Location, location, location!

The HYPE will take place October 18 & 19 (Saturday and Sunday) at the Draper Hotel in New York City!

Believe The HYPE!

 

The 1858 Pulls into the Depot!

This is a bit of shameless self-promotion ; )

I am very proud to finally announce the release of the Oberlin Watch Company's 1858!

The 1858 is a hand-winding watch designed to bridge a few different ideas and stories. 

So, it is completely true that there was a pocket chronograph produced by an assembler in Besançon, France way back in the day -

But the "Oberlin" on that watch dial denoted the Oberlin Pharmaceutical Company, also French. The watches were produced to give as promotional gifts to pharmacists (that's chemists on the other side of the pond), and doctors. Today their lucky if they get post-it-note pads and disposable pens ; )

So suffice it to say, there never actually was an Oberlin Watch Company...until now.

The 1858 is not only a "chapeau!" to the original Oberlin Pharmaceutical Company, it is also a "tip of the hat" to an event that happened in (and near) my hometown of Oberlin, Ohio. The Oberlin-Wellington Rescue. 

The short part of this story is that Oberlin was one of the last depots on the Underground Railroad, and also fervently abolitionist. John Price had lived as a slave and managed to escape and made his way to Oberlin, where he had been living for (it is said) 2 years. The law in the US at that time allowed for slave owners to enlist marshals and other officers to help them recapture "fugitive" slaves. John Price was lured to the outskirts of town where he was captured. His captors realizing that they were not going to get a lot of support and understanding in Oberlin, took Mr. Price to Wellington (the next nearest town with a rail station), and hid out in a hotel there. 

And it is here where the story takes a turn that we in Oberlin have always been proud of. We proved that you very often have more friends than you realize. A not insignificant number of men made their way to Wellington where they were joined by like-minded folks in that community. They tried to reason with Price's captors to no avail, and ultimately found him hidden in the hotel's attic. They brought him back to Oberlin where he was hidden in the home of a future Oberlin College president before being taken to Canada, the final stop on the Underground Railroad.

So that's pat one - tune in tomorrow for part 2, and more details on the watch itself!

The 1858 - From a Friend For a Friend

As a matter of full-disclosure, I (James Henderson) am the owner of the Oberlin Watch Company.

Ladies and gentlemen, and children of all ages, I am very proud to introduce you to the 1858 from the Oberlin Watch Company.

When I introduced the first quartz pieces back during the pandemic, there were some who thought that I had "re-birthed" a defunct French watch brand. That notion was based on the existence of a pocket chronograph that had been produced by the Oberlin Pharmaceutical  Company, of France back in the 1900s - 

As far as anyone knows, the Oberlin pocket watches were manufactured to be given as promotional gifts to doctors and pharmacists in an effort to promote the Oberlin Pharmaceutical Company. These watches were manufactured in Besançon, France.

So in other words, there was never an Oberlin Watch Company. But there is one NOW!

Courtesy of D.N. Mason

So for those just tuning in, the 1858 is what we're calling an (Underground) Railroad Watch. The great Kipton train wreck that forced the dramatic improvements in the manufacture of pocket (railroad) watches and standardization of scheduling and timekeeping, happened within virtually walking distance of Oberlin. So there is certainly a train connection to my hometown. But dig a little deeper into Oberlin history, and you will learn about the Oberlin - Wellington Rescue -

Courtesy of Wikipedia

Long story short? John Price was an escaped slave who had found his way to Oberlin. Under the fugitive slave act, the government would assist slave owners by capturing and returning those lucky enough to escape in the first place who were unlucky enough to be discovered and identified as an escaped slave. And this is exactly the fate that befell John Price. He was spirited away by a Marshall and small group of henchmen to Wellington, the town next door where they intended to hop onto the first thing smoking the next day and forcibly take John Price back to Kentucky.

From a Friend For a Friend -

In his short time in Oberlin, John Price had made some friends. More than he probably knew. Because as word spread of his abduction, the townspeople of Oberlin got together, met with like-minded folks in Wellington, and when negotiations for Price's release failed? They forced their way into the hotel that Mr. Price's abductors had been holed-up in, and found him in the attic. They took him back to Oberlin, where he was hidden in the basement of future Oberlin College president James Harris Fairchild. Shortly thereafter he was taken to Canada, the last stop on the Underground Railroad. 

