Happy 4th and great story Tony. From the prototype/first mass produced American watch, Warren Manufacturing Company (Waltham) SN-18, in the early 1850s, on through the 1876 Expo and past WW-II with the watch that was perhaps the ultimate realization of the American System of Manufacturing, the Hamilton 992B, which was produced into the 1970s, American watches had a great 120 year run. I'd say this was way more a success story than a failure. The 992B was probably as close to an interchangeable parts, mass produced watch as any watch of its quality ever. Maybe the greatest thing about this history is that there were so many Hamilton 992Bs made that a watch collector can still find a nice well running example for well under 500 bucks and parts are still readily available. Cheers.
I got to hold it in my hand and photograph it some 25+ years ago. It is still in the same private collection. It is still probably the greatest watch I have ever seen.
It must be remembered that the US watch industry reoriented for the requirements of fighting WW2, making not just watches but other precision instruments for an allied force that saw 80 million people don the uniform.
Swiss watchmaking continued during 1939-1945 and afterwards enjoyed a fixed cheap exchange rate of the SFr from 1946 to 1973 which was favorable for exports.
Soon, low-priced Swiss watches (remember Switzerland made the whole range) flooded into the US market.
Meanwhile yes the Cold War and the high technology revolution provided ample venues for ambitious people and/or capital. It’s a feature not a bug that the US as a whole let others make watches and other simple goods, so that firms like Intel Xerox TI and Apple could be born.
i was excited to discover a brand called 1776 atelier have released a watch that’s over 90% american-made at a sub-$20k price point. it is elaborate and openworked (a bit tacky tbh), but i can see this leading to a near-100% american-made watch for $10k. with the right execution and marketing, that’s a winning product.
Sadly, there is a darker side to American entrepreneurial spirit…a very short attention span and a disposable culture. We get bored easily as a and move on to the “next best thing,” often leaving environmental and human tragedies behind. We don’t retrain workers when an industry dies…we just leave them to fend for themselves. Same thing with our air, land and water…
This was a great whistle stop tour. I admire your restraint, because looking at some of the source material, I’m sure this could have been exponentially longer and more detailed. But you kept it short and sweet, and it was still very enjoyable; a skill I’m still struggling to learn. Well done.
I guess it’s too late to say happy fourth, but hey, happy Thursday I guess 🙂
How interesting. Was only dimly aware of this history.
If I was a Swiss company, I’d be leveraging this history to secure tariff exemptions. Fund more watchmaking schools in the US (which are needed anyways), get tariff relief (because there’s no real policy rationale for watch tariffs other than revenue). Make American watchmaking great again, etc.
NSA bracelets again! Even the clasp is a mirror image. But does it have a spring inside for the perfect fit? Bracelets used to be comfortable but somewhere along the way we decided a curved metal slab was superior.
You should try a delve or two. American pocket watches are impossibly easy to learn, have incredibly transparent metrics and display a near-universal mastery of craft. That, combined with their extremely modest market, tends to provide a poignant counterbalance to modern luxury marketing.
Thanks for the history lesson Tony. Keep up the great work! BTW - that new Berneron bracelet also reminds me of an old bracelet that NSA made for the Zenith Keyhole models of the late 1960s. Their’s had polished & brushed links as well. Enjoy the 4th.
While I appreciate the exploration of the Davide letter and its implications, I'm afraid I can't agree with your conclusions.
AMERICAN: parts interchangeability and mass production were American responses to labor and materiel shortages in the new world, and the denial of domestic markets to their output were a British response borne of soft labor markets and protectionism. We fought the Revolutionary War for Waltham we just didn't know it yet.
AMERICAN: Assembly tracking and product wide tolerance stacking. "This jewel fits that staff" never went away; the piston rings and crank bearings on your car are chosen using exactly this process (Ford didn't just teach himself watchmaking, he tried and failed to produce a "dollar watch" only to dollar-watchify the automotive industry after realizing he could never approach horological tolerances at scale). Unfortunately achieving this production technique requires
AMERICAN: Integration. The Alpenvolk of the Jura were so hidebound to the cottage tradition of "we make hands, they make dials, Hans makes mainsprings" that when an engineer from E. Howard attempted to set up an American-style watch manufacturer there they chased him clear to Schaffhausen, where IWC became the only Swiss manufacturer able to meet the the requirements of the German Air Ministry in 1940. This tradition continued until- wait for it- Swatch, widely recognized as the turnaround of the Swiss watch industry.
It's facetious to compare Waltham, a profitable manufacturing titan whose products are still functional (and cherished!) 150 years later, with OpenAI, a company that spends $8000 for every $400 in revenue and whose business model can best be summed up as "FUD and bailouts." it's equally facetious to argue American watchmaking was brought down by hubris rather than observing that Swiss watches were the original tofu dreg until the sum total of their competition fought two world wars.
It's not that Harley beat Indian on merit. It's that Indian had 100% of their production conscripted to beat the Nazis and Communists.
Happy 4th and great story Tony. From the prototype/first mass produced American watch, Warren Manufacturing Company (Waltham) SN-18, in the early 1850s, on through the 1876 Expo and past WW-II with the watch that was perhaps the ultimate realization of the American System of Manufacturing, the Hamilton 992B, which was produced into the 1970s, American watches had a great 120 year run. I'd say this was way more a success story than a failure. The 992B was probably as close to an interchangeable parts, mass produced watch as any watch of its quality ever. Maybe the greatest thing about this history is that there were so many Hamilton 992Bs made that a watch collector can still find a nice well running example for well under 500 bucks and parts are still readily available. Cheers.
Well said John! 🇺🇸
I’ve never stopped thinking about SN-18 since I learned about it from your writings.
