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Timex watches are up there with the Ford Mustang and Budweiser beer as quintessentially American products. Even folks outside the watch world are familiar with the once-popular slogan "Takes a licking and keeps on ticking." The company is based in Middlebury, CT, and they've been around the area since 1854. In a way, they've transcended the typical role of a watch manufacturer and become a small slice of American culture. Bill Clinton was known to wear a Timex Ironman while holding office, for example.
But they haven't produced any watches on American soil since well before the era of the quartz crisis in the 1970s. Globalization and market forces pushed (or rather, pulled) manufacturing overseas for many companies during that time. In 2019, Timex is getting involved in domestic production once again with a model that's assembled in the U.S. from mostly domestically-made parts. The quartz movement is the only exception, and that comes from Switzerland.
The article isn't clear if all production will be brought back to America, or if this is for a limited series.
(Score: 3, Disagree) by jb on Wednesday May 01 2019, @10:49AM (9 children)
Umm, pretty sure Budweiser is Czech -- hardly "quintessentially American".
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 01 2019, @11:06AM
The only real Americans are Native Americans, and they consume a lot of Budweiser.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 01 2019, @11:16AM
You haven't tasted the "beer".
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 01 2019, @01:13PM
And the other one is owned by the Dutch anyway.
(Score: 4, Informative) by c0lo on Wednesday May 01 2019, @01:25PM
Let me ... ummm... czech.
Yeap, I remember well [wikipedia.org]
So, the American Bud is just a quintessentially American [youtube.com] dumbed-down** beer, in no relation with the Czechs. True, true. [youtube.com] (this last one is serious)
** (hint: translate "weiser")
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 01 2019, @01:50PM (3 children)
Jesus, enough of this tired shit.
You can get a range of world beating beers in any style you choose brewed here in America from any store or bar tap.
That critique hasn't been true for 20 years.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 01 2019, @07:46PM
We were talking about Bud.
(Score: 2) by captain normal on Wednesday May 01 2019, @09:00PM
Around central California people started turning away from American water alcohol about 40 years ago.
https://sierranevada.com/ [sierranevada.com]
I started turning away over 50 years ago when I found Anchor Steam. One of the reasons I choose SF State over San Fernando State to finish my schooling.
https://www.anchorbrewing.com/beer/anchor_steam [anchorbrewing.com]
"It is easier to fool someone than it is to convince them that they have been fooled" Mark Twain
(Score: 2) by legont on Wednesday May 01 2019, @11:49PM
Sure, but Bud is still the most popular brand, stolen brand, and tastes like piss.
Same goes to Stoli; vodka that is.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 2) by donkeyhotay on Wednesday May 01 2019, @02:37PM
I don't think you understand what the word "quintessentially" means.
(Score: 2) by ElizabethGreene on Wednesday May 01 2019, @03:22PM
It's pretty, but I think I want a mechanical watch.
Or leather, brass, and nixie tubes, but probably mechanical. :)
(Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Wednesday May 01 2019, @04:49PM (3 children)
U.S. A. was once known as the home of the finest watches in the entire World. No more -- because of Globalism. And Russia got ahead of us on that one. Our companies stopped building watches. But the Russians never stopped. I call it the Watch Gap. Russia must not win. They've been winning for a long time. Very strong competitor. But, Donald J. Trump. I did Tax Cuts & Jobs Act -- something our House & Senate GOP worked very hard on. Now our companies are coming back. Our factories are coming back. And our jobs are coming back. Jobs for Robots and jobs for "people." Our Country, very quickly, is becoming Great Again. Economy booming tremendously. Because of me!!!!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 01 2019, @06:30PM (1 child)
"U.S.A. was once known as the home of the finest watches in the entire World."
nope..
note the actual 'guts' of a Timex are Swiss.
(Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Wednesday May 01 2019, @09:29PM
They, unfortunately, have the Swiss Movement now. As you saw, as you see. They call it Movement, otherwise referred to Guts. Used to be made, very proudly in Connecticut. Those Guts had GLORY. When America was Great. And America, believe me, WILL be Great Again!!!!
(Score: 3, Informative) by captain normal on Wednesday May 01 2019, @09:12PM
As the AC above has pointed out, I think you meant Switzerland. But by the late 1960's the best watches in the world were made in Japan by Seiko.
"It is easier to fool someone than it is to convince them that they have been fooled" Mark Twain
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 01 2019, @04:49PM
Budweiser is both a stolen Czech trademark and traditional beer recipe, if this is considered quintessentially American, then it only amplifies my perception of Americans as a nation of slavers, bandits, thieves, drug handlers and murderers ruled by laws of criminals.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 01 2019, @05:33PM (2 children)
I stopped wearing one once carry a cellphone everywhere became the norm. Cellphones also killed: the alarm clock, maps, camera, video camera and portable audio player.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 01 2019, @05:40PM (1 child)
I had to stop wearing a watch when I got carpel tunnel syndrome; doctor advised me the strap around my wrist was just making it worse.
Can you remember when was the last time someone asked you what time it is? Since everyone (other than small children or the elderly) have smartphones, no one needs to ask someone else what time it is.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 02 2019, @04:57AM
I love it. I'm too damed lazy to get my phone out to check the time; so I just ask someone and their more than happy to dig out the phone and check or they already have it in hand.
Time for a little Chicago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qssWO8NSq0 [youtube.com]
(Score: 3, Informative) by LVDOVICVS on Wednesday May 01 2019, @05:56PM
"...mostly domestically-made parts. The quartz movement is the only exception..."
The part that makes it a functional watch and not just a bracelet will be Swiss. So not "Making Watches in America Again", but rather assembling foreign-made ones.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 01 2019, @06:21PM
One of the old mechanical wind-up jobs, the only place it ever kept reasonable time was within a couple of miles of the city of it's 'birth', that was Dundee, Scotland.
(Someone actually stole it from my desk when I worked down in London..thieves eh?, who can tell what goes through their twisty minds when their dark deeds they perform? even when new, it was nearly worthless, and the goldish plating had mostly worn off the thing over the decades..)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 02 2019, @01:38AM
Ford is cheap chinese Tupperware, & Budweiser is bovine pisswater.