The Oberlin Watch Company was born out of a request from a friend - could you make a watch for us? The first series sold out before it was even produced. It would seem that the Oberlin Watch Company had more friends than we realized ; )

The pre-sale of the 1858 sold out, but we will have a handful of pieces available for those who joined us late.   

Stay tuned!

The Countdown Has Begun for the 1858!

I am very happy to announce via this shameless plug of self-promotion for the Oberlin Watch Company, that the 1858 is nearing completion and we are projecting the first models to be complete in the next few weeks!

The pre-order sold out, but there will be some additional pieces available for purchase - our hope is by the end of May, but it could be sooner.

The specifics:

The 1858 is a hand-winding watch. It is stainless steel, with a solid case back to allow for personalized engraving. The movement is made by Seagull, a Chinese manufacturer. The movement is the ST-3600, which is a clone of the ETA 6497.

The watches will be assembled and tested in the United States. The strap that the watches will ship with will be black. The blue strap in the image is strictly for rendering purposes.

The initial production will be for a minimum of 25 pieces with the potential for a larger series, up to 100 pieces. This will be dependent upon the number of preorders received.

Case - stainless steel, 40 mm in diameter, solid case back

Movement - Seagull ST-3600

Strap - black leather with stainless steel folding clasp

Warranty - 1 year

Less Than A Week To Preorder!

We're coming down to the wire, with seven days left to preorder the Oberlin Watch Company's (Underground) Railroad Watch - the 1858.

Here is a quick rundown -

The preorder deposit is $58 US dollars and is non-refundable. The total price for those who do preorder will be $285 US. The watches are projected to ship in April. Keep in mind, that is a projection, not a guaranteed delivery date.

Once the preorder period is over, the price will be $385. The preorder will run until December 15.

Artistic Interpretation courtesy of D.N. Mason

The specifics:

The 1858 is a hand-winding watch. It is stainless steel, with a solid case back to allow for personalized engraving. The movement is made by Seagull, a Chinese manufacturer. The movement is the ST-3600, which is a clone of the ETA 6497.

The watches will be assembled and tested in the United States. The strap that the watches will ship with will be black. The blue strap in the image is strictly for rendering purposes.

The initial production will be for a minimum of 25 pieces with the potential for a larger series, up to 100 pieces. This will be dependent upon the number of preorders received.

Specs:

Case - stainless steel, 40 mm in diameter, solid case back

Movement - Seagull ST-3600

Strap - black leather with stainless steel folding clasp

Warranty - 1 year

Artistic Interpretation courtesy of D.N. Mason

You can preorder here -

https://oberlinwatch.com/products/1858-preorder-deposit

Announcing the 1858 from the Oberlin Watch Company!

A bit of shameless self-promotion, but here goes -

We are very excited to announce that our newest watch from the Oberlin Watch Company, tentatively named the Montre 1858 will be available for pre-order shortly.

Pre-orders will be available for a non-refundable deposit of $58 (US dollars). We anticipate delivery next April / May, in time for graduation and class reunions.

And we are very pleased to announce that these will all be assembled in the US.

The pre-order price is tentatively set at $358.

Stay tuned!

Preview of Coming Attractions!

A little bit of shameless self-promotion!

 

This is a first look at the next offering from the Oberlin Watch Company. Hand-winding, and assembled in the US. Pre-orders will start in December, with delivery targeted for March, 2024.

Stay tuned!

Watch Brand Creation Myths - This One's A True Story!

By now you've no doubt noticed the Oberlin Watch Company advertisement at the right of the main article section -

In the summer of of 2020, as we were all getting "comfy" as lockdown was progressing, I had 2 seemingly unrelated conversations. One from a friend in my hometown saying something along the lines of - "Hey, you should make an Oberlin watch!". I put that one in my back pocket for the time being. The thought had crossed my mind on more than one occasion, but as my childhood friends may or may not have realized, it is not a simple thing to do. It takes time and money. Thanks (just kidding) to COVID, I certainly had some time. And this brought me back to an email exchange that I had recently had with another Northern Youth on the same topic. Courtesy of the OBIE Blog from 2022 -

About 2 years ago I got an email from an old friend:

"I bought an (insert the name of a very popular, very hyped on social media watch) 2 months ago and it died on me! What watch should I get?"

