At 3950, me thinks Niall is a short timer.

 

The design doesn't really float my boat but it has Gorilla Glass. Who can say no to something called Gorilla Glass?

 

I thought MTM Special Ops is based in France?

 

Great resource, thanks!

 

Why not include kickstarter companies?

 

Why not?

 

Good info., thanks....|>..|>

 

@yankeexpress The short answer is time. I just didn't feel motivated enough to sort through all the startups on kickstarter, indigogo and any other crowdfunding site. Plus, many of them won't reach their funding goals and those that do haven't yet produced a product. So I figured I would start with established companies where people could, today, go buy a watch. But yeah, it would actually be pretty cool to have a list of those startups. Are you volunteering?

Also, added MKII, MTM and Hexa.

 

Very useful and well organized information.

I wasn't aware Shinola was in house. That's interesting.

 

I thought they used Swiss Ronda movements that were assembled in the U.S.?

This is a great list, by the way.

 

What's this? A well-researched list, mercifully short on speculation and conjecture?

Refreshingly rare around these parts. Thanks for your efforts.

I suspect this is a work-in-progress though!

 

Bernhardt is also based in the US

 

Great, great list, thanks for putting this together. Really enjoyed learning about lesser known brands like K. Myrick.

 

Thanks, this is great! May I suggest another column for fully "Made in America?" Apparently RGM is still the only one who can claim that designation. The others get, at least, some movement parts from elsewhere.

 

@sleepyhead123 To my knowledge Shinola imports all the parts from Ronda and then does the movement assembly in the US. They then call that their Argonite movement.

 

@zachste Thanks for the tip! I emailed them to find out if they do their assembly in the US.

@hanshananigan I added it to the RGM line in the comments field. Given that none of the other watch makers can claim this, as far as I know, it felt a little weird giving one of the companies their very own column.

 

soooo you wouldn't consider Harry Winston a US watch company?

 

Although the HQ is in NYC, it it now owned by Swatch Group. I believe their timepieces have been made in Switzerlard for quite some time. Kinda like Fossil, who is HQ'ed here but makes watches abroad.

 

I believe you need to add Jardur.

 

I agree with hanshananagan; Harry Winston is no longer an American watch company: Swatch Group acquires the jewelry and watch brand Harry Winston Inc. - Swatch Group

@RandM Regarding Jardur, I can't find any evidence that they manufacture or assemble in the US. Do you have anything you can share?

 

You missed two interesting watches made in Chicago:

Astor+Banks Astor and Banks use Swiss movements and also quartz which may be Japanese. Some of their cases appear to be made in the USA.

Hampden Watch :: Home Hampden does custom dials and, as a matter of fact, manufactures dials. They are, indeed, the oldest continuous running watch manufacturer in the USA,
having originally been Clinton Watch, and then changing their name when they bought the Hampden name. How much they manufacture in the USA varies greatly
but they always have some USA made things

 

You should add a section of american founded companies even while they are based in Switzerland for example Ball.

Good job, thanx for the info

 

It occurred to me that Bathys should be on the list, but there doesn't appear to be any US component other than the business being based in Hawaii.

 

@Somewhere else: I checked on Astor + Banks and here's what I found on their website:

What does built in Chicago mean?
Our goal is to one day manufacture as many parts of our watches here in the USA. Currently, watch manufacturing in the US in virtually non-existent so we design our products and have them manufactured outside of the US in Europe and Asia. Many reputable companies take this approach and we hope to change this in the coming years.

I'll keep tabs on them to see when they start manufacturing or assembling in the US.

As for Hampden: I can't find any online research that backs up manufacture or assembly in the US. Maybe you could point me in the right direction?

@yourdudeness080 I realize this might be interesting for others but my personal goal was to understand the state of watchmaking in America today. There's a ton of blogs and forums out there dedicated to the history of American watch making and anything I compiled would be noise on top of the good work others have done.

Added a new company to the list: Timemachinist out of Alaska. And holy .... are their watches big. You could kill someone with those things.

edit: oh neat, a profanity filter.

 

@SomeAssemblyRequired I checked them out. Yeah, I've found a lot of companies that are based on the US but don't seem to do any manufacturing or assembly in the US. Perfectly respectable business model but it just wasn't the target of my research. Maybe I'll add the full list later so people can do their own research as they like.

 

Recently I had a chance to buy refined hardware at a substantial discount and tried to dig up info on the movements. They seem to have a mix oof swiss and chinese, mostly Chinese movements that they rebuild.

 

MKII is actually HQ'd in Wayne, PA.

Lancaster Ave.

 

@Leonine Thanks for catching my error. Updated.

 

More updates added, specifically regarding replies I got from companies on where they manufacture their cases. It turns out it's a bit more complicated than a simple yes or no. As an example, I got the reply below from Wiegand/Lum-Tec which they graciously agreed to let me repost here. So, as for the "US Case" column YMMV.

Most facilities in the US cannot handle the case molding. We mold our cases in HK and Switzerland. Same shops that mold cases for 95% of the big swiss brands. We get the case blanks forged with our materials and we do machining, finishing, coatings, testing, assembling and servicing here locally. We have worked with dozens of shops here and none can match the quality of the forged case blanks we get done overseas. We would prefer to make everything here but also it would be a lost cause because we cannot put made in USA unless also the movement is made in USA. There are no movements made here we can use. Also it has to be over 95% US content which is impossible with our Swiss luminous materials, viton gaskets made in Japan, hands made in Taiwan (largest and best hands maker worldwide), German sapphires, Swiss and Japanese movements, etc. so we support as much as we possibly can locally. We are currently working with NASA engineers on some very special coatings and hardening processes which will be done locally in the near future.

Of the companies I've exchanged emails with I would like to say that Wiegand and Richard Paige have both been great to talk with. Very willing to take the time to have a discussion.