The Watch Brand Explosion

As someone who has been in the watch and jewelry industry for over 50 years, the recent explosion of new start-up watch brands has been startling. Almost overnight several dozen new brands have appeared, almost all started with "kick-starter" or other venture capital.  These watches share several obvious similarities including expensive, well designed web pages, massive internet advertising and clever, captivating back-stories, which may, or may not be true.

Under the hood they also have similarities the buyer might never notice.  Almost all are made in China, using Chinese or Japanese movements and little or no technological improvements.  They are instead being sold on styling and marketing prowess.  And, quite honestly, most of these companies will not be around in a year or two.

There is nothing wrong with selling style or story.  Many customers want the newest, most unique looking watch.  And at around $200.00 average retail, the watches are not unfairly priced, although keep in mind you are mostly paying for web designers, copywriters and fashion photographers, not the actual watches themselves.  Similar quality watches (made in the same Chinese factories) are available at your local discount store for around $30.00, but with old names of companies long past their glory.

Hidden amide the myriad of glitzy new brands are a few companies genuinely making watches and seriously innovating new manufacturing techniques.  These companies are genuinely advancing the art of watchmaking, not just slapping fresh paint on an old product.  One of the most innovative today is Armourlite in Miami, Florida. ArmourLite Watch Company is an American company that designs, assembles, and tests watches in the USA.

We will be writing several upcoming blog posts about some of the interesting watch developments and manufacturing innovations from Armourlite, but I'll mention one important innovation today - The Armourglass Shatterproof Crystal found on many (but not all) of their watches. Armourglass crystals are multi-layered and can withstand up to 6,000 Vickers, whereas most watch crystals can only withstand about 700. Using the same technology as bulletproof glass, Armourlite created a crystal that won’t shatter even when one layer is compromised.

We hope you'll visit one (or all) of our three websites to see the complete Armourlite collection of innovative watches: Gem of the Day Armourlite Catalog or the Top Flight Watches Armourlite Catalog.  On our Time 4 Tritium Website, we've divided the Armourlite offerings into two different catalogs for easier shopping. Time4Tritum Armourlite Catalog and Time4Tritium Isobright T100 Catalog