Okay, in fairness there was more to this story. My friend works in marketing. He is fairly senior. He has not owned a watch since the turn of the century (2002 to be exact). His rationale was:

"I don't need a watch. My computer has the time, my cell phone has the time, the time is LITERALLY EVERYWHERE!"

Well, fair enough. Until...

My friend was in the middle of a pitch - yes gentle reader, there was a time before COVID where people were expected to show up to work, in person, FIVE days a week! The pitch meeting was for a fairly large client with very deep pockets. (editors note, that company has since gone out of business). He was sitting towards the rear of the room. His job was to give hand signals to his boss (who was giving the pitch to the potential client) to let him know how much time was left. Not having a watch, my friend was occasionally looking at his phone to check the time. At one moment the potential client looked over and saw this, and came to the reasonable conclusion that my friend was goofing off with instagram, or some other time killing activity. My friend's boss clocked this activity and (once the client had left) exploded:

"What were you doing playing with your f'ing phone?!?"

My friend informed his boss that he was checking the time to signal to him when to wrap up. His boss was not soothed:

"Go get a damn watch! Not tomorrow, not after work, not even after lunch! Go get a damn watch right now!!!"

So needless to say, my friend exited the office and turned left into a boutique that sold (insert the name of an over-hyped, very popular quartz watch here) watches, and put just over $200 (with tax) on his credit card and wore the watch back to the office. His boss was appeased. And everything was fine... for the next 2 months. And then the watch stopped working. Not sure if it was a battery or simply defective, he went back to the boutique, and was given an address to send his watch in for warranty service (they insisted that they could not do this for him). So on Saturday he packed up the watch and shipped it back to the address he was provided. And...

He waited, and waited, and waited....

After several unanswered emails, phone calls and carrier pigeon notes it became clear to him that while he might get the watch repaired and returned, it was not likely to happen prior to his retirement or employment termination, whichever came first.

And this brings us back to my friend's email to me. What watch should he get? I suggested an inexpensive Seiko, a Timex, Casio, or even a Swatch.

"You work in the watch business. Can't you make me one?" 

This led to a 15 day back and forth explaining that, in fact, while I did sales, marketing and other things, making a watch was not something for us to discuss because unlike the salt and pepper, it was not on the table. But he kept pushing.

So I reached out to my friends at Swiss Made  Consulting LLC and asked, crazy as it sounded, if they could make a small run of 100 or so watches. They said yes, and that is what led to the OBIE1.

But it wasn't quite as simple as that. Truth be told? I didn't have a lot of ideas as to what it could/should look like. Fortunately I know a guy who is pretty good at design -

Courtesy of Sartory Billard

Armand Billard kindly stepped up and quickly came up with a design, logo, pretty much everything needed.

Courtesy of Oberlin Watch Company

Courtesy of Oberlin Watch Company

Courtesy of Oberlin Watch Company

So part one was taken care of, now all I needed was a watch ; )

So I reached out to my friends Rod Hess and Stephen Roemer. Rod is known by industry insiders as "The most important person in the watch business that you maybe never heard of". Stephen is his brother-in-law and the primary owner of Swiss Watch Company.

And based on Armand's design, utilizing some extra kits that he had on hand, he was able to produce the first OBIE -

Courtesy of Oberlin Watch Company

Now at about this time, I also realized that it was not an inexpensive option to make a watch for 2 high school friends who wanted a $100 -$150 quartz watch. So I started posting some renderings on social media groups for Oberlin Ohio and Oberlin High School. The feedback was pretty good and I felt that I could roll the dice on an initial order of up-to 100 pieces (as that was the minimum). Unbeknownst to me, a reporter from the regional newspaper - The Chronicle Telegram, had been following the Facebook group discussions. He reached out, and a day later my email in-box exploded with messages from people wanting to buy my new "OBIE" watch. That article can be read here -

https://chroniclet.com/news/256866/about-time-oberlin-high-school-alumnus-crafts-timepiece-as-tribute-to-his-hometown/

The only problem was that the watches were in production, and I didn't have any packaging. In the beginning of this project I didn't plan to have any, but there were several customers buying watches for their friends, several of them buying 5 or more!

