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AMERICA WATCH:A MELTING POT
BY MARTON RADKAI
In the annals of watchmaking, the United States of America has a big chapter, though its glory days were largely during the industrial revolution, when a combination of unfettered capitalism, technical ingenuity, and scientific research generated and drove a strong market. Benjamin Franklin’s “Time is money” really came into its own then, because measuring time became essential to conducting daily business, be it running large factories, keeping a fleet of trains operating safely, or coordinating attacks in newer, more technological warfare.
Many of the great names of the U.S. watch industry developed their reputations during this period. Ball, Hamilton, Waltham are monikers that are still making the rounds, though they are now Swiss- made. Still, they are always quick to remind the consumer of their roots. What brought the glorious U.S. watch industry to its knees was essentially a strategic imbalance: too much business, not enough engineering to keep up with technical changes. In a nutshell, making interchangeable parts and standardizing production methods were fine for a while, resulting in cost savings and greater profits, but ultimately failed to get the better of the more flexible, diversified, and innovative competition, notably from Switzerland. As the quartz crisis began to ebb in the 1980s, the convenience of efficient, accurate, and robust Swiss movements quickly eclipsed the Made in USA label for the industry, now merely a shadow of its former self.
Industry and business are constantly changing, and while big manufacturing has vanished, many designers and low- volume watchmakers have been able to utilize outstanding movements and sell what might be considered niche products. Old names have been revived and new brands in turn drive a refreshed market. Not surprisingly, knowledge transfers and the presence of suppliers and available staff have created some clustering.
THE AMERICAN EPICENTER
If there is one spot in the United States that can compare with the Jura in Switzerland or Glashütte in Germany, it is Pennsylvania. This state was once home to Adams&Perry, Lancaster Watch Company, Hamilton, and other major names. While these enterprise have disappeared or moved, their spirit stays strong. For nearly twenty- five years the former hub of this industry in Lancaster has been home to RGM (see page 270), founded and led by Roland Murphy, who is unique in that he has actually made three in- house calibers that he fits into American- themed watches like the Pennsylvania Tourbillon or the Baseball In Enamel, which runs on his Caliber 801. His most recent caliber is a rebuilt motor barrel, with an improved way of affixing the spring barrel to the mainplate using jewels. The motor barrel was once found in high- end pocket watches. Because of the size of the company, Murphy admits he cannot compete with the commercial power of the large brands, but his outstanding work and very identifiable watches do have a fan base and, thanks to them and the Internet, RGM is doing well.
Well west of Lancaster, in Pittsburgh, are the premises of Kobold Expedition Tools (see page 200), founded by German- born Michael Kobold. Kobold started his business in 1998 and also set out to make an “American watch.” So far, he has been able to source cases and other parts domestically and does all the assembly. The pride of the business is the Soarway case. As an avid mountain climber, Kobold has expanded his company’s portfolio to include knives and other accessories. His headquarters are in a big red traditional farmhouse north of Pittsburgh, in Volant, Pennsylvania.
The practical tool watch genre has a big following, and so it’s no wonder that military style watches attract buyers. They symbolize ruggedness, toughness, adventure, but also good timing, all stuff that has sincere lizard brain appeal. Kobold, for example, has produced watches especially for the Navy SEALs according to precise government- issued specifications. Another Pennsylvanian who has tapped successfully into the tool watch market is Bill Yao, founder and CEO of Mk II (see page 218). This small company gives new life to older equipment. In a workshop in Wayne, Pennsylvania, northeast of Philadelphia, Yao and his team restore and rebuild some of the diver’s watches that were once sold commercially and have not lost any of their aesthetic charm. Now, they are outfitted with modern insides.
THE EASTERN SEABOARD
It takes a certain amount of experience and self- confidence to make watches because the product will inevitably reflect the personality and taste of the watchmaker. A feeling for local history and lore always shines through, in the same way artists might use local landscapes or subjects when painting or musicians adapt local folk traditions. George Thomas and Hartwig Balke were sailing buddies and had already spent decades in Baltimore when they founded Towson (see page 302). Their collection of timepieces is an ode to the Chesapeake Bay, to sailing, and to the glory days of their city. Among the most remarkable pieces is the Pride II, with an escutcheon- shaped case that honors the Pride of Baltimore II, a reconstructed clipper now berthed in the city’s harbor.
