After the Quartz Collapse

In the 1970s, the Quartz Crisis wiped out American mechanical watchmaking. The Swiss filled the vacuum, defining what luxury meant, while U.S. brands faded into forums and flea markets. By 2000, mechanical watchmaking in America seemed like a closed chapter.

That’s when Hartwig Balke and George Thomas started something new in Annapolis. Hartwig brought manufacturing DNA from Pforzheim, Germany—home to some of the finest micro-engineering workshops in the world. George brought old-world horological expertise. Together, they built Towson Watch Company: an American brand, informed by German precision, proving that independence here could meet—and often exceed—the Swiss ideal.

Before "Microbrand" Had a Name

We didn’t call ourselves a microbrand. The word wasn’t in circulation. We were watchmakers—restoring, designing, building—without marketing teams or capital backing. Our first watches were one-off commissions, made with components from small, family-run workshops in Pforzheim that knew Hartwig personally. These weren’t suppliers you found in a catalog—they were partners in the craft.

Hartwig had credibility in a world where Americans were still questioned. He used it to put that precision work on American wrists. Our earliest clients were local sailors, engineers, collectors, and curious walk-ins. And from the start, we were hands-on—no stock cases, no generic movements, no third-party assemblers.

Two decades later, microbrand became a trend. But we weren’t following it—we helped start it. Towson showed that independent American watchmaking could thrive. Being first wasn’t the achievement. Staying consistent was.

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Craft First

We still do it all under one roof. Cases cut to spec. Dials hand-finished under natural light. Movements regulated by the same watchmakers who assemble them. We employ full-time, in-house watchmakers trained by Hartwig himself, and every watch goes direct to the collector.

This isn’t curation. It’s manufacturing—with the product at the center of the process.

Too much of the industry today hides behind narrative. Some brands boast about in-house calibers but cut corners on the dial or case. They slap a name on a rotor and hope you won’t notice. We don’t play that game. A good watch should feel right in the hand. It should look sharp under light. That’s the test we build for.

We’ve curated the best partners in the world: small, highly specialized Pforzheim manufacturers whose work is too detailed—and too costly—for most Swiss luxury brands. These workshops craft, they don’t mass-produce. In Maryland, we finish and assemble every piece. The result is a timepiece with a global backbone and an American voice.

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The independent watch scene is larger—and louder—than ever. New names arrive with fresh ideas or eye-catching styling; a few stay, many drift. Towson keeps a different pace. We build on two decades of continuous production, refining the same core principles rather than reinventing them for each season.

Small batches aren’t a marketing angle; they’re a practical limit on how much careful work our benches can produce. Independence, for us, is less about branding than about control—over case tolerances, dial depth, and how a movement feels when you wind it.

A Swiss address is no longer the only path to excellence, and “microbrand” needn’t mean disposable. We carried that banner before it had a name, and we still measure it by the same standard: make something that endures.