Stephen of Swiss Watch Company said he had some "left-over" packaging that I could buy at a discounted price. So I invested in some read and blue Krylon spray paint and got to work in the backyard.

In May 2021 the watches arrived, and the first 100 OBIE watches were dispatched. Now another funny part of the story - I thought that the majority of watches would be sold to Oberlin residents past and present. Not so! 

Courtesy of Oberlin Watch Company

Of that first 100 OBIE watches, the new owners were located across the US, Canada, Belgium, France, Switzerland (5 customers!), South Africa, Finland, Croatia and beyond!

Courtesy of Oberlin Watch Company

Fast forward to 2023 and the Oberlin Watch Company is alive and well with zero debt, and four retail partners -

Willow Jewelers in Oberlin, Ohio

Maryland Watch Works in Hagerstown, MD

Swiss Watch Maker in Cambridge, MA

Windy City Watch Collector -https://windycitywatchcollector.com

So, no crash landed biplanes in the French countryside, no mysterious British traveller met while backpacking through Asia. As creation stories go, it's pretty tame. The Oberlin Watch Company OBIE is simply a watch that was initially conceived as something fun for my childhood friends. And like everything positive I've experienced in the watch business, it was realized with the help of my Watch Town friends.

That's my story, and I'm sticking to it ; )

And if you are so inclined, you can buy an OBIE at one of our retail partners, or direct from yours' truly at the Oberlin Watch Company -

https://oberlinwatch.com/

Henki

The OBIE3, 2, 1 - The Countdown is Almost Over!

At the Oberlin Watch Company!

Courtesy of Oberlin Watch Company

So a shameless bit of self-promotion ; ). Yes, gentle reader, I am the owner of the Oberlin Watch Company.  What started out almost a year ago as a project to make a nice, simple, affordable watch for about 10 people has grown into a fledgling brand.

We began with one model. 85 customers, 1 retail partner,  and 100 watches later we will be selling and shipping 3 models within the next 10 days!

The price is still $97.97 USD with flat rate shipping of $20 in the US, and $30 everywhere else.

Should you be so inlined, here are the basic details:

The case is stainless steel and measures 40 mm in diameter.  It is rated to be water-resistant to 10 ATM.  The crystal is K1 (sometimes referred to as sapphlex). The movement is the Citizen 2035, which is quartz with a battery life of 2.5 - 3 years (this can, of course, vary).

Introducing the OBIE2, the OBIE3...

And reintroducing the OBIE1 -

It would seem that the Oberlin Watch Company is now, well, an actual watch company! And important piece of disclosure, I am the owner. 

I grew up in Oberlin, a town of under 10,000 (as of the 2010 census) located in Northern Ohio.  Almost a year ago, as we were all getting good and melancholy during lockdown, a friend reached out and asked if I could make a watch for Oberlin. At the time, I figured it would be one of those ideas that would get talked about, I would explain why it probably wasn't such a hot idea, and that would be the end of it.  

As regular readers, by now it is clear that you are the opposite of the Playboy subscriber - you actually do come here for the writing ; ) Put another way, as poor as my photography is, my design skills are even more shambolic. Luckily, I reached out to my friend Armand Billard and he was kind enough to help -

And based on this rendering, and this caseback -

We had a concept.  My assemblers gave me a great price with a very realistic minimum order (100 pieces), but I still wasn't 100% sure it was worth pursuing.  

And then a few Oberlin Facebook groups got wind of the possible project and suddenly I had 10 pre-orders. 

And then this article from the local regional newspaper triggered another 50 pre-orders:

https://chroniclet.com/news/256866/about-time-oberlin-high-school-alumnus-crafts-timepiece-as-tribute-to-his-hometown/

And like that, we had at least the possibility for a fun one-off limited watch -

40 mm, stainless steel with screw back case back.  The movement is quartz, and the price is $97.97 US plus shipping.

