From Issue Three of the Gear Patrol Magazine.
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Last June, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) brought down the hammer on Shinola, the biggest name in American watches, ruling that their slogan “Where American Is Made” was misleading, since the work they did in America was primarily assembly, rather than manufacturing. The FTC’s decision reinforced a stringent set of rules surrounding the label “Made in the USA.” The watch industry, put on notice, would henceforth follow the rules, just like makers of leather goods, cars and wrench sets. If watchmakers wanted to call their product “American-made,” it had better be “all or virtually all” produced in the US.
This high standard doesn’t line up with the rest of the watchmaking world. To be “Swiss-made,” for example, parts equal to 60 percent of the cost of a watch’s movement need to be made in the country; the other 40 percent of the cost of the movement, as well as the case, dial, etc., can be foreign made, as long as the watch is assembled and inspected on native soil. Hypothetically, a big-name, big-budget watch from Switzerland could have a sexy, exacting, partially Swiss-made movement housed inside a case made in China and using a dial made in Vietnam.
Today, not a single American watchmaker can accomplish a “Made in the USA” watch by the FTC’s hard-line, “all-in-the-US” definition. Very few can even come close. The reasons why stretch back to WWII, when America lost the best watchmaking industry in the world due to a manufacturing shift for the war, and the Swiss — because they were neutral in that war — became the titans they still are today.
Despite this unfair playing field, there are still great American watch brands popping up throughout our country. Many are flourishing. In 2016, Weiss, a California-based brand, released a movement with parts made mostly in the US. And brands like Niall, Kobold and RGM have been making their own parts here for years now. Though the FTC’s hardline may sting, the high bar it has set may well help American watches catch up to their Swiss counterparts — a return to the days of old.
In the meantime, it’s time to widen your definition of what makes a watch “American.” Some companies not manufacturing in the US are being transparent and sharing their good reasons for not doing so. (This includes Shinola, which has corrected its marketing language since its brush with the FTC, and remains a key player in convincing consumers that they should own an American watch.) Of those, the reputable bunch are designing their watches themselves, and many are assembling their watches in the US, too. And at the very tip of the spear, a handful of domestic watchmakers are manufacturing American cases, dials and even movements of exceptional quality.
So here they are: watches made by Americans (with the help of China, Taiwan and Switzerland) for Americans. Pick one up for $300 or $30,000. Know what you’re buying, and why, and be proud of giving America one more watch to its name.
Editor’s Note: For the sake of transparency, we asked each watchmaker to provide details as to country (and when possible, city) of origin for the main components of each watch. The watches here are presented roughly in order of price, from least to most expensive, and paired simply for visual aesthetic.