Maryland is close enough to Pennsylvania, and so it is perhaps catching some horological vibes, because in Hagerstown the simply named Hager Watches (see page 173) has started ticking loudly enough to attract attention. The goal of founder Pierre “Pete” Brown is an affordable luxury watch, and his approach is “guerrilla- style,” in a sense: using Internet opportunities like crowdfunding, Facebook, Instagram, and other lowcost, high- dispersal mean. He started small and low, with a $200 diver driven by a Chinese Seagull. It had all the bells and whistles, plus a slightly Rolex- y look. Since then, however, Brown has graduated to ETA and derivatives, and he now offers four collections including the reproduction of a vintage pilot’s watch (Flieger or B- Uhr) and the GMT Traveler with a sweep second time zone and high- tech ceramic inserts on the bezel.
REVVING IT UP
Those who have been through the maelstrom of a crisis and come out on the other side understand the famous Nietzsche quote that “What doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger.” Detroit is a case in point. To discount it as a failed urban experiment is to disrespect the staggering combination of business acumen and technical creativity that made the place truly famous, not to mention its enormous artistic output from Motown music to the excellent Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the first orchestra to broadcast a concert over the airwaves.
It is only logical that a horological cluster has started growing in the city. The name most associated with this new development of late has been Shinola, formerly a shoe polish brand and part of a barnyard expression suggesting ignorance. It was a good name for a brand, redolent of older apple pie, can- do values, and a kind of rough- andtumble proletarian work ethic from the days when management got grease on its hands. It is owned by the Texas- based investment group Bedrock Brands. Shinola opened a factory and headquarters in the Alfred Taubman Center (formerly the Argonaut Building), home of the College of Creative Studies in 2011. It came out with its first watch, the Runwell, in 2013 and has since produced a number of different models like the Canfield, the Brakeman, and most recently the Willard, which gives the buyer the some opportunities to customize. These watches have a clean, no- nonsense technical look— a touch retro, perhaps—and while they are not exactly cheap, they do fit a middle- class budget, especially if the buyer cares to back American- made products.
Though Shinola “only” makes quartz watches, it has been assembling a series of in- house movements called the Argonite with the help of the Swiss company Ronda and using, as the press releases say, “mostly American parts.”
Shinola has grand goals and, given energy and investments, will probably achieve them. The company has diversified into leather goods, journals, bicycles, and even pet accessories. It supports another watch brand in Filson Watches, which also looks back nostalgically to better times. There are some detractors, of course, who suggest that the Detroit connection is a little exaggerated. But in April 2016, the brand received a high accolade when President Obama ordered a special Shinola with the presidential seal to give to Prime Minister David Cameron on the occasion of a state visit to Great Britain.
While Shinola was still in the planning stage, another Detroit brand was already busy putting out some in- your- face carthemed watches. But you don’t really have to be a fan of cars to appreciate the offthewall creations pumped out by Equipe (French for “team”), one of a stable of brands belonging to the group Resultco. The names of the watches speak for themselves: Gasket, Big Block (a chrono with large pushers and crown that stick idiosyncratically out of the case), Dash XXL, and so forth. The prices are in the $200–600 range, for example, and for that the customer can get a watch driven by a Swiss, Japanese, or Chinese quartz movement. Cases are of surgical steel, and dials can be complex on some of these pieces. One is of carbon, another lit up with tritium gas tubes. The Ball Joint costs nearly $1,000, but the buyer can have fun with “ball joints” that actually swivel 360° as an added conversation piece.
Resultco president Jeff Freedman is one of those genial American entrepreneurs who know just how to figure out what people are looking for before they even know it themselves. Equipe was the outcome of a project with the car industry that never got off the ground. His other brands cover the entire range of what people could want in a watch without having to mortgage their house. Heritor automatics feature such delights as openworked dials or coin edges, and for the ladies, he came up with the Empress. For the more staid customer, Resultco offers Reign.