But then there were more requests -

Could you make one in a more basic white & black? A few retail stores wanted to carry it. Different groups, clubs and teams asked for special versions...

Long story short? We're going to move forward!

So if it is in your wheelhouse, please visit my little venture at -

www.oberlinwatch.com

Who's Ready to Get Out and See Some Watches?

This guy! 

So as we are hopefully about to see the backside of COVID19, I am happy to announce that I will be working with Maryland Watch Works and Isochron Media to launch the first US watch show this year -

Brands planning on attending include Hager, McDowell, Formex, The Oberlin Watch Company, ochs und junior, Stella, Tsao Baltimore and more to come!  Stay tuned as I will be updating the participating brands as we move forward.

You can also follow the build up here -

https://www.watcheswhiskeyandwine.com

Looking forward to a safe, sane and fun time after a very, very long winter.

The Oberlin Watch Company

Well, I guess the cat is now officially out of the bag.  

Over the past 6 months I have been trying to (quietly) work away on a personal project. What you see in the photo is the prototype / sample of the Oberlin Watch Company's first model - the OBIE1.

So in fairness, some background. As you know, I am a Northern Youth. Born in Zanesville, Ohio but raised in a small northern town - Oberlin.

Oberlin is noted for a college, a conservatory, some very open-minded and liberal thinking, being a station on the Underground Railroad, and in horological terms it is literally within walking distance of Kipton, where the Great Kipton Train Wreck took place -

https://postalmuseum.si.edu/node/2072

Oberlin is also a town founded with the same zeal and ideals as many towns in the midwest were, and if you've ever read Sinclair Lewis's Babbitt, you could probably picture what it might have been like. It is also rumored that Mark Twain wrote The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg as a response to a less-than friendly reception he received when visiting Oberlin: Twain had given a lecture in a church at Oberlin College in 1885, and it was unpopular with the academic audience. The Hadleyburg story may allude to this event. Scholar Russel B. Nye wrote that the story "was Twain's way of taking revenge on the small town" after being jeered at and rejected by the academic audience.^[5] Writes Nye, "the story is coexistent with the publication of Twain's tale of exposed hypocrisy, the townspeople remembering his visit and noting the parallel situations. There are some interesting and provocative parallels between Twain's Oberlin experiences and the Hadleyburg of fiction". The town of Oberlin had been founded as a religious and educational settlement in 1833, and is and was known as an educational and religious center. Nye says that Twain read three stories that were received coolly by most of his Oberlin audience: "King Solomon" (an excerpt from Huckleberry Finn, ch. 14); "The Tragic Tale of a Fishwife," an excerpt from A Tramp Abroad; and "A Trying Situation." The fishwife tale is from Appendix D in A Tramp Abroad, subtitled "The Awful German Language."

per Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_That_Corrupted_Hadleyburg

And lastly, it was common to name a watch company for the town that it called home - Waltham (MA) and Elgin (IN) being just two examples.  Wendy and I have been nomads most of our married life, but if I do have a hometown, it would be Oberlin.

Now for all of you watch fans out there -

The watch is of stainless steel and measures 40 mm in diameter.  The thickness is 9.3, lug to lug is 48 mm, and the lug width is 20 mm.  The movement is the Citizen 2035.  The straps were sourced by the good folks at Lic Straps in Belgium, and feature quick springs -

And in case you need a reminder of what place your watch represents -

The dial design and case back are courtesy of my friend Armand Billard, the mad savant behind Sartory Billard.

Watches should be fun, and should evoke some emotional response. And judging from some of the emails I received today, I think it's a big success already.

I am not a watch maker, and I am not a designer.  

So I thank Armand, as well as the folks at Swiss Watch Consultants (the same dream team that make the Swiss Watch Company watches - Rod, Stephen et al.) for their support and assistance in making this happen.

The first series of the OBIE1 retails for $97.97 plus whatever shipping.

If it's in your wheelhouse, drop me a line -

Oberlin Watch Company