Michael Satterfield
by Michael Satterfield – 05/24/2019
Vortic Watches is not your typical watch startup, while most new watch brands are looking for ways to reinvent the watch and have it made in China for as cheap as possible. Instead, Vortic is looking to the past, preserving American history, and building each watch they produce in-house. By using modern manufacturing to take classic pocket watches and turn them into one-of-a-kind wristwatches.
Based in Fort Collins, Colorado, the company offers pre-built watches and custom watches using vintage pocket watches, mostly Elgin and Waltham models, from the 1920s. Watches that were made in the heyday of US watch manufacturing. Elgin made watches in Elgin, Illinois from 1863 to 1968. Waltham, founded in 1850 in Waltham, Mass. lasted until 1957, however, a Swiss-founded subsidiary still produces watches to this day under the Waltham name. Companies like Benrus, Gruen, Wittnauer, and many more all still exist in some form or another, but mostly as part of international conglomerates, but they are not household names, even in the world of watch enthusiasts.
Vortic is saving these classics of horology, by designing and manufacturing new cases out of Titanium, Bronze, or Dimond Like Carbon that house these original restored pocket watch movements. The team then pair the case and movement with a new crystal, and a made-in-the-USA leather strap bringing the 17th central into the 21st.
Choose from a pre-designed watch or use their watch builder to select from available movements and dials, select a case, strap, and crown to create a truly one-of-a-kind watch. Customers can also submit their own pocket watch to be converted into a wristwatch, meaning they can get that family heirloom out of the drawer and actually wear their Great Grandfather’s watch.
Prices start at right around $1,000 with many of the pre-built watches ranging from $1,495-$3,295 depending on the combination of parts the rarity of the original movement. If you would like to learn more or get a quote to have your own pocket watch converted visit VorticWatches.com.
