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  • Tanyapat Jakaew of Novi, left, and Judith Walker of Detroit work on the minute wheels for a watch at Shinola Brand's new manufacturing site inside the College for Creative Studies Taubman Center. The Associated Press

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July 4, 2012

High-end watches to be made in Detroit

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DETROIT (AP) — Detroit, long known for manufacturing cars and trucks, may soon be known for producing elegant watches, too.

In recent few weeks, the Dallas-based company Bedrock Manufacturing was setting up a production line for its Shinola brand of watches in leased space at the College for Creative Studies A. Alfred Taubman Center for Design Education in New Center.

It's the beginning of a manufacturing line that Bedrock's operations manager Heath Carr says will include upscale bicycles and leather goods such as journals.

Last month, five trainers from Thailand and several recently hired Detroiters were assembling the intricate, Swiss-made components of what will become Shinola watches.

Carr said retail sales will follow. Shinola will market the watches online and at two retail stores, in Midtown Detroit and in New York.

Ambitions run high. Carr said he hoped the Detroit location would produce at least 500,000 watches a year.

Watchmaking, once a thriving American business, virtually disappeared from the U.S. a half-century ago. Carr said he and other Bedrock managers were brainstorming where to create a U.S.-made watch and Detroit came naturally to mind.

The effort is part of a growing trend for small companies to make handcrafted products in the U.S. "Made in Detroit — that means something," Carr said.

The watches will retail for between $400 and $800. Shinola's high-end bicycles will be assembled and sold from a Shinola retail/assembly space in Midtown, a lease for which is now being negotiated. Shinola hasn't set a price yet for the bicycles, but Carr estimated that they would cost about $3,500.

All the products — watches, bikes, leather goods and more, will be assembled in Detroit.

Noting that watch components are imported from Switzerland and elsewhere, Carr said Bedrock hopes to spark a cottage industry of new suppliers in Detroit. The watch cases, for example, are made from U.S. steel but fabricated in China.

"We hope that somebody takes the space across the street and says 'I can supply some of your components,'" he said. "Our goal is to get this all made in America."

Daniel Caudill, creative director for the brand, said Shinola goods will "honor vintage styling but try to do it in a way that feels really modern."

Shinola is an international effort. Bedrock is partnering with Swiss watchmaker Ronda to establish the space in Detroit. Olivier DeBoel, head of manufacturing for Shinola, is a native of Belgium who worked for Ronda in Thailand.

The staff brought from Thailand to train Detroiters is experienced.

Of the 10 trainees assembling the watch mechanisms, all did something else before being hired by Shinola. Willie Holley, 25, of Detroit worked in security for CCS. LaKishka Raybon, 34, of Detroit was a caregiver.

Courtney Hayes, 23, of Detroit was a nursing home activities aide. "First time I'm doing something like this," she said Thursday. "But it's new and challenging, and it's exciting at the same time."

As Carr and other Bedrock managers were looking for space, staffers from the Detroit Economic Growth Corp. showed them the CCS Taubman Center. Carr said they were sold on the idea of collaborating with CCS students and operating from a site that once housed General Motors' famed design team.

CCS President Rick Rogers said he always envisioned the 760,000-square-foot Taubman Center leasing space to creative businesses to give students collaborative experiences. Already Shinola has worked with CCS students on design exercises.

And the name Shinola? Decades ago, it was owned by the maker of a shoe polish that is no longer produced. In a heated brainstorming debate over names for the brand, someone used a salty old saying that included "Shinola."

"It was at that moment," Carr said, "we realized we had our name."

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