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Quand j'étais horloger, le travail était très minutieux.

Quand j'étais horloger, le travail était très minutieux.
When I was a watchmaker, the work was very meticulous.
From Lesson 334:Correlative conjunctions (non seulement... mais aussi)·French

Questions & Answers about Quand j'étais horloger, le travail était très minutieux.

Why is there no article before horloger?
When stating a profession after the verb être, French drops the indefinite article (un or une). You would only use the article if you added an adjective, for example: Quand j'étais un excellent horloger.
Why are the verbs étais and était in the imperfect tense instead of the passé composé?
The imperfect (l'imparfait) is used for ongoing past states, habits, or background descriptions. Being a watchmaker and the nature of the work were continuous states during that period of the speaker's life, rather than completed, isolated events.
Does the adjective minutieux have anything to do with minutes on a clock?
Yes, it shares the same root! However, instead of measuring time, minutieux translates to meticulous, thorough, or detailed. It refers to paying close attention to minute (tiny) details, which is a perfect fit for describing a watchmaker.
How could we use this lesson's correlative conjunctions to say the work was "not only meticulous but also difficult"?
You would frame the two adjectives with the conjunctions like this: le travail était non seulement très minutieux, mais aussi difficile. This structure is excellent for adding strong emphasis to your descriptions.

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