no, i didn’t go to detroit to visit the shinola factory in advance of our event tomorrow night, but they did kindly send me a ton of great pictures so i could get a better look at the workmanship that goes into their beautiful handmade watches. i’d actually been lusting after one of their classic runwell watches well before they got in touch and asked me to host their event. i’d eyed them at steven alan and had been thinking about getting one for brendan. but of course, i wouldn’t mind getting one for myself, too!

besides their really beautiful designs, i love the fact that they are all handmade right in detroit. their production line is one of the most modern in the world, and adheres to swiss quality standards. everything is done by hand, from building their own movements, to the final assembly. their watch straps and leather goods come from horween of chicago, one of america’s oldest tanneries, in continuous operation since 1905. they’re one of the last tanneries in america still undertaking the full production process in-house, from raw unprocessed hides to fully finished leather in a process that is impressively labor-intensive. their craftspeople are incredibly skilled and proud of their work, and it’s exciting to be able to buy such a well-made watch, and to support such an awesome detroit-made company. honestly, there’s so much that goes into the entire process, that you really should head to their site to read more about them, because i can hardly do them justice in this little blog post.

and of course, if you’re in new york, i would love it if you could come out to the event i’m hosting at the shinola flagship store tomorrow night from 7:30 – 9:00pm! we’ll be unveiling the american vintage collection by scout la, and fun times will be had by all.