Meet R.T. Custer of Vortic Watch Company

Today we’d like to introduce you to R.T. Custer.

Thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
My business partner, Tyler, and I started Vortic in 2014 by answering what we thought was a simple question: “Can we make a watch in America? — not just assembled here, but truly “Made in USA?”

Long story short, Vortic Watch Company is one of the only American watch companies today, and the only way to make 100% of a watch in the US is to use antique American pocket watches.

We upcycle the inside of these old pocket watches that were made in America 100 years ago and turn them into one-of-a-kind wristwatches, now built in Colorado. We can only make a few hundred watches each year, but we love giving tours to our customers and sharing all the great things we can make right here in Fort Collins.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It’s very difficult to manufacture products in America in general, but when talking about mechanical wristwatches, it’s nearly impossible. From the beginning, everyone said, “Watches are made in Switzerland or China, not America – you guys are crazy!” It’s taken nearly a decade, but we’ve done it, and today we proudly say Vortic Watch Company in downtown Fort Collins is one of the only places in the US where you can see how a watch is made from start to finish.

Also, the Swiss did not make it easy on us – the world’s largest watch conglomerate, the Swatch Group, sued us in 2015, accusing us of many things, including trademark infringement and counterfeiting. Six years later, we defeated Swatch in federal court in a lawsuit named Hamilton v. Vortic that almost made it to the Supreme Court.

Entrepreneurship isn’t easy and is typically a rollercoaster, but they wouldn’t call it ‘The American Dream’ if it wasn’t worth fighting for.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Vortic Watch Company?
Vortic Watch Company and our new brand, Colorado Watch Company, are known for American manufacturing in the luxury mechanical wristwatch industry.

If you want an American-made watch that is built to last a lifetime, you just need to go to downtown Fort Collins and tour our facility. We can’t wait to show you what we’ve built!

Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
In my opinion, entrepreneurs see risk differently. The best entrepreneurs are perceived as “crazy” by almost everyone around them because they simply don’t think about the risk or they don’t consider the obstacles many people perceive as risk as “risky.”

They say entrepreneurship is lonely, and I think this is exactly why. Sometimes the ability to take enormous risks makes visionaries and entrepreneurs hard to relate to. I love risk — if something is easy, then it’s too boring for me.

Pricing:

• Vortic Watch Company products range in price from $2000 to $12,000 and are available at vorticwatches.com
• Our new brand, Colorado Watch Company, has products available between $900 and $1500. Those watches can be found at www.coloradowatchcompany.com.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.vorticwatches.com, www.coloradowatches.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vorticwatches/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vorticwatches/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/VorticWatches
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/vorticwatchcompany

Image Credits
Peach Street Photo Co. (https://www.peachstreetphotoco.com/) and William LaMont Photography (https://www.wmlamont.photography/)