The USA Has A New Watchmaking Company

[tony20009]

So there's little doubt in my mind that someone at Shinola has a sense of humor. Why else would a company choose that name given the age old epithet?

I went shopping for some new rags yesterday and passed the watch counter, and this new brand of watch, Shinola, popped into view. They are clearly not expensive but they have a nice solid feel and a sensible look. Most notably, they are American made in Detroit. Sure Keyton Myrick makes watches, in the most very literal sense of the word, as do RGM with their Caliber 20 (fairly new) and we now have another US manufacture watch, albeit in the quartz space, and this one at a very reasonable price point.

http://www.hodinkee.com/blog/hands-o...a-runwell-40mm
http://wornandwound.com/2013/04/08/s...rn-in-detroit/

[wrickem]

Oh, what do you know, Tony20009, you don't know $hit from Shinola anyway!!!! (somebody had to say it). I have an old bottle of Shinola edge and heel dressing sitting in my shoe-shine kit.

It's a beautiful watch, I can see why it caught your eye. I think it might do better if the name wasn't so crappy.

[tony20009]

Originally Posted by wrickem

Oh, what do you know, Tony20009, you don't know $hit from Shinola anyway!!!! (somebody had to say it). I have an old bottle of Shinola edge and heel dressing sitting in my shoe-shine kit.

It's a beautiful watch, I can see why it caught your eye. I think it might do better if the name wasn't so crappy.

Well, at least they didn't choose the other key term in the axiom. LOL.

I know somebody would surely share the complete epithet, though I'd hoped it wouldn't have been levied at me, even in humor.

[MandMs335Msport]

Very attractive watch, being a small collector of watches, I was ignorant of the fact that there are American made watches, albeit, Swiss movements.

Nice, name doesn't bother me, thinking it is a family name of some type, now that would suck!

Have to keep an eye on this company, perhaps get one of these upon future release.

[wrickem]

I just hit their website and I think it's funny that the same company that makes this beautiful watch also really does make shoe polish.

[tony20009]

As luck would have it it turns out that a watch brand I knew of is indeed American too: Hager. They make a military styled mechanical watch for about the same price as the Shinola (a bit less actually) and use the ETA 2824 movement.

[kits135i]

Most of these watches have a quarts movement. What a waste for that kind of money. Also most are very small. Only a handful that are decent size.

[tony20009]

Originally Posted by kits135i

Most of these watches have a quarts movement. What a waste for that kind of money. Also most are very small. Only a handful that are decent size.

???

• Shinola: Quartz. Not small at all. 40 mm is smallest. It is still a manufacture watch. There aren't too many in-house made watches you can buy at all for $500.
• Hager: Mechanical. 40 mm is smallest. 42 mm is most common size. Not manufacture.
• RGM: Mechanical. 35 - 42 mm, maybe larger. Calibre 20 watches are manufacture.
• KM: Mechanical. 100% custom made by hand, so you can have any size you want.

Are you sure you posted in the right thread?


To my mind, Shinola's seem like watches priced and marketed to exactly the kind of person who shops in the stores in which they are sold -- Saks is the store I know about. I suspect for that store's customer, many of whom are quite comfortable with having spent $5K+ for one or more watches, $500 - $600 is fine price point for a smart looking, "fun," casual watch -- for oneself or as a gift -- for it's not expensive and it's not dirt cheap either. It is, however, no more costly than a pair of decent shoes or a couple shirts and thus falls into much the same vein as those items. If you see it and you like it, just buy it and enjoy.

[kits135i]

Originally Posted by tony20009

???

• Shinola: Quartz. Not small at all. 40 mm is smallest. It is still a manufacture watch. There aren't too many in-house made watches you can buy at all for $500.
• Hager: Mechanical. 40 mm is smallest. 42 mm is most common size. Not manufacture.
• RGM: Mechanical. 35 - 42 mm, maybe larger. Calibre 20 watches are manufacture.
• KM: Mechanical. 100% custom made by hand, so you can have any size you want.

Are you sure you posted in the right thread?


