Episode 15: "American Watchmaking — The Industry That Died and Is Being Rebuilt"

You can find a ton of info on more American brands here:

https://americanwatchmakingdirectory.org

Description:

America was once the watchmaking capital of the world (Waltham, Elgin, Hamilton, Gruen)

producing over 100 million pocket watches between 1850 and 1950, inventing the railroad-grade

accuracy standard, and teaching American production methods to European manufacturers.

Then, across the second half of the twentieth century, the industry almost entirely collapsed.

Hamilton's last movement rolled off the Lancaster, Pennsylvania line in 1969. The next

American-made mechanical movement wouldn't appear for 38 years.

This episode traces both the collapse and the quiet, determined rebuild; through five brands

working at very different levels and price points. Vortic Watch Company in Fort Collins,

Colorado, restores antique American pocket watch movements from Illinois, Elgin, Waltham,

Ball, Hamilton, and Hamilton and converts them into wristwatches using cases made in their

own Colorado facility...the most direct possible bridge between the original American

watchmaking industry and the present. Cincinnati Watch Company, founded in 2018 by Rick

Bell and Mark Stegman with WOSTEP-certified co-owner watchmaker Jordan Ficklin, is the first

brand to assemble watches in Cincinnati since Gruen closed in 1958. Weiss Watch Company,

founded in Los Angeles in 2013 by WOSTEP-trained Cameron Weiss, makes the Caliber 1003 in-

house — machined, hand-jeweled, plated, and finished in California. RGM Watch Company,

founded in 1992 by Roland G. Murphy in Mount Joy, Pennsylvania, produced the first American-

made mechanical movement in 38 years with the 2007/2008 Caliber 801, and then the first

American tourbillon with the Pennsylvania Tourbillon. And J.N. Shapiro Watches, run by former

school principal Joshua Shapiro in Inglewood, California, released the Resurgence in 2023... a

watch with 148 of 180 components made in their California workshop, meeting the FTC's all or

virtually all standard for the first time since 1969. Plus: the 2015 Hodinkee article by Nicholas

Manousos, the FTC investigation into the American watch industry's use of Made in USA, and

what the reckoning ultimately produced.

Keywords:American watchmaking, Made in USA watches, American horology, Vortic Watch Company, Cincinnati Watch Company, Weiss Watch Company, RGM Watches, J.N. Shapiro, American luxury watches, American pocket watches, Waltham Watch Company, Elgin watches, Hamilton watches, Gruen watches, railroad grade watches, mechanical watches, independent watchmaking, in house movement, American made movement, Swiss watches vs American watches, FTC Made in USA, Nicholas Manousos, Hodinkee, watch collecting, horology podcast, luxury watch podcast, watch enthusiast, watchmaking history, vintage pocket watches, handmade watches, guilloché dial, engine turned dial, tourbillon, Caliber 801, Weiss Caliber 1003, J.N. Shapiro Resurgence, Pennsylvania Tourbillon, WOSTEP, AWCI, haute horlogerie, independent watch brands, watch industry history, American manufacturing, wristwatch history, watch restoration, antique pocket watches, horological history, luxury mechanical watches, microbrand watches, Watchovski, What’s On Your Riste

*This one is for my watch brother from another mother in Idaho*

Description

Bonus Episode: Bonus Episode for Nate: “Between the Words:" Mühle-Glashütte and Lip (of Besançon)

…I goofed with the “lip” and “nose” line, you’ll catch it, but I don’t want to re-record, so here we are…I’ve accepted my imperfections, you should not ;)

Let’s get into it…in 3rd person because is sounds fancier.

A listener once told Watchovski that he keeps listening because he can hear what the show isn’t saying. So this bonus episode follows that thread into two watches whose deepest meaning lives in silence.

First, Mühle-Glashütte... the quiet one in Germany’s loudest watchmaking town. A family-run maker that could talk endlessly about pedigree, but instead points toward the sea, search-and-rescue crews, and watches built for the people who come for you when things go wrong.

Then, Lip ... the great French watchmaker whose most immortal moment came not from a complication, a celebrity wrist, or a luxury campaign, but from the workers who occupied the factory in 1973, restarted production themselves, and declared: we make them, we sell them, we pay ourselves.

