembling or adjusting, within narrow tolerances, of timing devices such as digital clocks or timing devices with electrical or electronic components.
Reading this score
computedAt 9.0% of weighted task load, Timing Device Assemblers and Adjusters sits at the 12th percentile, below the point where a job's centre of gravity has moved. 86.1% of what this role does is untouched, meaning current systems cannot produce that work at all, whatever the commercial incentive.
What holds the line here is embodiment. Across this occupation's 17 tasks it averages 2.76 out of 3, the highest of the five friction dimensions. In plain terms, the work has to happen in physical space. A language model cannot move matter. Until the robotics to do this work is both good enough and cheap enough to deploy widely, capability in software does not reach it.
The most exposed thing this job does is Estimate spaces between collets and first inner coils to determine if spaces are within..., at 55.0%. The least is Tighten or replace loose jewels, at 0.0%. A gap of 55.0% between two parts of the same job is the reason this index publishes at task level. An occupation-wide number would have hidden both.
Within production occupations, this one is less exposed than the median of 16.2% across the group's 107 roles, with 88 scoring higher. Being in an exposed family does not make a particular job exposed, and the reverse holds too.
What would move this score. Of 17 tasks, 2 are currently banded exposed, 0 assisted and 15 untouched. For that distribution to shift materially would take robotics cheap and reliable enough to deploy at scale, not a better language model. The score is re-computed every quarter against a fresh capability reference, and the change is published rather than quietly applied.
Where the score comes from
judgedEvery task is scored through the standardised work activities it maps to. These are this occupation’s averages on the six rubric dimensions. Capability is what AI can do; the other five are what stands in the way.
| Dimension | Mean | Scale |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | 0.59 | 0-4 |
| Embodiment | 2.76 | 0-3 |
| Presence | 0.00 | 0-3 |
| Accountability | 0.41 | 0-3 |
| Context | 1.47 | 0-3 |
| Verification cost | 1.35 | 0-3 |
Task by task
17 tasks, O*NET 31.0| Task | Exposed | Assisted | Untouched | Importance | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Estimate spaces between collets and first inner coils to determine if spaces are within acceptable limits. | 55.0% | 20.0% | 25.0% | 4.10 | exposed |
| Review blueprints, sketches, or work orders to gather information about tasks to be completed. | 30.0% | 20.0% | 50.0% | 3.85 | exposed |
| Observe operation of timepiece parts and subassemblies to determine accuracy of movement, and to diagnose causes of defects. | 15.0% | 10.0% | 75.0% | 4.47 | untouched |
| Test operation and fit of timepiece parts and subassemblies, using electronic testing equipment, tweezers, watchmakers' tools, and loupes. | 15.0% | 10.0% | 75.0% | 4.28 | untouched |
| Examine components of timepieces such as watches, clocks, or chronometers for defects, using loupes or microscopes. | 15.0% | 10.0% | 75.0% | 3.95 | untouched |
| Turn wheels of calipers and examine springs, using loupes, to determine if center coils appear as perfect circles. | 15.0% | 10.0% | 75.0% | 3.98 | untouched |
| Examine and adjust hairspring assemblies to ensure horizontal and circular alignment of hairsprings, using calipers, loupes, and watchmakers' tools. | 15.0% | 10.0% | 75.0% | 3.86 | untouched |
| Assemble and install components of timepieces to complete mechanisms, using watchmakers' tools and loupes. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.52 | untouched |
| Replace specified parts to repair malfunctioning timepieces, using watchmakers' tools, loupes, and holding fixtures. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.14 | untouched |
| Disassemble timepieces such as watches, clocks, and chronometers so that repairs can be made. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.13 | untouched |
| Clean and lubricate timepiece parts and assemblies, using solvents, buff sticks, and oil. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.10 | untouched |
| Bend parts, such as hairsprings, pallets, barrel covers, and bridges, to correct deficiencies in truing or endshake, using tweezers. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.74 | untouched |
| Change timing weights on balance wheels to correct deficient timing. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.57 | untouched |
| Adjust sizes or positioning of timepiece parts to achieve specified fit or function, using calipers, fixtures, and loupes. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.52 | untouched |
| Mount hairsprings and balance wheel assemblies between jaws of truing calipers. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.18 | untouched |
| Bend inner coils of springs away from or toward collets, using tweezers, to locate centers of collets in centers of springs, and to correct errors resulting from faulty colleting of coils. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.08 | untouched |
| Tighten or replace loose jewels, using watchmakers' tools. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.82 | untouched |
Task text and importance ratings sourced from O*NET 31.0. Shares computed. The occupation score is the importance-weighted mean. 3 task(s) lacked a usable O*NET weight and are shown but excluded from the weighting.
Occupations either side of this one
The four closest scores in the same occupational family, then the four closest anywhere in the index.
Read this carefully. Exposure is not displacement. A high score means current AI systems can produce this work, not that anyone will stop paying a person to do it. Adoption depends on economics, regulation and inertia that this index deliberately does not model. How the score is built.
What this means in practice
Most of this work is not reachable by current systems, so the immediate pressure is on the administrative edges of the role rather than its core: the scheduling, the reporting, the written records. That is where time is recovered.