To my mind, Shinola's seem like watches priced and marketed to exactly the kind of person who shops in the stores in which they are sold -- Saks is the store I know about. I suspect for that store's customer, many of whom are quite comfortable with having spent $5K+ for one or more watches, $500 - $600 is fine price point for a smart looking, "fun," casual watch -- for oneself or as a gift -- for it's not expensive and it's not dirt cheap either. It is, however, no more costly than a pair of decent shoes or a couple shirts and thus falls into much the same vein as those items. If you see it and you like it, just buy it and enjoy.

40mm is small. There are plenty of women's watches that are 38mm. Sorry to me they are small. Maybe on the average wrist they are ok, but I have 9" wrist. 40mm and even 44mm looks like a child's watch on my wrist. I wear 50-55mm and my daily is 53mm and most people think its a 42 or 44. Smallest I have is 45mm. That is a LumTec. Seems to be better quality than what's listed for less money.

500$ for quarts??? That just does not add up to me. I see they use sapphire crystal and other stuff, but seriously, you can get a swiss auto from Hamilton for $500 which has a lot more to offer in every aspect.

I like the looks, but not for the price range for what you are getting. Just my opinion. The lower end range I would buy LumTec. Same money and you get more. Again just how I feel.

But just like you said. Does not matter what you buy, buy what you like and wear it in good health. Who cares what others say. But being a forum, I am putting my worthless .02 in just like everyone else.

[tony20009]

Originally Posted by kits135i

40mm is small. There are plenty of women's watches that are 38mm. Sorry to me they are small. Maybe on the average wrist they are ok, but I have 9" wrist. 40mm and even 44mm looks like a child's watch on my wrist. I wear 50-55mm and my daily is 53mm and most people think its a 42 or 44. Smallest I have is 45mm. That is a LumTec. Seems to be better quality than what's listed for less money.

500$ for quarts??? That just does not add up to me. I see they use sapphire crystal and other stuff, but seriously, you can get a swiss auto from Hamilton for $500 which has a lot more to offer in every aspect.

I like the looks, but not for the price range for what you are getting. Just my opinion. The lower end range I would buy LumTec. Same money and you get more. Again just how I feel.

But just like you said. Does not matter what you buy, buy what you like and wear it in good health. Who cares what others say. But being a forum, I am putting my worthless .02 in just like everyone else.

I can understand how your wrists make a 42 mm watch small. Okay.

I would grant your point re: Hamilton but for the fact that Hamiltons just use OTS movements from ETA. Shinola does at least assemble their own movements, even if they are quartz and not mechanical. For that reason, a Shinola is minimally a semi-manufacture watch in much the same way an Omega is a semi-manufacture watch. The difference being that Omega takes am OTS ETA movement and tweaks it. It's certainly safe to say that neither has a full on in-house movement as does JLC, Patek, Nomos, even Auguste Reymond or that Russian company whose name escapes me just now.

The Russian folks make a watch model called a Pilot that can be had for about ~$700 and is entirely mechanical and manufacture. Citizen actually builds its quartz movements and one doesn't have to pay $500 for one. So, yes, there is no shortage of ways to spend one's five or six hundred dollars and get a nice watch. What one cannot do is spend that sum and get an American made manufacture watch, but by buying Shinola, one can get about as close as is possible to do.

I respect your POV and have no issue with it, for as you said, placet suum cuique. The short is that I just don't see ~$500 as sum worth stressing over just exactly how much value I'm getting from a watch so priced. I like Robert Graham shirts, so whenever I go shopping, I invariably see one or two that catch my fancy, even though I'm not really there to buy shirts, but I buy them anyway. The Shinola strikes me about the same as buying a couple shirts or pair of shoes, either of which will run me about the same amount of money. (More often though two shirts will cost more than than the darn watch. )

By the same token, were someone to ask me what watch should they buy for ~$500, I doubt I'd suggest Shinola unless they mentioned desiring something that was entirely consistent with a Shinola. For example, they wanted an American manufacture watch or if they wanted something that some hundred years from now might be of note/value. That's not to say I am certain that the Shinola will become a collectors piece, but as it's the first of a thing, it might be, if only for it's historic and cultural significance and because it's the first thing issued by a company that promises to produce some really great watches down the road. Something similar happened to the 1933 Ingersoll Mickey Mouse watch which then sold for, what $1, but now would be hard to find for $1000.

All the best.

[beamercharles]

ohh,...looks good!

