Shinola honors Henry Ford with pocket watch
- Shinola will make 1,000 pocket watches, which will sell for $1,000.
- The watches go on sale at Shinola.com and select retail locations Friday, Oct. 24.
- Shinola last year honored the Wright brothers with a limited-edition wrist watch and bicycle.
Popular Detroit watch and bicycle maker Shinola will honor automotive pioneer Henry Ford with a limited edition pocket watch, unveiled Thursday, as the second installment of a series honoring iconic Americans.
Shinola will make 1,000 pocket watches and they will cost $1,000. They go on sale Friday.
“It is gratifying for our family to honor the legacy of our great-grandfather with The Henry Ford signature pocket watch,” Edsel B. Ford II, chairman of the Board of Trustees at The Henry Ford Estate/Fair Lane, said in a statement. “Many may not know that great grandfather shared a love of timepieces and in fact tinkered with watches in his workshop in his home, Fair Lane. I think it is fitting that we will honor him with the launch of this new Shinola timepiece at the very place he lived. He would be pleased both with the craftsmanship of the watch and the work we are doing to carefully restore his beloved home, built nearly 100 years ago.”
Jacques Panis, Shinola’s president, said the watchmaker will honor boxer Muhammad Ali with a limited-edition watch next year.
Shinola last year launched its Great Americans series by honoring the Wright brothers with a limited edition wrist watch and bicycle commemorating their first flight.
Each watch will come with a custom gift box, numbered plate leather pouch and a leather-bound coffee table book that features rare imagery from the Archive of American Innovation at The Henry Ford in Dearborn.
“It’s very fitting that Henry Ford is included in The Great Americans Series as he would have identified with the work that Shinola is doing today,” Patricia Mooradian, president of The Henry Ford, said in a statement. “It was through his early passion of tinkering with watches that sparked his curiosity in mechanics and led him to become the innovator we know of today.”
This isn’t the first time Shinola has made a Ford-related product; last year it made a limited number of watches for the 50th anniversary of the Mustang which quickly sold out.
Shinola will offer additional pocket watch styles soon, a spokeswoman said.
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