I got to hold it in my hand and photograph it some 25+ years ago. It is still in the same private collection. It is still probably the greatest watch I have ever seen.
It must be remembered that the US watch industry reoriented for the requirements of fighting WW2, making not just watches but other precision instruments for an allied force that saw 80 million people don the uniform.
Swiss watchmaking continued during 1939-1945 and afterwards enjoyed a fixed cheap exchange rate of the SFr from 1946 to 1973 which was favorable for exports.
Soon, low-priced Swiss watches (remember Switzerland made the whole range) flooded into the US market.
Meanwhile yes the Cold War and the high technology revolution provided ample venues for ambitious people and/or capital. It’s a feature not a bug that the US as a whole let others make watches and other simple goods, so that firms like Intel Xerox TI and Apple could be born.
I’m borrowing a friend’s Khaki 250 LE and going to do a write up on it as a bit of an Epilogue on WWII-1970s watchmaking in America!
A 20mm brown or grey canvas strap that “magically” ends up in my care package would be quite the welcomed surprise!!!
i was excited to discover a brand called 1776 atelier have released a watch that’s over 90% american-made at a sub-$20k price point. it is elaborate and openworked (a bit tacky tbh), but i can see this leading to a near-100% american-made watch for $10k. with the right execution and marketing, that’s a winning product.
That was a great read Tony! Happy 4th everyone.
Sadly, there is a darker side to American entrepreneurial spirit…a very short attention span and a disposable culture. We get bored easily as a and move on to the “next best thing,” often leaving environmental and human tragedies behind. We don’t retrain workers when an industry dies…we just leave them to fend for themselves. Same thing with our air, land and water…
This was a great whistle stop tour. I admire your restraint, because looking at some of the source material, I’m sure this could have been exponentially longer and more detailed. But you kept it short and sweet, and it was still very enjoyable; a skill I’m still struggling to learn. Well done.
I guess it’s too late to say happy fourth, but hey, happy Thursday I guess 🙂
and those books are nearly as long as an average SDC Weekly! 😂
😂 lmfaooo
people have written entire books about david's paper!
The care package page says “sold out”. Was this just for a limited time and I missed it?
Just added more to inventory, should be good to order now
Got it, thank you!
Back to sold out again, I got to this newsletter late I guess.
It’s available again -
was catching up on shipments after the holiday weekend :)
Awesome, thanks again Tony. Love the writing and the YouTube videos.
Fun read. Thanks, Tony!
How interesting. Was only dimly aware of this history.
If I was a Swiss company, I’d be leveraging this history to secure tariff exemptions. Fund more watchmaking schools in the US (which are needed anyways), get tariff relief (because there’s no real policy rationale for watch tariffs other than revenue). Make American watchmaking great again, etc.
Nice way to spend part of the July 4 holiday, reading Unpolished! Thanks for the 250th BD subscriber gift Tony. Happy 4th to you!
NSA bracelets again! Even the clasp is a mirror image. But does it have a spring inside for the perfect fit? Bracelets used to be comfortable but somewhere along the way we decided a curved metal slab was superior.
Happy 4th of July Tony, and thanks for the history lesson!
🙏🇺🇸🙏
Great read, Tony! Happy 4th! Which of the American holy Trinity watches is your favorite?⌚I'm a Hammy guy.
I don’t really delve into golden era pocket and railroad watches or art deco shaped wristwatches but love a vintage Hamilton field watch!
You should try a delve or two. American pocket watches are impossibly easy to learn, have incredibly transparent metrics and display a near-universal mastery of craft. That, combined with their extremely modest market, tends to provide a poignant counterbalance to modern luxury marketing.
Thanks for the history lesson Tony. Keep up the great work! BTW - that new Berneron bracelet also reminds me of an old bracelet that NSA made for the Zenith Keyhole models of the late 1960s. Their’s had polished & brushed links as well. Enjoy the 4th.
Great call out you’re totally right - down to the clasp!
Good stuff Tony. Happy 4th!
thanks nabil - hope you had a good canada day! 🇨🇦 🇺🇸
While I appreciate the exploration of the Davide letter and its implications, I'm afraid I can't agree with your conclusions.
AMERICAN: parts interchangeability and mass production were American responses to labor and materiel shortages in the new world, and the denial of domestic markets to their output were a British response borne of soft labor markets and protectionism. We fought the Revolutionary War for Waltham we just didn't know it yet.
AMERICAN: Assembly tracking and product wide tolerance stacking. "This jewel fits that staff" never went away; the piston rings and crank bearings on your car are chosen using exactly this process (Ford didn't just teach himself watchmaking, he tried and failed to produce a "dollar watch" only to dollar-watchify the automotive industry after realizing he could never approach horological tolerances at scale). Unfortunately achieving this production technique requires
AMERICAN: Integration. The Alpenvolk of the Jura were so hidebound to the cottage tradition of "we make hands, they make dials, Hans makes mainsprings" that when an engineer from E. Howard attempted to set up an American-style watch manufacturer there they chased him clear to Schaffhausen, where IWC became the only Swiss manufacturer able to meet the the requirements of the German Air Ministry in 1940. This tradition continued until- wait for it- Swatch, widely recognized as the turnaround of the Swiss watch industry.
It's facetious to compare Waltham, a profitable manufacturing titan whose products are still functional (and cherished!) 150 years later, with OpenAI, a company that spends $8000 for every $400 in revenue and whose business model can best be summed up as "FUD and bailouts." it's equally facetious to argue American watchmaking was brought down by hubris rather than observing that Swiss watches were the original tofu dreg until the sum total of their competition fought two world wars.
It's not that Harley beat Indian on merit. It's that Indian had 100% of their production conscripted to beat the Nazis and Communists.