Watch Factories In America

[RJ007]

Cool! I get it now. Never seen one before!

[bazzab]

This is inside Gruens Time Hill Factory
I have no idea what the guy is doing

[Ham X Guy]

That was a beautiful building!

Thanks for sharing that...

[marvelaugusts]

Awesome article . I never heard about that . Nice graphical presentation .

[Ham X Guy]

Awesome article . I never heard about that . Nice graphical presentation .

Welcome to the American Watch forum marvel!

[bazzab]

I have not too many photos of Gruen's Time Hill.
Heres on of the Front Entrance

[Ham X Guy]

What a beautiful building Gruen had.

It certainly was a tribute to the Gruen families German roots. No American factory ever looked like that!

[HamiltonIllinois]

Well said AJ.

My first good watch as a young man was a Benrus and I remember it was very expensive for the time and my parents really debated whether they could stretch the budget to get it for me. Well, they did and I certainly appreciated it, because as you say, it was my one and only watch that was meant to last. It was and important and meaningful purchase that took alot of thought on my parents part. How many thing's in our lives can we say that about these days?

Anyway, many years past and I never heard the name Benrus again, until I found this forum and it was like a rebirth hearing that great name again. So began my Benrus addiction....

I never read this GREAT thread until today. Did you ever locate another example of your first Benrus? What model was it??

[HamiltonIllinois]

Yikes, that is pretty sad....

Every American from the baby-boomer generation is familiar with this company. I mean who didn't wake up to a Baby Ben or Big Ben Alarm clock? And who didn't have a Westclox hanging in their kitchen? They were truly an American icon.

Those last two sad pictures remind me of the old and abandoned Benrus factory wasting away in Waterbury CT. Shameful...

While I did not grow up here, I live near Detroit. Sadly, there are important old building JUST like these all over the southeastern Michigan area. There are too many old factories and warehouses to even know what they were in their prime. One of the largest is now called the Russell Industrial Center (RIC) -- it was designed around 1915 by Albert Kahn as one of the largest factories in the world covering a few million square feet. It was very close the the Grand Trunk Railroad Line - another famous old Detroit building designed by Kahn. (Grand Trunk was later used as a Hudson's warehouse in the 1970s.) In the beginning it included a carriage/coach manufacturing business (Murray) who eventially made car bodies for Ford, Packard, Studebaker, Chrysler, GM, and others. Murray was known as the "Dean" of stampmakers and eventually made stamps for most of the auto-related business in the US. Later the RIC produced B1s and B17s during WWII. After the war the RIC was the home of Michigan Stamping and then later became home to about 150 printers -- making Detroit one of the largest printing areas in the US in the 1960s. By 1970 it was purchased by Leona Helmsley. About then most people were leaving the city, so the RIC and the entire area became blighted. When I moved here in the late 80s it was basically empty. Soon an industrious bunch set up an urban-warfare-like (Mad Max-ish) paintball facility inside -- there were massive water leaks and big hole in some floors, so you could literally shoot down 2-3 floors at your friends as a sniper... just what Detroit needed, LOL. A few years ago a group of artists slowly started to reclaim portions of the RIC for studios and urban lofts. These days on most weekends there are art exhibits with artists selling industrial-looking jewelry and urban chic wear. Of the 2.2 millions square feet about 1/3 is currently being used... but I sure would not want to be there at night! Sadly, there are likely a few dozen other similar old buildings, most smaller but not all, which are all over Detroit. Most have remain empty and rotting for 30 years....

[Ham X Guy]

I never read this GREAT thread until today. Did you ever locate another example of your first Benrus? What model was it??

Thanks!

No, I never did find that exact watch again. I do have something that was pretty similar though. It's a pretty basic 17 jewel from the sixties, 34mm, SS case, but it does have a red second hand which makes it standout.