G
ary Girdvainis, publisher of About Time, is the media and
sales director for FTS. This article was written and edited by
editor, Craig Hester, who has no direct affiliation with FTS.
It may seem odd to say that Fine Timepiece Solutions out of Phoe-
nix (also makers of the Ameriquartz movements) exists because of
World War 2. But, then again, it’s not as odd as it may really seem. It’s
part of the reason they are one of the first to endeavor to build watch
movements again in the United States.
War, particularly our world wars, impacts everything in ways large,
small and unexpected. You can’t overstate the influence it has had on
the trajectory of the watch industry. From the first makeshift wrist-
watches (the trench watch) in World War 1 to the sophisticated pilot
and dive watches of today, war and watches are inexorably linked.
One of those links, which most would surely lament, is that the
second world war, in effect, ended the US watch manufacturing
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