Well I have a Waltham pocket watch made in 1870 and it runs still today because I rebuilt it. I am watching this video because I just got a Hamilton from 1902 . One of the last accepted watches for the rail road . It is a beauty 17 jewels . Webb C Ball made the railroad watch requirements change to be at least a 19 jeweled watch in 1903 .
There's a genetic component to being a watchmaker. Fine motor control has to be exceptional. What I've learned from watching them work on youtube is I could have never been good at it even if I had dedicated my life to it. My hands just can't be that steady and precise.
I got a watch for a high school graduation present. It wasn't a Hamilton, it was a Timex LCD watch and it ceased functioning after about a year. New battery didn't help, which indicates it's time to throw it in the trash and buy another.
That was a time, when to promote its products, a company would show the public in detail why their watches were mechanically better, instead of a superficial campaign just showing a bunch of young people having a good time to convince the consumer.
I know the VCs have a religious devotion to creating an app company and young people yearn to be a TikTok/RU-vid suphstah that now overrides the drive for Americans to actually making things anymore. However, with additive manufacturing and cnc (as well as other machines), I am genuinely curious as to why it would be "impossible" to start a new watch company based on expired patents. Shinola does it, and one could make an actually good and attractive watch.
