It all started in 1948 when a consortium of prominent French movement companies got together and formed France Ebauche in an effort to create mechanical movements that could compete with the Swiss.
Twenty years later, timekeeping experienced a radical evolution as mechanical movements were effectively usurped by an electronic replacement known as the electronic quartz movement. This was the beginning of what was to become known as the paradigm shifting “Quartz Crisis” of the 70s. France Ebauche had to change gears (literally) and start producing the less expensive, but highly accurate quartz movements to follow consumer demands.
Still fresh off the heels of making mechanical movements, France Ebauche’s entry into quartz movements showed their continued commitment to quality construction as they carried over the embedded values imbued by decades of expertise manufacturing the more complex mechanical predecessor. Unlike the mass production from the Japanese juggernauts that were bent on driving down cost (and simultaneously quality) through the use of automation and cheaper plastic components, France Ebauche engineered quartz movements with all-metal frames and bridges and continued to add jewels where appropriate to improve quality and longevity.
In the early 2000s, France Ebauche was acquired by Titan Industries who resurrected their technology, Intellectual Property, and expertise and began manufacturing movements using this same level of quality for their own brands in India. In 2015, FTS partnered with Titan to create a line of high-torque quartz movements based on the original France Ebauche designs, now intended for modern watches which often feature heavier hands laden with copious amounts of lume, or even tritium tubes. Once we amplified the coils output to develop more torque, we also added more jewels, more hand-height options, and began assembling them in the USA. The end result was a flexible design of a high-torque, jeweled, and all metal movement that’s serviceable and built in America. Ameriquartz was born.
The next phase was making components in the USA. We partnered with an electronic circuit board (ECB) company in California and got to work making the critical control mechanism or “brains” of the movement. While it doubled the cost of our movement, we knew we needed to take this step as part of our goal of re-shoring American watchmaking. To that end we have achieved this first step and our movements are now “Made in America” – with domestic and imported components. Not only do our all-metal Ameriquartz movements offer exceptional torque and superb accuracy, they are also serviceable, warrantied for five years, and designed to last.
Following our initial step of sourcing our ECB here in America, we are excited to announce the next phase in the Ameriquartz journey as we begin manufacturing various metal components including screws, bridges, bridles, and other parts here in the USA. This is another step in the long process to achieve an unqualified claim of “Made in USA”.
Join us on our journey to change American watchmaking forever!
Sincerely,
The FTS American Manufacturing Team
