I thought this was interesting when I got the email and watched the YouTube video. A nice looking diver's watch that is made in the USA (Arizona) and is at a price point where virtually everyone can afford to own one if they choose to. Since people on the board are always looking for Made In the USA stuff, I thought I'd pass this along. I couldn't resist and grabbed a blue one as a daily, grab and go, wear watch.

Disclaimer: I have zero affiliation with Long Island Watch other than as a customer, and this is a quartz watch so its not high end or collectable.

Shinola Watch, From Detroit LINK

They are assembled in the USA, some parts may be American made, some parts are imported.

Interesting name, isn't it.
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The Ameriquartz is licensed from Rhonda SSA.

The Rhonda designs are from ETA.

www.Rescoinstruments.com

Coronado, U.S.A.

My Patriot Gen 1 is indestructible.

Guys, the point of my posting this was not to claim these watches were the 'only' US made watches available, or that these watches are better than other American made offerings. The point here was to point out a "Made in America" watch that was attractive (IMO) and affordable to just about any of us. If I had $1,500-$2,000 of disposable income to throw at a watch, which I don't, these other options might actually be an option. But for me, and likely others, that price range is not viable.

Point being that Made in the USA has two definitions: the legal one which allows a Ford with Canadian motor and Mexican transmission, and the American version where about 99% of it is sourced from a US soil located factory.

Because of the long term trend to offshore all American production, current events show we might need to change that up. Who's in for a US made quartz? I see NO reason we can't, it just takes capital money, a plant, long term financial stability and a customer base. Since we presently purchase more than 65% of our cars from a foreign brand, it demonstrates we have an uphill battle.

Im all for it, here's one example of how it will price out: a Linux based cell phone made in China, $500, US made, $1,200. Same identical phone in all respects. When we agree to start paying each other a living wage, a US made watch will take off. Until we do, we will pay $2.50 an hour no benefits to a Pacific rim employee instead of ourselves, cause we aint taking a pay cut.

That is global economics right now.

Most of the US based watchmaking died in the 1970s, even Bulova is owned by Citizen and built overseas. There are no plants to refurbish and if we tried it would be in all the problem states. New equipment, trained assembly personnel, and a design team that can make something more stylish that an Timex Easy Reader dial and distribution are the challenges. If it was an offshoot of an electronics company it would be a huge backwards step in their culture, hence all the smart watches from them. Much more - "I've got a cell phone only boomers wear watches" has lowered the numbers sold as a percentage of population. We are stuck in another tech revolution just like the manual wind makers were in 1975. Few survived.

If I had capitalization I or ten thousand others would do it in a heartbeat. A perpetual calendar, with manual adjustments for seconds +/- at the end of the month to regulate, and one module like the TX did with multiple step motor powered axis, a non removable stem for control - can't jerk it out, can't bust it - caseless back which is old 90's Citizen tech, 300M Dive rating universal in all models, I could go on for another page. Gorilla shatter resistant glass instead of busted sapphire on the tile floor, and for fun even UV leds to power the solid molded lume indices. And for show, the clasp is under the watch case integral, no exposed buckle, ion plated links for high scratch resistance.

$329 MSRP? That's a big boy price. Could we do it? PS if Rolex ever did it, it's prohibited styling. I would avoid that look. Its less jewelry and more a time meter.

I have an idea for a watch that I believe would do well and I’m actually shocked it hasn’t been attempted by more watch companies. I looked into it a bit and I don’t see any way that I can build it here and be competitive. I’m not even sure I could afford to make a prototype from American manufacturing.

The automatic movement would be Swiss (I don’t think too many people would be upset) and/or Seiko. There would likely be parts made in China like the dial maybe the hands and other items because it would be quite hard to avoid and if I could make it domestically the cost and effort would be substantial.

I am not sure I would be able to offer any real benefit from such tremendous effort and investment at least not for a while.

The problem is even if I were to make my watch with mostly Chinese manufacturing even that would require a substantial investment and risk. Lead times for manufacturing would also be a big potential issue.

With manufacturing and the situation in the world and the watch industry itself I know I couldn’t make a watch only in the USA without a tremendous amount of investment.

I suppose you could go a different route and source quality components including Chinese made parts then slowly move to manufacturing your own components while assembling everything in the USA.

I’ve been assembling my own modified watches from Seiko’s vast aftermarket support and having a blast. Interesting fact I’ve observed, some of the “Japan” and “Made in Japan” dials on my Seiko divers say “made in China” on internal parts such as the inside of the case and case back. You can’t see this unless you take the watch apart.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: stickman428,

Bigdeal thanks for posting this. Very interesting,nice build for the price.
I like that they put the battery number on the case back. I like to change my own battery's on the few quartz watches my wife and I own.
Most of my watches are automatic/mechanical movements however I like having a quartz watch for certain outdoor activity's.

Thanks

quote:

Originally posted by bigdeal:
Guys, the point of my posting this was not to claim these watches were the 'only' US made watches available, or that these watches are better than other American made offerings. The point here was to point out a "Made in America" watch that was attractive (IMO) and affordable to just about any of us. If I had $1,500-$2,000 of disposable income to throw at a watch, which I don't, these other options might actually be an option. But for me, and likely others, that price range is not viable.

Oh they are making the plates and bridges in their factory, they merely licensed the designs for quick production. Rhonda licensed their designs from ETA originally.

The Ameriquartz has metal plates, which is far superior to the asian resin plates and bridges.

This is a welcome competitor in the watch world.

That's good to know. My concept would use a modified copy of a Citizen or TX quartz caliber.

Keeping in mind that a works company would likely have economy of scale to keep the price down, it then becomes the source of a movement for others. One company did that a long time ago, and sold their's to watchmakers in London - the Rolex company in Switzerland. Vintage English watches with a commodity Swiss movement are common.

Thanks for that, love USA watch companies and will need to add one of these to sit next to my Shinola and VAER watches.

quote:

Originally posted by OKCGene:
Shinola Watch, From Detroit LINK

They are assembled in the USA, some parts may be American made, some parts are imported.

Interesting name, isn't it.
.

Shinola owns Filson.

Just good to see people paying attention to where our goods are being made and sourced.
Even if it's "Made in America" which really means the continent of, that's better than CCP stuff.
Takes a long time to turn a big ship, it's progress in the right direction.

Ares Watch Co

Owner is former LEO, Air Marshall, CIA Officer and firearms instructor. I've met Matt a handful of times and knew he was an aficionado of time pieces, good for him for starting his own company and building them here in the US.

quote:

Shinola owns Filson.

Sort of. Both Shinola and Filson are owned by and operate under a privately held parent company, Bedrock Manufacturing.