A new agreement has been signed by several Swiss luxury watch brands and groups to provide $1.1 million to the watchmaking program at Oklahoma State University's Okmulgee campus. Participating in the Sept. 20 event at OSU–Okmulgee were representatives of luxury watchmakers Audemars Piguet, Breitling, Richemont Group, and Swatch Group, plus OSU university officials. Maarten Pieters, director of the Watchmakers of Switzerland Training and Education Program, came from Switzerland for the ceremony, which marked the ongoing partnership between Swiss watchmakers and OSU– Okmulgee's watchmaking and microtechnology program.
The university has used the 3,000-hour WOSTEP curriculum, considered the world's best in watchmaking, since 1994 and was the first WOSTEP-approved U.S. school. OSU students who pass also earn an associate's degree in applied science, which is integrated into OSU's WOSTE