One silence is humble. One silence is radical. Both point to the same truth: the watch was never really about the wrist that wears it.

A very sincere tip of the hat to Nate from Idaho, whose suggestion gave this episode its shape — and who clearly knows how to listen between the words.

Keywords:

Mühle-Glashütte, Muhle Glashutte, Lip watches, What’s On Your Riste, Watchovski, Between the Words, watch podcast, horology podcast, German watches, French watches, Glashütte, Besançon, Mühle S.A.R. Rescue-Timer, SAR Rescue Timer, German Maritime Search and Rescue Service, woodpecker-neck regulation, tool watches, family-owned watch brand, Lip Mach 2000, Roger Tallon, Lip R27, electric watches, 1973 Lip factory occupation, French labor history, watchmaking history, vintage watches, independent watchmaking, underappreciated watch brands, watch culture, horology, mechanical watches, meaningful watches, watches with stories, Nate from Idaho, WatchCrunch

Episode 14: “A Reset Button — The Tool Watch Episode”

Special Thanks to Vuk Radic at ItsAboutTime (https://www.itsabouttime.email)….check out his amazing watch newsletter!!! Solid, up to date new releases and awesome “Easter Eggs” he throws in on every update. One of the few Newsletters I sign up for and I encourage listeners to do the same!

Ok, about this week…

After a four-episode philosophical arc on the deep end of independent watchmaking—Rolex, the Renaud & Papi diaspora, Rexhep Rexhepi, and more—Watchovski hits the reset button.

Six full brand segments climb from $50 to $4,000+ through the world of actual tool watches:

* G-Shock — the watch that made the category, including the 5610 Square, the GW-M5610 Solar Atomic, and the GA-2100 “Casioak.”

* Citizen Promaster — carrying on the Eco-Drive solar tradition, including the BN0150 “Fugu” and the Aqualand.

* Seiko Prospex — featuring the SKX, Turtle, Monster, Sumo, and the modern SPB-series.

* Marathon Watch Company — the Canadian defense contractor behind the GSAR and MSAR, known for genuine tritium tubes and currently supplying watches to U.S. and Canadian military forces.

* CWC (Cabot Watch Company) — the British Ministry of Defence supplier that replaced the Rolex MilSub for the Royal Navy in 1980, with the SBS Diver still issued to British special forces today.

* Sinn Spezialuhren — the apex of German engineering, featuring Tegiment Technology, Ar-Dehumidifying Technology, the 856 daily wearer, the U-series submarine steel divers, and the UX GSG 9, issued to German federal counter-terror operators.

Plus honorable mentions for the Tudor Pelagos FXD (commissioned by the French Marine Nationale), Damasko, and the Hamilton Khaki Field.

The Thesis:

Tool watches are the reset button. The watches you don’t take off. The watches

whose value lives in what they let you stop thinking about. Not lesser watchmaking...

different watchmaking, in service of a different relationship to time.

Keywords:

Mentioned in this episode: Casio G-Shock DW-5610, GW-M5610, GA-2100 (“Casioak”),

Kikuo Ibe, Citizen Promaster BN0150 (“Fugu”), Aqualand, Skyhawk, Eco-Drive, Seiko

SKX007/009, SRP777 (“Turtle”), Seiko Monster, Sumo, Samurai, SPB-series, 6R movements,

Marathon GSAR/MSAR/Navigator/JSAR, tritium H3 gas tubes, CWC SBS Diver, CWC G10,

Royal Navy MilSub history, Sinn 556, 856, U1, U50, UX GSG 9, Tegiment Technology, Ar-

Dehumidifying Technology, Helmut Sinn (callback to Ep 9), Lothar Schmidt, Tudor Pelagos

FXD, French Marine Nationale, Damasko, Hamilton Khaki Field H-50.

Subscribe. Tell a friend. Wear something good — whatever good means to you

What's up @Dumihed (Mike) on WatchCrunch, this episode is for you dude!

Bonus Episode (Season 1, secret Episode 22): “The Mighty Middle”

Spotify Description:

A man at a watch meetup apologized for his Hamilton, and this episode is the forty-five-minute rebuttal.

