My Sinister Plan: An American watch

[Robb Ludwig]

I am a beginning watchmaker, and a (not at all) young, idealistic person. I would like to develop my skills to the point that I can make an entire watch from more or less scratch. I would then like to start making watches and selling them--nothing fancy, at least at first, just a reliable mechanical watch. I want it to be a good one, but also American. I would think this would have a great deal of appeal these days.

So my question is why won't this work? What stumbling blocks am I not aware of that make this impossible? At this point I've read and seen enough to know what goes into making a watch, and I've had both business startup/ownership experience, and a small amount of manufacturing experience.

My other thought is there is so much manufacturing potential where I live, Detroit, that I'm living in the midst of this great potential that is going to complete waste.

I look forward to what you all have to say. And I have a box of kleenex ready if you make me cry. But it's ok, I can take it.

Thanks,

Robb

[mars-red]

I'm interested to see where this thread goes, as well. My ultimate goal is also to make watches (well, at least one watch) from scratch but what scares me the most is the general aspect of running a business, rather than anything specific to the trade. Liability, customer satisfaction, the uncertainty (at least at first), and then the whole set of headaches that must be involved with managing employees... I have tremendous respect for people who are good at running businesses, and I often fear I don't have what that takes. When I think about what I truly want (or don't want) out of this experience... I want to make things that interest me, at my own pace, without having to rely upon other people... everything about that just screams "bad business idea" to me. I think time will tell how this hobby evolves for me, and in the meantime I very much enjoy hearing about experiences others have had in this regard or even just ideas relating to same.

[James Roettger]

The Swiss watch industry survived the quartz revolution by going high end. Mechanical watches have become "works of art" rather than just utilitarian objects. You would need to stay fairly high end to compete and and pay American wages. You could be like Apple, design it here and farm the work out to China but this defeats the purpose. One advantage would be the "Made in America" prestige. American watches used to be esteemed. I see an opening for you primarily because the Swiss are shooting themselves in the foot with their "exclusivity" denying parts to independent watch makers. This behavior hurts the watch industry in America. I see a need also for "adaptable" movements too that could be sold to custom watch builders. These movements could have swap out parts that would be used on extra thick dials such as those set with diamonds etc. Many jewelers would be happy to be able to obtain such movements along with a nicely indexed parts list. The Swiss are driving watchmakers nuts with their snob crap. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate their "grand complidcations" but a little flexibility would make the whole experience more fun. Just look at Patek Phillipe's service price list and the thought of owning one becomes daunting. American cowboy free spirit could reclaim a section of the market.

[slikmetalfab]

Robb,
I also live in metro-Detroit and am trying to develop an American watchmaker company.

Scott

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[mars-red]

Robb,
I also live in metro-Detroit and am trying to develop an American watchmaker company.

Scott

Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk 2

Oh hi Scott! I didn't know you were on here, I almost FB'd you to see if you wouldn't mind giving your input here. What have you found to be hurdles, so far, with the business aspect of things or the technical aspect of things? You already had prior experience with the business aspect, is that correct? Do you think it's the sort of thing where "you just have the right stuff or you don't"?

-Max

[slikmetalfab]

Max, Robb,

I think this has legs. The biggest hurdle I have is the movement. I can buy swiss, but that is then not completely American.

I have started talking with a couple of guys who make their own movements, but it is not cost effective to buy one of theirs to put into my watch to sell and still make a profit.

So I started to buy old Waltham movements and then try to design a watchcase around them. Making one-off designs. But then getting parts for those movements is hard.

Now with that being said...

To sell a custom American watch is a tough market when everyone who has the money to buy an expensive watch wants a Swiss name brand and not a brand that they hardly know.

Quite a few hurdles to overcome, but should be fun in the meantime.

My view is to create my own designs, build a few and if they sell, they sell. If not, so be it. I am trying to view it as a hobby rather than a career move. Then if it takes off, great. I will cross that bridge when I come to it.

I am always open to ideas and opportunities. Let's keep this going and see what kind of interest there really is.

Scott

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[Robb Ludwig]

Scott, Max,

Although my ideas are barely formed or informed, here's what looks good to me right now...

The obvious starting point to me is the movement. More specifically, a basic workhorse movement that's reliable. I keep thinking about car chases, and why Detroit doesn't use them in their ads. Have you ever seen one where the cops have blown out the wheels of the car they're after and it's still moving at 100 mph with sparks shooting out from the rims. That's the kind of movement I'm thinking of--as rugged as practical. But also making it somewhat modular in that other features can be added to the base movement without having to reinvent the whole thing.

I think it would be cool if they were sized in the American sizing system.

Parts and finished movements should be available to anyone. I'd like to do something as open as possible.

Instead of creating a design from scratch, there are probably many Waltham, Elgin, or other existing American designs that could be more or less copied intact and because of their age, free of copyright or patent. Then it becomes a matter of speccing out parts and either making them under one roof, or farming the work out (not overseas) and just doing assembly. I would prefer the former, but could live with the latter for a while.

Sourcing steel and brass wouldn't be any problem. I do wonder about hairsprings, mainsprings, and jewels, and how difficult they will be to get. (A quick google just came up with U.S. Hairspring LLC. So maybe that's not so hard after all.)

The biggest point of all would be that it is a movement with a great big ol' "Made in America" on it and a well made, realiable product. In that regard I even spent some time last night reading the Federal Trade Commission's Guides for the Watch Industry http://www.ftc.gov/os/1997/06/watchgui.pdf (If anybody tells you watches are boring, give them that link. They'll be reading deCarle likes it's crack after that.)

Looking forward,

Robb

[pithy]

. . . . . or farming the work out . . . . .

There has been a previous discussion on a not unrelated topic. Fabrication of the first 'perfect' part takes a while, the next one is maybe a little faster and the next eight will be 'all over the place' time wise. The next one hundred could take less time than the first ten. The expertise that a fabricator gains in this one part need not be duplicated by others.

In wheel cutting and pinion (leaf) cutting there are certain toolings and methods that support producing the 'blanks' for these items in 'bulk'. So, setting up for runs of various stages of production could really empower this process.

By finessing the production the base caliber, this concept could become much less of a pipe dream.

p

[slikmetalfab]

Sort of like the "Henry Ford" of watches. Create the ideal production line/process for watchmaking.

It could be as simple as one source builds only one part -gaining them the "expert" at that one item, etc. to allow sourcing the entire movement within America, then have one master assembler/ finisher to wrap it all up.

Scott



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[pithy]

. . . . . . It could be as simple as one source builds only one part -gaining them the "expert" at that one item, etc. to allow sourcing the entire movement within America, then have one master assembler/ finisher to wrap it all up. . . . .

Exactly, Smithers! If we can just line up the minions for the new 'Robb's American Watch Cartel'. Now let me see . . . . . . ah, yes . . . . these will do niceeeeely . . . .

p