Built in Detroit: Shinola and the Renaissance of American Craftsmanship
Detroit once symbolized American productive capacity. Yet the city's efficiency, which won a world war, eventually contributed to its undoing. Then Shinola showed up.
Deep within the historic Argonaut Building, watchmakers in white lab coats bend over workbenches with a concentration of surgeons. Their tools—tweezers, magnifying glasses, and calibrated instruments—move with practiced precision as they assemble the intricate hearts of timepieces that will carry "Detroit" worldwide. This is Shinola's watchmaking studio, where the tick of mechanical timekeeping meets the steady pulse of American manufacturing reborn.
The Arsenal of Democracy Finds Its Second Act
Detroit's story has always been written in steel, glass, and sweat. When America needed tanks and bombers to preserve democracy in the 1940s, the Motor City answered with industrial might that staggered the imagination. At Ford's sprawling Willow Run facility—a marvel of architectural innovation designed by Albert Kahn—a new B-24 Liberator bomber rolled off the assembly line every 63 minutes at peak production. Each represented 1.55 million parts, assembled by a workforce of thousands of women who left kitchens for factory floors, transforming the war effort and American society.
"Detroit didn't just build machinery during the war," explains historian Thomas McIntyre, running his hand along a vintage Liberator propeller displayed in the Detroit Historical Museum. "It built a template for American possibilities—the idea that anything could be manufactured at scale with the right combination of ingenuity, infrastructure, and human determination."
By 1945, Detroit stood as the ultimate symbol of American productive capacity. Yet the very efficiency that won the war would eventually contribute to the city's undoing. Automation reduced the need for human hands. Globalization sent production overseas. The Big Three automakers gradually retreated to the suburbs, taking jobs and tax revenue. Detroit's population plummeted from 1.85 million in 1950 to barely 700,000 today, leaving 40 square miles of America's former industrial heartland vacant—a rust belt cathedral to faded glory.
Until someone saw possibility in the emptiness.
A Movement Reborn
When Tom Kartsotis scouted locations for a new American watch company in 2011, most investors would have advised against Detroit. The city was careening toward the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history, and buildings that once hummed with productivity stood abandoned. But where others saw decay, Kartsotis—who had previously founded the Fossil Group—perceived a narrative too powerful to ignore.
"There's something about making things in a place that knows how to make things," Kartsotis tells me as we tour Shinola's leather studio, where artisans transform Horween hides into watch straps and journals. The rhythmic tapping of mallets punctuates our conversation. "Detroit's manufacturing DNA didn't disappear. It was just waiting for the right outlet."
The Argonaut Building, where Shinola established its headquarters, carries its own symbolic weight. Designed in 1928 by Albert Kahn—the same architectural visionary behind Willow Run—it once housed GM's design team and research facilities. Today, the art deco masterpiece houses the College for Creative Studies and Shinola's watchmaking studio, creating a physical bridge between Detroit's industrial past and its design-driven future.
At the heart of Shinola's operation is the Argonite 1069, a quartz movement assembled from 40 Swiss-sourced components across 16 meticulous steps. Each completed movement undergoes a 12-day testing cycle before being encased in Detroit-crafted housings. The result is the Runwell, Shinola's flagship timepiece—a watch marries mid-century aesthetic sensibilities with contemporary durability.
Master watchmaker Stefan Mihoc, who fled Romania's communist regime before finding a home at Shinola, demonstrates the assembly process with hypnotic precision. "A watch is more than the sum of its parts," he explains, positioning a delicate balance wheel with tweezers that barely shake despite his 60 years of age. "It's about bringing order to chaos, creating something that measures our most precious resource—time."
The Patina of Place
Shinola understood—perhaps before many other American manufacturers—that in a world of mass production and digital ephemera, objects with provenance and physicality carry emotional resonance that transcends their utilitarian function.
The company's flagship store in Midtown Detroit is both a retail space and a shrine to materiality. Runwell watches gleam under carefully calibrated lighting. Leather journals and wallets are arranged to highlight their hand-stitched edges. Limited-edition bicycles—assembled in Detroit with Wisconsin-made frames—hang like industrial sculptures. Everything invites touch, conveying what writer Matthew Crawford calls "the pleasures of the tangible."
"We're not just selling watches or leather goods," explains Shinola's creative director, Daniel Caudill, who shaped the brand's aesthetic for its first decade. "We're selling the idea that how and where something is made matters. We're selling the human connection to objects that's been lost in much of contemporary consumption."
