The State of American Watchmaking by Jack Ausmus

Imagine a time when America was a world leader in making watches; using their expertise in mass production to completely rethink the way the world told time. This used to be the reality at the turn of the 20th century. American powerhouses like Waltham in Massachusetts, Elgin in Illinois, and Hamilton in Pennsylvania were making a great variety and number of watches in all different styles at all different price points.

Much has been written about the decline of most of the US's great watch companies. In short, following the military-economic complex of the mid 20th century, these watchmakers so used to mass producing pieces for the military could no longer find a market for many of their products. When coupled with the beginnings of the quartz crisis, this spelled doom for many of America's great watchmakers, with several being sold off to foreign interests (such as Hamilton, who remains a Swiss brand under the Swatch Group umbrella).

Instead of this being a piece pining away idly for the "good old days" of American watchmaking (which I am certainly apt to do), I would today like to focus on some companies still based in the US who are doing their own thing and doing it right.

First off in our brief roundup of a few American enterprises making waves in the world of watchmaking is the Weiss Watch Company out of Los Angeles, California. While Weiss cannot at present count themselves as a true manufacture (they modify ETA movements to taste), the vast majority of the parts and pieces of their watches are made in the good ol' US of A. Their pricing is fairly reasonable as well: for a 38mm hand-wound field watch (much in the vein of the mid-century military watches of some previous great American marques, might I add) will run you in the neighborhood of $2000. When compared to something like the Hamilton Khaki Field Mechanical which has become so hot this last year, this seems exorbitant at four times Hamilton's price. But when taking a closer look at what Weiss is doing here, their unique design language and old-world hand finishing techniques combine to form a watch which really is just as unique as the company which it came from.

For more information about The Weiss Watch Company, follow this link to their website (https://weisswatchcompany.com).

Rounding out the higher end of American watchmaking is RGM watches of Pennsylvania. Hailing from the cradle of Hamilton's successes in Southern Pennsylvania farm country, RGM has succeeded in not only carrying on some of the traditions set by the American watchmakers of yore but creating their own unique, inspired designs. A perfect example of this contrast can be shown by juxtaposing RGM's own "Corps of Engineers" watches with their "Pennsylvania Tourbillon". The Corps of Engineers series watches are inspired by timepieces issued to the US Army Corps of Engineers in World War I, and retain a look that many love from this era while being available in more contemporary sizes than the originals. The Pennsylvania Tourbillon, is true American-made haute horologie- a legendary complication combined with world-class finishing and age-old techniques such as hand blueing and guilloche work on the bipartite dial. It is this commitment to both the past and the future that I feel separates RGM so strongly from much of the competition it faces from around the world, and I would highly suggest that you check out their website if for no other reason than to observe the sheer variety and quality of the timepieces they offer. RGM also is one of the premier watch repair facilities in the United States; check out their website at (http://www.rgmwatches.com).

Instead of focusing on any one maker of watches in the United States for this last part of my column, I would like to call attention to a trend in watches which I truly think does amazing things for both the collector and horologically-minded entrepreneur: microbrands. While the vast majority of microbrands may not be doing all that much themselves when it comes to the actual manufacturing of their timepieces, it is certainly good to see so many different entities designing watches in the ways that THEY want them to be. For so long the inexpensive to mid-priced watch category has been smothered with an avalanche of "homages" and near-copies of more famous or prestigious models, but in today's market one can put their money on a watch that stands not necessarily on the name printed on the dial or on the heritage brand being lovingly imitated: these watches stand on their design and the passion of those who have created them. As many of you know, I am very active on watch-related social media and have followed several microbrands through various stages of their journeys to fruition. What I have seen can be generalized as this: the availability of crowd-funding and easily accessible customer input has allowed just about anyone with a desire to get their foot in the door designing watches, and there is a market for these pieces. Who is to say that the microbrand cutting their teeth on Kickstarter as we speak will not be the next Halios, a brand who (while hailing from our northern ally with a taste for maple syrup and thus being not directly in the scope of this article) has created a devoted customer base, with all types of horophiles clamoring for the opportunity to buy one of their limited-release watches?

Thank you all again for reading, and check back often with Timepiece Archaeology to see more great content like this!

I leave you all with this watchfam: pursue your grail (in watches and in life), keep track of service intervals (for your watches and yourself), and support your local watchmaker.

For Timepiece Archaeology, this has been Jack Ausmus (@watches.md.de).