Shinola "Made in Detroit". Is it really?

[BlackNomad]

From a well-managed corporate image rooted in the notion of returning industry to Detroit. Plus designs that fit well into prevailing tastes.

If you don't find the style of the watch doesn't especially compelling, if Detroit manufacturing counts for nothing with you and if you care not for the corporate image attached to watches you buy, then I can see why you would find their offer financially unappealling

Well, Der Amf, not trying to stir mustard here, but in the article there are numbers and calculations, the bottom line being:

In 2014, Shinola claims to make about 150,000 to 170,000 watches. So if 84 watch assemblers work 50 weeks a year for 40 hours and you make between 150,000 – 170,000 watches a year, it takes on average 59.3 – 67.2 minutes about per watch to assemble it.

Now that’s very efficient, isn’t it?Now, salaries for Shinola watch assemblers start off at $11, which is above the minimum wage, and it grows from there to $11.50 after about 45 days, and once hired directly by Shinola, the rate goes to $12, with employees being eligible for medical, dental, vision, short-time, long-term disability, life insurance and 401k. That means, on average every Shinola watch has about has about $13.44 of manufacturing cost in it. If you add the same amount for the leather strap and double that to include all benefits, you realize that the manufacturing value of Detroit in a Shinola watch seems to be about $50. Without benefits it’s more like $25.

All these calculations are based on numbers provided to us by Shinola. Overall, the numbers seem rather disillusioning. Of course, you have to add on the cost of material, facility, Marketing, Sales… and the profit margins in the watch sector are traditionally high. Shinola had to lease the building, buy machines and create something new and had to invest a lot of money. On top of that, it creates jobs for all the other related sectors like marketing, sales, and so forth. However, most of the parts come from abroad, so that’s not even supporting the American economy that much. At the same time, bear in mind that the average price of a Shinola Watch is over $500, and goes up to $1200, which is often justified by the fact that it is “built in Detroit”, alluding that you help people in a rough city. And, in fact, you still do help them after all, maybe just not as much as you thought you did.

And if corporate history is a key part of corporate image why are cars made by BMW -

"part of the "German Big 3" luxury automakers, along with Audi and Mercedes-Benz, which are the three best-selling luxury automakers in the world"

are so desirable?

Desing fits well into prevaling tastes, you right here.
Well, I don't know s*** about corporate image... Seriously. Cheers!

[wschofield3]

Assembled, and no shame in that. No one has more right to say 'We made it' than Shinola.

They "make" nothing in Detroit. They assemble Chinese parts and cheap Swiss Quartz movements that you can buy in a $100 watch from a number of alternate brands.

With an ad campaign that says "made in Detroit", I can't imagine how one doesn't find that shameful.

[tribe125]

Throughout the history of watchmaking, watches have been more assembled than made in any particular location. Hands and dials came from different makers in different towns, movements and mainsprings came from different countries to be cased up locally, etc.

It's quite a recent phenomenon that we've sought to distinguish between 'final assembly' and 'made' and I'm not sure it matters all that much. Most products are assembled rather than made from the ground up in a single location. There's a problem if a manufacturer claims the latter when the former is the case, but I don't see a general problem in 'made' encompassing 'assembled'.