This is the new Shinola Mechanic 3H, it’s a hand-wound watch that’s built in Detroit with a Swiss-made movement, and it’s dedicated to the rich history of Detroit’s sign painters – who were nicknamed “mechanics.”
Shinola was founded in 2011 in Detroit, Michigan to manufacture watches and other goods in the USA. The company takes its name from the long-defunct Shinola shoe polish company that was established back in 1877.
The name Shinola is perhaps best remembered for the phrase “You don’t know sh*t from Shinola,” a WWI-era expression referencing the black gummy appearance of Shinola shoe polish, and implying that a person was so stupid they couldn’t tell the difference between the shoe polish and, well, excrement.
These are the three colorways of the Shinola Mechanic 3H watch – Cream, Black, and Dark Olive. All are powered by the same hand-wound Swiss-made SW210-1 movement.
It was a conversation that referenced this old saying that started a process in 2011 that would revive the name Shinola, now as an American watch company. They soon branched out and began producing a multitude of other items including bicycles, leather products, classic wall clocks, home goods, and jewelry.
The Shinola Mechanic 3H watch is powered by a hand-wound Swiss-made SW210-1 movement with a 42 hour power reserve. It has a 39mm rounded square stainless steel case with a sapphire crystal, and it has a domed dial that features painted numerals designed to echo the style of sign painter’s work from decades ago
Each watch comes in a metal tin designed by the Motown Sign Co. of Detroit, there are three colorways on offer including Cream, Black, and Dark Olive, the Mechanic 3H comes with a ridged leather strap, and they retail for $1,450 USD.
Articles that Ben Branch has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
