Weiss Watch Company Factory Tour with Cameron Weiss.

A few members of my local Redbar chapter decided to journey to Nashville this weekend to pick up some new watches that they had ordered a few weeks prior back in December when we ran into Cameron at Fink’s Jewelers in Franklin TN, just outside Nashville.

We made plans to visit the factory around 3pm on Saturday so we had some time to kill. We ventured over to a Car Show that was being held that morning at the Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Aston Martin, Maserati & Lotus dealer.

People brought out some pretty cool cars. It was freezing cold however, so I didn’t take too many pics of the cars in the parking lot. But this Laguna Seca Blue e46 M3 had me drooling 🤤

And they had a couple MC20’s. One spyder and one coupe. Here is the spyder:

Aston had some cool cars too.. Vantage V12 Coupe

And regular V8 Vantage

Next stop was Green Hills Mall & the Omega Boutique! One of our members decided to get the new Omega Seamaster 300 Summer Blue. Reference number 234.30.41.21.03.002

The blue dial and bezel on that watch are gorgeous!! And that wouldn’t be the only watch he bought this weekend!

We all decided to toast his NWA with a glass of champagne! Congratulations Daryl!

You can’t see it here but one of our buddies is wearing a brand new Rolex 1908 in white gold with intense white dial. Diamond Celler didn’t think any had made it to the states yet. Well, needless to say, they were quite shocked to see one on the wrist of our friend!

The 1908 is actually a pretty cool watch. The movement finishing on the exhibition caseback actually looks a little better than the new Platinum Daytona. I personally think part of it has to do with the larger bridge that they have to work with, so I’m not sure if Rolex actually puts more finishing detail into this caliber 7140.

Next stop was the newly opened IWC boutique that I had the honor, privilege & pleasure to see first hand before the Grand Opening last month on our last Nashville trip. It was nice to see the display cases filled with inventory this time. We had the opportunity to check out the Ingeniour and one of our memebers had a hard time deciding between the white and black dial variants.

We then took over the back room of the IWC Boutique. You can see Cameron Weiss next to the bar. It’s right after this photo that we decide to leave the mall and head over the the Weiss Watch Company.

This is the exterior of Weiss Watch Company. The building used to house a printing company that made labels for vinyl records.

This is what the shop looks like when you walk inside. Approximately 95% of the components for his watches are made under this roof. Only thing he doesn’t make are the sapphire, rubies & hairsprings. He machines every other component, including balance wheels in-house with these crazy CNC machines from Germany & Switzerland.

This Chiron machine weighs 15k pounds. The base is made of Iron and Cement and bolted to the floor to create a stable and secure foundation so parts are machined as perfectly as possible.

He sticks in a three foot long rod of stainless steel that will produce about a hundred cases. The rod fits into the machine from the side Cameron is pointing to in the photo below.

I wanna see if anyone can tell who the dude is with the orange hat with the vintage Big Red Daytona on his wrist. I didn’t even realize who he was until someone told me at dinner afterwards.

This is how the cases are made in the machine

Next up was a machine that was from Switzerland called SwissNano and it made small screws the size of only 0.8mm.

That rod Cameron is holding is only 4mm in diameter. The pic below shows a screw being made for a Swiss movement manufacture here in the US!

The next thing he showed us was the left over material that gets recycled.

In the picture below, Cameron is pointing at the bin with the stainless steel shavings, and to the left of him is the filtration device for the oil in the Chiron machine. It was fascinating to see everything that makes these machines operate. The machines movements are actually controlled by air pressure so he has a huge commercial grade air compressor at the back of the shop providing pressurized air for all the CNC machines.

Next, Cameron showed us the computer program he uses to run simulations on the design file he creates for the different components. He was showing us one of his case designs and the process he goes through to make sure the Chiron machine doesn’t destroy itself with a wrong move.

He is basically self-taught when it comes to running these programs. I was amazed at his cerebral capacity to execute all of this by himself.

Now, it was time to check out the watchmaker benches so we could browse what’s coming up next. I geeked out when I saw all the dials just sitting there.

We all nerded out so hard. I even found a NOS lemania chronograph movement that I might reserve for a custom chronograph from him. I also probed his mind a lot over the course of the evening as Cameron ended up joining us for dinner at Halls Chophouse. Most of us are planning some type of piece unique commission/s from Weiss and I cannot wait to see what comes of those discussions. It’s so cool having one of our very own American Independent watch brand in Nashville. I actually told Cameron that I view his brand as an American Nomos and he said that was such a big compliment as that’s what he’s trying to replicate here in the USA.

Here is Cameron giving my friend Daryl his new Weiss Watch at dinner.

Two limited editions below 1 of 30 for each dial color. Each one was bought by two different members of our group.

A selection of Cameron’s own Weiss’s

You’ll see an 18k yellow gold one, too.

And I had to include a shot of a vintage 6263 Daytona. It was actually being worn by the mystery man with the orange hat earlier in the post. It was non other than Billy Strings the musician!!!

He actually came up to me to ask my opinion on the fit of his Daytona (which he was concerned was too loose) as I was wearing my new 126505 and I just went and lightly grabbed his arm and rotated it around to see the bracelet fit and then had him shake his wrist a bit and it didn’t move too much so I told him he’s solid. I had no idea who I was talking to. It just goes to show you that celebrities are humans too. They’re normal people like all of us- they just so happen to have their picture taken more often than most of us “regular” folk.

And that’s a wrap folks! I hope you enjoyed my long post!

#WeissWatch #Weiss #FactoryTour #FieldWatch #AmericanMade #IndependantBrand #Independent