#82 - Rick Bell - Co-Founder & Designer, Cincinnati Watch Company

The Necessary Entrepreneur welcomes Rick Bell, co-founder & designer at Cincinnati Watch Company. Rick is an avid watch collector. His hobby led him to taking apart watches and then rebuilding them in his basement. In 2016, Rick Bell & Mark Stegman created Build Your Own Watch, providing watch fans the ability to assemble and case their own watches. Rick's video instruction is still available on YouTube. In 2018 Build Your Own Watch evolved into Cincinnati Watch Company with the Union Terminal Watch and P-40M Pilot watch bringing watchmaking back to Cincinnati, creating jobs locally for American watchmakers. By 2020, they added Jordan Ficklin as co-owner and in-house certified watchmaker. Rick spends years on single watch designs which are historically American based. Each watch is a unique custom-developed timepiece.

In this episode, Mark & Rick talk about the history of watchmaking, how the US created the first assembly line for watches, the cool factor about mechanical watches, and the cost of ownership. Rick also talks about microbrand watches, partnering with Union Terminal right here in Cincinnati, design inspirations, handling adversity, and most importantly doing the preparation and hard work for when luck shows up. Be on the lookout for new limited edition designs launching in 2024.

Find out more about Cincinnati Watch Company:
www.cincinnatiwatch.com
https://www.instagram.com/cincinnatiwatchco/
https://www.facebook.com/cincinnatiwatch
https://twitter.com/cincywatchco
@CincinnatiWatchCompany 

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