The Weiss Story

Weiss Watch Company: A Background

Cameron Weiss launched Weiss Watch Company to restore prestige to American watchmaking. In his pursuit to tell stories of the great American watchmaking past, he turned to vintage gauges and aviation from which to pull design inspiration for his namesake brand in a thoroughly modern way.

1987-2005

Cameron Weiss developed his affinity for timepieces back when he was a young child. He was never spotted without a watch on his wrist and attempted to fix his first watch at the age of 5. For a high school graduation present, Cameron made an unusual request to his family - watchmaking tools and books. His supportive parents happily obliged and enjoyed sending Cameron toward his creative endeavors. He left for college at the University of Southern California with those items, and his wife Whitney found them in his college apartment. Once she learned about his passion for timepieces, she joined him on a journey to pursue his passion.

2010

In 2010, Cameron attended an apprentice-style program at the Nicholas G. Hayek Watchmaking School in Miami with a Swiss curriculum. The full-time, two-year WOSTEP (Watchmakers of Switzerland Training and Educational Program) program had two teachers and six students. At school, Cameron learned the art of repair and how to hand-make watch parts on lathes.

2011

Cameron continued learning about the craft of watchmaking and received further certifications in complications during his years training with Audemars Piguet and Vacheron Constantin in the US and Switzerland. Throughout his training and repair experiences, Cameron studied subtle ways to improve his original timepiece designs to better perform in real world environments. The ten years of passion drove him to fine-tune his designs and goals before launching in June 2013.

2013

Cameron launched Weiss Watch Company with ten Standard Issue Field Watches in Black at a market in San Francisco in June 2013 with his soon-to-be-wife Whitney after ten years of chasing his dream. Each milestone of development - from the case construction and finishing to adding the hands to the timepiece - felt like a huge accomplishment. In the US, there are no off the shelf parts to compose a timepiece, so each step was a full engineering bottom to top process. The first ten pieces took 300 hours to hand-finish and assemble in his dining room workshop while Jules, his Labrador, napped by his side.

2013-2015

Cameron and Whitney celebrated their first watch sale by eloping in Temescal Canyon with their dog Jules and two close friends. After making the cover of the LA Times, the still family-owned company has grown, and the Weisses have moved two more times and now are located in a state-of-the-art workshop in Torrance, California. The new Weiss workshop has room for employees and machining equipment where Cameron can manufacture the timepieces he dreamed about all the way back in 2003.

2016

After four years of design and development, CAL 1003 launched. Our first 50 pieces of CAL 1003 featured gold plating and sold out quickly with the help of praise from the LA Times and GQ. We also introduced our second model, the 38mm Automatic Issue Field Watch, which comes in at the perfect size according to many clients. The first people to order also received a hand drawing to frame along with their purchase.

2017

Cameron and Whitney Weiss introduced the new Weiss Rover to fans and added a new family member, Bennet. The Weiss Rover embarked on a Southern Whiskey + Watches Tour. Be sure to look for it on the road!