Revival of US Mechanical Watch Industry?

choi

Michael Clerizo, A Domestic Movement; After decades of Swiss watchmaking domination, American brands are starting to tick. Wall Strreet Journal, July 14, 2013
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB ... 95681679607940.html
("In Switzerland, watchmaking happened mostly by hand in small workshops with an output of about 1,000 expensive watches a year")

My comment:
(a) The "movement" in the title is a pun.

movement (clockwork)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Movement_(clockwork)
(b) Xetum founder and designer. Xetum, undated.
http://www.xetum.com/company/founder/
(Jeff Kuo)

(c) "Michael Kobold, a scion of the German family that controls manufacturing conglomerate Kobold Group * * * in 2008 * * * Kobold launched the Spirit of America, a watch with 87% U.S.-made components. 'I wanted to bring watchmaking back to America,"'said Mr. [Michael] Kobold. The Spirit, Mr.Kobold said, is the first mechanical watch (that's not a limited edition) produced in this country in more than 40 years."
(i) Who We Are. Die KOBOLD Gruppe/ KOBOLD Instruments Inc/ KOBOLD Messring GmbH, undated.
http://www.kobold.com/seiten/en/wir_en.htm
("KOBOLDMessring GmbH, one of the leading international instrumentation engineering enterprises, was founded in 1980 by Dipl.-Ing. Klaus J Kobold")

* German-English dictionary:
messring (noun masculine): "ring gauge"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_gauge
(ii) kobold
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kobold
(a sprite stemming from Germanic mythology)
(iii) Kobold timeline. Kobold Expedition Tools, undated.
http://koboldwatch.com/en/about
("2008 Kobold releases the Spirit of America Automatic, the first serialy produced American watch in 39 years. Its case is 100% Made in USA.)

(d) "RGM is now the sole American entry in the Swiss-dominated haute horlogerie market. Its Pennsylvania Tourbillon required two years to develop and takes months to complete. With a stainless steel case, the watch costs $95,000."

A tourbillon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourbillon
aims to counter the effects of gravity on performance of a watch.
(ii) tourbillon (n; Anglo-French turbeillun, ultimately from Latin turbin-, turbo — more at TURBINE)
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tourbillon