[WillBilBy25469]

I agree with you.

[beamercharles]

I've just finished writring an article about Detroit. And I love watches. thanks for the post!

[tony20009]

Once in a while, I find something that appeals to me as a story. When I find such a thing for less than $3K, I like it even better.

Roland Paige. Anybody heard of them/him? Bought one? Waltham or Elgin? Got an old one hanging around somewhere? Maybe you like a lot about vintage looks aside from having to restore them. Problem solved. If you happen to have a soft spot for the old names in American watchmaking, check this out, and be sure to peek at the vintage movement page. I'm liking what I see so far.

http://www.rpaigewatch.com/collection/
http://www.ablogtowatch.com/rpaige-w...aige-review/2/

All the best.

[Bronze]

A guy here at work has a Shinola. He loves it, and I think it looks better in person than in any photo. I don't have a problem that the founder is previously behind Fossil. Seems like a lot of people buy expensive brands out of Switzerland even though Swatch Group owns many of them. Doesn't seem to bother them that the parent is famous for watches in crazy colors for under $100.

[tony20009]

Originally Posted by Bronze

A guy here at work has a Shinola. He loves it, and I think it looks better in person than in any photo. I don't have a problem that the founder is previously behind Fossil. Seems like a lot of people buy expensive brands out of Switzerland even though Swatch Group owns many of them. Doesn't seem to bother them that the parent is famous for watches in crazy colors for under $100.

1. That's a good thing. They'd not get far with the profits if the thing got worse looking in person. LOL
2. True. And when you consider that between them and Richemont Group well over 60% of the major, pricey Swiss brands are covered. When you take that in concert with the fact that the guts of something like 90% of all non-manufacture watches are made by ETA, and Swatch owns ETA, it's even more surprising.

But the fact is that for many folks, what they think about a watches is very much like racism: the color of their skin (brand) rather than the content of their character (anything other than the brand name affixed on the dial) is the basis for judgment.

But there are other American companies making watches, Bernhardt, Kobold, RGM, Towson Watch Company and RPaige to name a few.

RPaige is doing something rather novel, though some vintage-watch snobs don't care for it, folks who don't care if a watch is vintage or not might well enjoy them. http://www.rpaigewatch.com/

[Bronze]

Originally Posted by tony20009

[LIST=1]
RPaige is doing something rather novel, though some vintage-watch snobs don't care for it, folks who don't care if a watch is vintage or not might well enjoy them. http://www.rpaigewatch.com/

Those RPaige watches are cool. I like it when fonts are creative. They are out of my price range for now, but I like them.

[JN1]

Originally Posted by Bronze

A guy here at work has a Shinola. He loves it, and I think it looks better in person than in any photo. I don't have a problem that the founder is previously behind Fossil. Seems like a lot of people buy expensive brands out of Switzerland even though Swatch Group owns many of them. Doesn't seem to bother them that the parent is famous for watches in crazy colors for under $100.

I was just going to ask if anyone had seen one of these in person. I'm thinking about picking one up to add to my collection. A clean 'American' made watch is nice to diversify the collection IMO. I'll have to check out a shop that has them in stock nearby. I'm thinking the place inside OC Mix that sells their other stuff must have them there.

Originally Posted by tony20009

[LIST=1]


RPaige is doing something rather novel, though some vintage-watch snobs don't care for it, folks who don't care if a watch is vintage or not might well enjoy them. http://www.rpaigewatch.com/

RPaige is 'novel' but their fonts are way too huge IMO and they look a bit too whimsical for my personal tastes. That's just me though.

[Bronze]

Originally Posted by JNLBC

I was just going to ask if anyone had seen one of these in person. I'm thinking about picking one up to add to my collection. A clean 'American' made watch is nice to diversify the collection IMO. I'll have to check out a shop that has them in stock nearby. I'm thinking the place inside OC Mix that sells their other stuff must have them there.



RPaige is 'novel' but their fonts are way too huge IMO and they look a bit too whimsical for my personal tastes. That's just me though.

Niemen Marcus sells Shinola in the men's department (I stumbled upon this last Friday). I'm not sure if every store has them, but here in Detroit, they do.

[JN1]

Nordstrom has them online, so I'm assuming they have them in-store. I wonder if anyone can hook up a disco yet.