This philosophy extends to the company's approaches to materials. Unlike the planned obsolescence that drives much of modern manufacturing, Shinola's products are designed to develop character over time. Watch straps darken with exposure to skin oils. Leather bags develop unique patinas reflecting their owners' journeys. Even the solid brass watch cases acquire microscopic scratches that tell the story of daily wear.
The Complexity of Authenticity
For all its romantic appeal, Shinola's story contains complexities that reflect broader tensions in American manufacturing. The company's rapid growth—from $20 million in revenue in 2013 to approximately $100 million in 2015—attracted admirers and skeptics. In 2016, the Federal Trade Commission ruled that Shinola's claims of watches "Built in Detroit" required qualification, noting that many components, including the movements, originated in Switzerland.
Shinola responded by adding transparency about its supply chain while maintaining its Detroit identification. This nuance reflects the reality of contemporary manufacturing: few complex products are made entirely in one place anymore. Even luxury Swiss watches often contain components from multiple countries.
The FTC decision forced a necessary conversation about what 'American-made' means in a global economy.
Shinola represents a hybrid model—combining imported technical components with domestic assembly, finishing, and quality control. This is likely the most viable path forward for much of American manufacturing, especially in technical categories where domestic component production has atrophied.
Willie Holley, a movement assembly supervisor who joined Shinola after working as a security guard, sees the debate differently. "I was unemployed before this job. Now, I'm teaching others how to build watches. My kids see me getting up daily to make something with my hands. That's real, whatever somebody wants to call it."
Holley's perspective cuts to the heart of Detroit's complex relationship with its manufacturing past and Shinola's vision of its future. The city's renaissance remains geographically and demographically uneven. While areas like Midtown and downtown have experienced significant revitalization, many neighborhoods struggle with blight and disinvestment. Shinola's $550-1,200 watches are financially out of reach for many local residents in a city with a median household income of around $30,000.
A Symphony Unfinished
The convergence of cosmic materials, global craftsmanship, and local labor is poetic. It suggests a future where manufacturing emphasizes meaningful production—creating objects that tell stories, foster connections to places and processes, and endure beyond fleeting trends.
Detroit's manufacturing narrative remains a work in progress.
The Arsenal of Democracy has transitioned to a more nuanced reality. Ateliers have replaced assembly lines, and curated batches take precedence over mass production. Shinola symbolizes this evolution, a blend of urban renewal efforts and genuine experimentation to determine whether American manufacturing can reinvent itself by merging contemporary craftsmanship with its industrial heritage.
In the steady tick of each Shinola timepiece, one can almost hear the echoes of Detroit’s past and the promise of its future—measured not in RPMs or units per hour but through the deliberate rhythm of human hands creating something designed to endure.
SIDEBAR: The Argonite Movement - Anatomy of a Timepiece
The first movement built by Shinola—a high-accuracy quartz movement hand-assembled in Detroit with Swiss and other imported parts. learned to build, and the one that still exudes an understated power is named after the Argonaut Building, where it's assembled.
While quartz movements lack the romantic complexity of mechanical calibers, Shinola's approach to assembly elevates quartz timekeeping through rigorous quality control:
- Components: 40 individual parts, including circuit board, motor, gear train, and battery
- Assembly Process: 16 distinct steps performed by trained specialists
- Testing Protocol: Each movement undergoes 12 days of testing for accuracy and durability
- Precision: Regulated to +/- 20 seconds per month—significantly more accurate than mechanical movements
- Power Source: High-grade silver oxide batteries with approximately 3-year lifespan
When asked why Shinola chose quartz over mechanical movements for its initial offerings, watchmaking director Olivier De Boel explains: "Quartz allowed us to establish consistent quality while building our watchmaking capabilities. Creating mechanical movements requires decades of expertise. We're taking measured steps toward that goal but won't rush craft for marketing purposes."
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THE TIMELINE: Detroit's Manufacturing Evolution
1940-1945: Arsenal of Democracy
* Ford's Willow Run plant produces one B-24 bomber every hour
* Detroit factories manufacture 30% of all U.S. war materials
* Female workforce grows to comprise 40% of manufacturing employees
1950-1980: Decline Begins
* Automation reduces manufacturing workforce needs
* "Big Three" automakers begin relocating facilities to suburbs
* Foreign competition intensifies, eroding Detroit's market dominance
1980-2010: The Rust Belt Era
* Population declines from 1.5 million to 700,000
* Major plants close throughout the metropolitan area
* Vacant land grows to 40 square miles within city limits
2011-Present: Selective Renaissance
* Shinola establishes watch manufacturing in the Argonaut Building
* Detroit Bikes begins producing frames in west side facility
* Midtown emerges as a design and small-batch manufacturing hub
* Industrial Sewing and Innovation Center trains textile workers
