Finding a Future Repairing the Workings of Watches

Pablo Gonzales, 19, enrolled in the program’s first class last spring. He was flunking his courses, clashed with his parents and hung out “with a bad group of kids,” he said.

“I was really going downhill,” he said. “Everything was going wrong,” But he found peace in the three-dimensional puzzle of hundreds of miniature watch pieces.

“It makes you confident about what other things you could do,” said Mr. Gonzalez, who was one of the first program graduates hired by Tourneau.

“I love that feeling of accomplishment,” he said. “I love making it work.”