Ever heard of a Shinola watch from Detroit?
Ever heard of a Shinola watch from Detroit?
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RDMcG

Original Poster:

20,908 posts

238 months

Monday 2nd June 2014
quotequote all
http://www.bloomberg.com/video/shinola-inside-detr...

Detroit is not the first place I would think of in watch manufacturing, but they seem to be making a go of it in a small way……….

Stu R

21,687 posts

246 months

Monday 2nd June 2014
quotequote all
Had a good paw over a few last year. Reasonably positive overall for a quartz, very Hamilton-esque design at a glance. with all the various configurations available I was left with the impression they were taking a similar approach to Fossil, just with a higher quality of finish and detail on the external bits.

Not my cup of tea design wise, but I wish them every success for having the temerity to start a watch company in Detroit, using a brand of shoe polish. Quirky in spades.

Wadeski

9,053 posts

244 months

Monday 2nd June 2014
quotequote all
Its owned by the guy who started Fossil then sold it for gazillions.

The ad agency i work for does their marketing - they seem like a good company. They are quartz now as the can't get the expertise to make or install automatic movements locally, but are working on it.

The designs are nice, and they have a good niche as an "all American watch", re-energizing Detroit etc.

jr6yam

1,363 posts

214 months

CardShark

4,263 posts

210 months

Tuesday 3rd June 2014
quotequote all
Wadeski said:
Its owned by the guy who started Fossil then sold it for gazillions.
Indeed, and IIRC Fossil are now an international giant in terms of number of watches made and sold due to selling under their own brand and making watches for others.

Their marketing may fool people into believing that that they're an all American brand however most parts, including movements, are bought in from Asia, however as has been said it's great to see something positive happening in Detroit and I wouldn't bet against them being extremely successful within their market position.

Stu R

21,687 posts

246 months

Tuesday 3rd June 2014
quotequote all
Had no idea the chap from Fossil was actually involved in this, surprised I hadn't put 2 and 2 together earlier. Certainly bodes well for them in terms of getting out there.

Stu R

21,687 posts

246 months

Wednesday 16th July 2014
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Had some wrist time with one of these in Nordstrom the other day. Because I'm an idiot I didn't get any pictures but I'll grab some tomorrow when I go back. I'm actually thinking about grabbing one to go on daily wear rotation.

I'd compare them to tag on terms of being valued at way more than the sum of their parts, or poor value depending on your perspective, but they're really rather fetching in the flesh, sort of like a swatch meets Hamilton, perhaps unsurprisingly. biggrin

aquarianone

502 posts

208 months

Thursday 17th July 2014
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Bit of a crappy name though...?

biggrin

CardShark

4,263 posts

210 months

Thursday 17th July 2014
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aquarianone said:
Bit of a crappy name though...?

biggrin
Indeed, it's a little bit poo.