A fast, joyful tour of twenty mid-tier brands that punch absurdly above their weight: Longines, Certina, Mido, Hamilton, Frédérique Constant, Alpina, Oris, Nomos, Sinn, Damasko, Formex, Stowa, Marathon, Doxa, Kurono Tokyo, anOrdain, Furlan Marri, Baltic, Yema, and Raketa.

Real history, real engineering, honest prices, and one superpower per brand.

Tour route, not a ranking.

Never say “just.”

Bonus episode.

Keywords:

best value watches, mid-tier watch brands, Longines, Certina, Mido, Hamilton Khaki Field, Frédérique Constant, Alpina, Oris Calibre 400, Nomos Glashütte, Sinn, Damasko, Formex, Stowa flieger, Marathon GSAR, Doxa SUB 300, Kurono Tokyo, anOrdain enamel, Furlan Marri, Baltic watches, Yema, Raketa, affordable mechanical watches, watch podcast, watches under 2000

A twenty-brand tour of mid-tier watchmaking that punches above its weight.

Tour route, not a ranking.

Riste's Extended Show Notes...i.e. The Brands and Models Mentioned:

1. ​Longines — Spirit Zulu Time, Legend Diver, HydroConquest, Ultra Chron, Master Collection
2. ​Certina — DS Action Diver, DS PH200M
3. ​Mido — Ocean Star, including COSC Caliber 80 versions; Ocean Star Tribute; Multifort; Baroncelli
4. ​Hamilton — Khaki Field Mechanical, Ventura, Murph
5. ​Frédérique Constant — Highlife Perpetual Calendar Manufacture, Classic Worldtimer Manufacture, Slimline Moonphase
6. ​Alpina — Alpiner 4, Startimer Pilot
7. ​Oris — Aquis Calibre 400, ProPilot X, Divers Sixty-Five, Big Crown Pointer Date, Carl Brashear editions
8. ​Nomos — Tangente, Orion, Metro, Club Campus
9. ​Sinn — 556, 104, U50
10. ​Damasko — DA36, DA38, DC56
11. ​Formex — Essence Chronometer, Reef
12. ​Stowa — Flieger Classic 40, Marine, Antea
13. ​Marathon — GSAR, MSAR, Navigator
14. ​Doxa — SUB 300, SUB 300T, Professional, Sharkhunter
15. ​Kurono Tokyo — Chronograph 2, Mori, Calendrier
16. ​anOrdain — Model 1, Model 2
17. ​Furlan Marri — Mr. Grey, mechanical sector-dial line
18. ​Baltic — Aquascaphe, Hermétique, Tricompax, MR01
19. ​Yema — Superman, Rallygraf, Spacegraf
20. ​Raketa — Big Zero, 24-hour polar watches

Dropped Early for you Ethan! Hello to you all in Walla Walla dude!!!

Season 1 Episode 13 (Akrivia and Rexhep Rexhepi)

Title: Rexhep Rexhepi: The Refugee Who Became the Most-Watched Watchmaker Alive

Description:

Episode 13 of What’s on Your Riste? tells the extraordinary story of Rexhep Rexhepi; the Kosovan refugee who became one of the most respected watchmakers alive. From fleeing war at age twelve to earning a coveted apprenticeship at Patek Philippe, then working under François-Paul Journe before founding Akrivia at just twenty five, this episode explores the philosophy, discipline, and artistry behind modern independent watchmaking.

We dive deep into the legendary Chronomètre Contemporain (RRCC), Philippe Dufour’s praise of Rexhep’s work, the meaning of truly quiet luxury, and why some collectors believe Akrivia represents the apex of modern horology. This is the climax of the Rolex → Renaud & Papi → Rexhep trilogy...and a meditation on what it means to wear a watch nobody else recognizes, but you understand completely.

KEYWORDS:

Rexhep Rexhepi, Akrivia, Independent watchmaking, Luxury watches, Haute horlogerie, Watch collecting, Swiss watches, Chronomètre Contemporain, RRCC, RRCC II, Philippe Dufour, F.P. Journe, François-Paul Journe, Patek Philippe, Geneva watchmaking, Only Watch, Watch podcast, Horology, Watch enthusiast, Luxury timepieces, Mechanical watches, Grand feu enamel, Bombé finishing, Jean-Pierre Hagmann, Watchmaking history, Independent watch brands, Rolex vs independents, Quiet luxury, Collector watches, High horology, Watch community, Geneva watchmakers, Tourbillon, Deadbeat seconds, Watch collectors, The Hour Glass, Michael Tay, Kari Voutilainen, George Daniels, Modern watchmaking, What’s on Your Riste, Watchovski

It’s the late 1990s. Le Locle, Switzerland. A small workshop in a town most Americans

couldn’t find on a map.

