On this week’s episode, JCK editor-in-chief Victoria Gomelsky and news director Rob Bates talk with Greg Verras, watch design director for Shinola, a Motor City icon beloved for its “built in Detroit” timepieces. Greg shares his unlikely journey from a skateboard startup in his garage to high-end watch designer. He touches on what inspires new Shinola timepieces and collections, the hallmarks that make them uniquely American (casual accessibility–meets–heirloom quality), the wisdom of approaching new trends with care and caution, and the power of storytelling to sell product.

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Episode Credits
Hosts: Rob Bates and Victoria Gomelsky
Producer and engineer: Natalie Chomet
Editor: Riley McCaskill
Plugs: @jckmagazine; tracr.com

Show Notes
01:25 Career by Design
12:32 American Classic
15:14 Inspiration Points
19:38 Timing Is Everything

Show Recap
Career by Design
Victoria and Rob welcome guest Greg Verras, watch design director for Shinola. Victoria notes that the Detroit-based company—which produces not just watches but a range of items, from leather goods to dog toys—is one of her all-time favorites.

A native Michigander, Greg grew up north of Detroit, in St. Clair Shores. Like many other small cities in the Great Lakes State, his was both a working-class town and a lake town with a nautical vibe. “Every other house has a boat,” he says. “That came in handy when we started working on a yacht timer at Shinola.”

Greg studied computer-integrated manufacturing in college, but when he graduated in 2002, manufacturing was on the decline in the United States and finding a job in his field proved impossible, so he headed back to school to study industrial design. He hoped to land an internship after his junior year, but when none materialized he came up with an alternate way to get real-world experience. “I started building skateboards in my garage and launched a fledgling made-in-Detroit skateboard brand, fabricating and pressing the boards, working with artists, and trying to do something official,” he says. On the day of his company’s launch party, he got a job offer from Fossil, so he shuttered the skateboard business and his career in the watch world began.

About a year later, he found a link to an early Shinola website that had a webcam into the factory and was instantly intrigued. “I basically just knocked on the door until they let me in,” Greg remembers. Though Shinola had no in-house watch designers at that point, they hired him within a year. “There weren’t a ton of American brands putting any effort into manufacturing in the U.S., so to see a brand opening up a manufacturing footprint was inspiring,” he says.

Admittedly, though, he lacked appreciation for the art of watchmaking. It wasn’t until he visited Switzerland that he began to understand the craft’s rich heritage. “There’s an incredible history in watches,” he says, adding that studying their evolution offers a fascinating perspective on wars, kings and queens, and pivotal moments from the past.

American Classic
Victoria points out that Shinola often draws inspiration from U.S. history. She asks what details give the company’s timepieces their American spirit. It’s tough to pinpoint “because we’re an eclectic country,” Greg says. “They’re a little more casual, a little less stiff than what you’d get out of a European brand. Approachable, warm, and friendly are terms we use when discussing watches.”

The United States scaled products up to make them widely accessible in the early 20th century, so there’s a democratic core in a lot of great American goods, Greg says. “That’s the American calling card,” in his opinion. Shinola is “carrying that torch—making something great, and you don’t have to take out a second mortgage” to buy it, as he puts it.

Most of Shinola’s customers are American, with the deepest fan base in the Midwest and on the coasts. “We don’t have a lot of international distribution, [but] I think there’s probably an appetite globally for something with an American aesthetic,” he says. “Maybe the next challenge is sharing [Shinola designs] with the rest of the world.”

Inspiration Points
Rob asks about the genesis of the company’s watch designs. Are they rooted in the marketing department or the designers’ imagination? The short answer: both. Some projects spring from strategizing about the next smart business move for the company. For example, the Canfield Speedway came about because an automatic chronograph watch was the next logical step for Shinola from a movement perspective. “Other times, it’s just raw creativity.” Case in point: The Sea Creatures watch happened because “we were just excited about the name,” Greg explains. “It sounded like a cool, youthful dive watch. That was a pure inspiration project.”

Where does the design team find such inspiration? Sometimes from group field trips. “We went to Brimfield, Massachusetts, to a huge vintage fair, where we found old cool military stuff that inspired a field watch and an alternate history [for it, in which] Shinola was around for World War I,” Greg says. Great storytelling, he notes, always helps to sell product.

“It’s important to get out of your bubble, get inspired, and have time to think,” he says. “That’s the most critical part of those trips. You let your mind slow down a little bit, get away from the grindy parts of your job…connect with your team, and get some creative energy going.”

Timing Is Everything
Rob asks if Greg sees room for more creativity in watch design. Yes, but it depends on what the consumer is ready for, he responds. Timing is critical, and Shinola doesn’t always get it right, he acknowledges. Right now, we’re coming out of a strong heritage phase that emphasized classic, timeless pieces. More creative, avant-garde looks are emerging, along with hints that consumers are ready for them, according to Greg.

On the topic of timing, Rob mentions the Gomelsky watch, named for JCK’s own Victoria Gomelsky. “That’s one that didn’t land at quite the right time,” Greg observes. The watch line, now being rehabbed, came out in 2016 and featured small, cocktail-focused models of the sort that are trending today, he notes. “We still love the aesthetic,” he says, and “we may see it another day.”

When a trend emerges, like budding interest in smaller case sizes, how quickly can Shinola capitalize on it and translate it into designs? Shinola resists the urge to pounce on the newest “in” look, Greg says. Instead, they take care to translate it through the brand’s vision and make sure it fits organically into their collections. If it does, designers might, for instance, double down on the smaller sizes Shinola already produces or develop new models to meet the moment.

Rob wonders about another popular trend: smart watches. What is their impact on the market? Greg says they’ve changed the game a lot for some players, and not at all for others. “What you see surviving are the true watch brands—people who are devoted to watches exclusively,” he claims. “That helps your credibility in the space.”

The $300-$400 range has been usurped by smartwatches, but “the truly timeless stuff that is an heirloom survives,” he says. “That’s something a smart watch can never be. Nobody’s wearing a 5-year-old smart watch.”

And Shinola is in the business of creating heirlooms. “We want to make something you’re still wearing 10 or 20 years from now and that has a fun resale aspect to it. These [watches] live on. They’re artifacts you can still use and still love.”

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