Shinola’s Message to Swiss Watchmakers: Come to Detroit

Watchmaker Shinola has an unexpected proposition for its Swiss counterparts: Consider manufacturing in Detroit.

In the world of luxury timepieces, there are few stamps of approval more sought-after than the “Swiss Made” label, with nearly every top brand, including Rolex, Patek Phillippe and Audemars Piguet, manufacturing in the country. But with Swiss watchmakers facing 39 percent tariffs on exports to the US, their largest market, they’re under heightened pressure. With that in mind, the Michigan-based watchmaker put out an “open invitation” to their Swiss competitors to bring some of their manufacturing to the States in order to protect their US business.

“What better time to wave our flag again, quite frankly, and remind people that we’re here,” said Shinola’s president Mark Light. “We’re assembling watches in Detroit, and we can help other companies around the world do more work in the United States.”

The campaign, which kicked off with a full-page ad in Sunday’s New York Times, reads as a letter to potential partners accompanied by an image of a watch being assembled. It’s the first step in a longer-term strategic refocus on the brand’s manufacturing capabilities, which will include factory tours and content spotlighting the brand’s watchmakers at work in the coming year.

“We want to do something no one’s tried before: put Swiss precision and Detroit grit under the same roof,” the campaign reads. “This is a Proposal for Partnership: We’re asking you to bring a piece of Swiss watchmaking to Detroit. Not as a transplant. As a collaboration. Together, we can train a new generation of watchmakers, co-develop limited editions, and build smarter supply chains, blending your technical excellence with our reach, resilience, and resourcefulness.”

The campaign lands at a pivotal moment for the industry: Since the tariff hike on Aug. 7, Swiss watch labels have been contending with how they’ll deal with the impact on their businesses, whether it’s shifting to prioritise new markets, targeting US shoppers abroad or rolling out more messaging around tariffs to American shoppers buying at home. Some are covering the costs themselves (which they’re highlighting to consumers in marketing materials), such as UK-based watch brand Christopher Ward, which has a “Tariff Roll-Back” tab on its website, where it explains that it won’t pass tariff costs onto consumers.

While Shinola has collaborated with Swiss watchmakers before — when the brand first started manufacturing its products in Detroit in 2011, founder Tom Kartsotis brought in a Swiss movement maker to help refine its engineering processes — it’ll be a tough sell to convince high-end watch brands to risk losing their “Swiss Made” label — which requires 60 percent of the watch to be produced in Switzerland.

But more than an invitation, the campaign is an opportunity for Shinola to position itself as a more accessible option for local shoppers at a time when legacy brands in the space are set to be more out of reach than ever before. Shinola, however, does believe there’s room for collaboration, whether for brands to explore developing specific watch parts in the US, joining forces to think up new manufacturing methods or even developing limited-edition collections together.

“The lowest hanging fruit is using the facility we have that has the capability of assembling a lot more timepieces,” said Light. “Right now, we’re at 80,000, 100,000 units a year, and we can do a lot more production in our building.”

For Swiss watch brands, partnering with Shinola for certain timepieces, for example, may give shoppers the opportunity to purchase a more affordable item from the brand of their choice. But the benefits might in fact be more apparent for American watchmakers themselves — Shinola in particular, as it looks to shift its positioning from fashion watch maker to focus on the company’s roots as an American watch manufacturer.

“The main goal is making the watch industry aware that Shinola is assembling and building watches in the United States,” said Light. “We’re here. We’re open for business.”