Inside that workshop, working on grand complications... minute repeaters, tourbillons,

perpetual calendars... there are a handful of young watchmakers sitting at adjacent

benches. Some are in their twenties. Some are in their thirties. Most of them are broke. Not

one of them is famous.

In about twenty years, the watches built by the people in that one workshop will sell for the

price of a house. The price of three houses. The price of an apartment building.

And almost every brand you’d consider the names of modern independent watchmaking...

almost every single one... will trace its origin to that single room.

Keywords: Renaud & Papi, Patek, Rolex, Greubel Forsey, the Grönefelds, Pequignet

Episode 11: So Your Friend Wants a Rolex

What do you say when your friend tells you they want a Rolex? In this episode, Watchovski has an honest, respectful conversation about Rolex, collecting, and the danger of letting other people’s taste shape your own watch journey. From the Submariner 14060M and Sea-Dweller 16600 to the Omega Seamaster Peter Blake, this episode explores why great watches still may not be your watches.

We talk about Rolex admiration, collector pressure, the difference between informing and redirecting, and why sometimes the best advice is simple: help your friend get the watch they actually want. Plus, a tease for Episode 12 on the Renaud & Papi diaspora and the future of independent watchmaking.

Keywords:

Rolex, Rolex Submariner, Rolex 14060M, Rolex Sea-Dweller, Rolex 16600, Rolex GMT-Master II, Rolex Pepsi, Rolex 16710, Rolex Explorer, Rolex 116000, Omega Seamaster, Omega Peter Blake, Omega 2254.50, Omega 2264.50, Steel Reef, watch collecting, watch collector, luxury watches, mechanical watches, Swiss watches, Rolex buying advice, first Rolex, should I buy a Rolex, authorized dealer, Rolex AD, watch enthusiast, independent watchmaking, microbrands, Grand Seiko, Tudor, Czapek, watch podcast, horology podcast, What’s on Your Riste, Watchovski, Renaud and Papi, Audemars Piguet, Greubel Forsey, Grönefeld, Pequignet, eudaimonia, hedonia, collector mistakes, watch community

Description

A bonus episode of What's on Your Riste? — but this one isn't for watch people. It's for the people who love them anyway.

The partners who've rolled their eyes at the Christmas present. The parents who've been politely confused for two decades. The siblings, the friends, the coworkers who've sat through one too many monologues about lug width and movement finishing and finally asked, with real exasperation, why are you like this?

In about forty-five minutes, we try to answer honestly. The art — what it means that someone hand-polishes a piece of metal you'll never see. The history — three hundred years of an unbroken chain that began with a self-taught carpenter trying to keep sailors from drowning. The psychology — why collecting is one of the oldest things humans do, and what Aristotle figured out about pleasure that explains the whole hobby. The photographs you'll be in forever, and what gets to be on your wrist in them.

And the part almost nobody on the outside knows about: the community. A text group of people who would, statistically, disagree about almost everything else — different countries, generations, religions, politics — sitting down every day, for years, to pay attention to the same small beautiful object together. The watches are the excuse. The people are the point.

No prior knowledge required. No jargon without translation. Just us, trying to explain ourselves, gently, to the people who've asked.

Send this to the person in your life who keeps wondering. We made it for them.

Keywords:

watch collecting, why watches, watch hobby, mechanical watches, wristwatch, non-watch people, explaining the hobby, watch community, watch enthusiasts, horology for beginners, shokunin, craftsmanship, heirloom watches, wedding watch, eudaimonia, hedonia, Aristotle pleasure, Patek Philippe generations, luxury watch culture, watch text group, watch meetups, collecting psychology, John Harrison marine chronometer, Omega Speedmaster moon, hand-finished movements, guilloché, patina, wrist presence, grail watch, watch podcast bonus episode, what's on your riste, watchovski, what's on you riste