There’s no real arguing: Switzerland is the preeminent industry leader in watch production. However, companies like Detroit-based Shinola and Los Angeles-based Devon are reinvigorating interest in American watchmakers. We take a brief look at the history of watchmaking in the United States and how watches“Made in the USA” competed with Swiss-made watches to ultimately change the course of watch manufacturing in the 19th century.
From Limited to Mass Production
Before the Industrial Revolution (1760-1840), watchmaking was a long and incredibly detailed process that yielded only a few timepieces a year. Because watch-making was such a labor-intensive process, watches were incredibly expensive and reserved only for the wealthy noble class who could afford the luxury of owning a pocket watch. Complicated watches became a local and time-honored tradition the Swiss carried on for centuries.
To maintain its exclusivity, the best Swiss-made watches were only available in Europe. Meanwhile, the less attractive (and essentially unwanted) models were unloaded in the American market.
But, in the 1850s, the watch industry underwent a significant change as American watch companies began cropping up. Unlike their Swiss counterparts who painstakingly produced a limited number of watches a year, American brands sought to mass produce timepieces. American watch brands took advantage of the era’s manufacturing boom to fine-tune a mechanical process to standardize watch production.
The Massachusetts-based Waltham Watch Company lead this charge, producing high-quality pocket watches with machine-made parts. Like many of its manufacturing contemporaries, the Waltham Watch Company employed an assembly line to expedite and scale production. This revolutionary mass production dramatically lowered the cost of watches and made them widely available to American shoppers.
The Impact on Swiss Watch Brands
Swiss watchmakers took note of their slipping overseas sales. At the 1876 Centennial Exposition, a Swiss representative was stunned to see the American manufacturing innovations in action. Waltham Watch Company demonstrated their automated screw making machine that quickly churned out watch screws that were on-par with the quality screws strenuously made by hand in Switzerland.
To compete with the American brands, the Swiss carved out a unique market space for themselves. Swiss watchmakers adopted some of the American machinery into their own production, but continued to produce highly-complicated pocket watches that relied on both machine- and hand-made parts. In turn, they remained the foremost producer of fine watches. American watchmakers, meanwhile, focused on very simple pocket watches to maximize their output.
The Decline
After World War I, wristwatches pushed out the pocket watch and became the preferred timepiece for men. Swiss brands were able to easily react to this change in tastes and quickly released new wristwatches. American companies, however, lagged behind.
The machinery of American watch brands produced pocket watches so pivoting to wristwatches meant their equipment and assembly lines needed to be completely revamped. The Waltham Watch Company, formerly the premier American watchmaker, struggled to make the change over to wristwatch production and shuttered their doors in 1949. The remaining brands then struggled when the Great Depression devastated the American economy. Wrist watches were a luxury that most Americans could not afford and sales felt. Then, with the outbreak of World War II, American watch production was needed as a part of the war effort, effectively halting any commercial production.
When the war ended, the economy recovered and Americans finally had cash to spend. But, instead of buying up domestic wristwatches, American tastes preferred the foreign Swiss-made watches. During this time, many already-struggling American watch brands were forced to close. One brand, Timex, managed to distinguish itself, however, by producing watches that were so inexpensive they were nearly disposable.
The Resurgence of American Watchmaking
Although Swiss brands have commanded the space for years, there has been a recent revival of American watch manufacturing.
Bulova watches, founded in New York in 1875, found its footing in 1960 when it debuted the world’s first fully electronic watch. Today the brand continues its mass production of mechanical watches.
And, although Shinola watches are built in Detroit with parts from Switzerland, the brand has brought attention back to American watchmaking.
In 2010, the Los Angeles-based Devon watches went toe-to-toe with some of the Switzerland’s best watch brands at Baselworld, the world’s preeminent watch trade show. Devon’s Tread 1 watch model was not only the first American-made watch to compete in the prestigious Grand Prix D’Horologie De Genève but it made it to the finals in the design and concept category.
With a renewed desire for luxury and American-made goods stateside, many believe the US market is eager and poised for a renaissance of the American watch brands.
Photo Credit: nawcc-ch149.com / pippinvintage.com /