The most recent member of the growing Detroit watch family is perhaps also the most luxurious, though the price segment remains low. Patrick and Amy Ayoub are experienced designers: Patrick with cars and mechanical objects, Amy in interiors. Patrick Ayoub was cofounder of the Bozeman Watch Company, which shut down in 2015, and has also worked with Towson’s Hartwig Balke on the famous Pride II. Inspired by the success of Shinola, these two decided to invest their own money in founding the Detroit Watch Company in 2013 (see page 134). They design all their own pieces, which are inspired by their city and its history. The first series, run on a mechanical Miyota movement, was appropriately called 1701, the year in which the Sieur de Cadillac set up shop on the Detroit River. They have a flyer that pays tribute to the World War II B- 24 bomber, known as the Liberator, which was built in Detroit. And, finally, the M1- Woodward is a chronograph series running on an ETA 7750.
A SMATTERING OF CREATORS
While much of the U.S. watchmaking and selling is concentrated on the central reaches of the Eastern Seaboard or in the Great Lakes area (one should not forget Michigan’s Ernst Benz, another regular in the pages of Wristwatch Annual), other parts of the country have not been asleep. In Kansas City, the name of an ancient Irish king, Niall, found its way onto the dial of very classical wristwatches, with attractive, frank faces, that fit any occasion. The One series also allows for many iterations, be it the S., with small seconds, or a “Cherry Red” designs. Founder Michael Wilson, who traces his heritage to the Irish king, is proud of the fact that all components are sourced in the United States . . . barring the movement, of course, which is an Eterna 39.
Farther west, Colorado is home to Vortic, a young brand producing genuinely madein-the- USA watches (see page 24), and Montana has its eponymous brand, where traditional western crafts adorn a growing collection of watches like the Model 1915 Western Design Premium, which is handengraved and bejeweled. Montana, founded by Jeff Nashan, used to have a competitor in Bozeman. When the latter closed its doors, many prepaying customers were left without a watch and without much compassion for former CEO Chris Wardle.
As it turns out, the United States is a rather prolific producer of watches. There are many more companies hard at work on attractive designs or watches to make a splash. Florida, rapidly becoming the marketing home to many big brands, is where one finds Kriëger, a maker of large, colorful watches with a notoriously prominent crown. Word has it that Ira Krieger found himself stuck at a bridge at high tide while sailing back to his home in Miami. “If only there were a watch . . .,” he thought, and soon there was one: the Kriëger Tidal Chronometer, which sold out and spawned a brash brand with some unusual pieces like the aptly named Mysterium of unique clear aluminum.
On the other coast, things have also been busy. For well below the 1k mark, a watch fan can get an elegant, modern Stinson or Kendrick by Xetum, a California company that seems to have borrowed the stringent design codes of Silicon Valley. These may not be a draw for VIPs, jet- setters, and Califortunistas, however. Their watchmaker will more likely be Chris Aire, whose glittery, wildly shaped watches have stolen the heart and wrist of the likes of Angelina Jolie, Cedric the Entertainer, and even Clint Eastwood. Aire, a native Nigerian who graduated from the Gemological Institute of America, saw his chance in the yet untapped “urban” demographic. He set about satisfying its particular needs and spreading the message to be bold and brassy. Aire—known as the Iceman, the Emperor of Ice, and the King of Bling—has a rags- to- riches story in the best American tradition, though his attempt to patent “red gold” has made him no friends in the industry.
Things take time when building an industry. For established manufacturers like Roland Murphy, the step- by- step approach is working well: as a small, independent brand, he can still work with customers on a very personal level. For Michael Kobold, whether a movement is &147;made in USA” is something of a red herring, especially since it’s the case of a watch that takes all the beatings. Pete Brown of Hager Watches,however, is setting his sights on a larger prize, it seems—namely, creating a genuine internationally competitive industry. “The key to reviving this industry is an extensive collaboration among private industry and government,” says Brown. “Government investment and incentives to rebuild production/purchase manufacturing equipment, low- interest loans, incubation and growth incentives, business tax breaks for American companies, and trade- enforcement measures on watches made overseas all compel companies to open factories in the U.S. to serve the local markets.”
While Brown is confident that the industry has the wherewithal to come back, he, as everyone, realizes that the macroeconomic conditions must be considered. If the world economy is faltering, people will not be buying watches. But even without the financial power of, say, a Richemont Group, U.S. watches have a chance. American brands are small, and that means flexible. They can creatively adapt their business model to the realities on the ground. And they have a large domestic market. All that is needed is suppliers of parts, or, better yet, complete American- built movements that could compete with products from Switzerland and Europe. And those developments may be in the offing as you read these lines.
