Top Ten American Watch Brands?

Wow I've never heard of any of them, isn't kobold a tiny lizard man? 

I've heard of all these companies but it reeks of paid placement.

For example, Timex is still American if I recall correctly.

Nodus is based in California and manufactures in the states.  I am pretty sure Luminox is too.  Islander might be bigger than all of these guys and invested hard in American made movements (with the Ameriquartz partnership).  I am frankly not certain what the definition of American watch brand is.

Also if the WUS threads are to be believed even in the slightest, Kobold is not a company I would choose to support.

I own three of these brands. 
 

RGM, makes custom watches with in-house movements. Roland Murphy and his staff are great to work with and build exceptional timepieces.

Weiss, makes American made field watches that are both well made and great everyday timepieces. Cameron Weiss and his wife Whitney are a absolute pleasure to do business with. 

Vortic makes unique timepieces that utilize old pocket watch movements. Every watch is different and special. I really enjoy having one of their watches in my collection. The movement in mine is over 100 years old and restored to its original beauty.

I'd pick Islander, Monta, or Vaer over any of the listed brands if I was choosing American. 

Kobold, Monta, RMG, MK II , Islander and NTH being my favorite. Head over and check out Oceanictime.com, along the right side of the home page is list of watch companies and microbrands per country, around 100 listed

Islander and Sturhling are much more significate than most brands on that list.

In the case of only one brand that uses in-house movements, RGM, I'd say it's highly subjextice what the best one is. I love vintage inspired pieces, so I'd say Lorier for instance. 

Forgot, McDowell is a good U.S brand as well 

Define American "brand?" I would argue 7 are American based brands, only three are actually American watches, if you will. One is more likely see a US brand with a "Swiss Made" vs. "Made in the USA" on the dial because of the requirements to be considered an American company. For example, Shinola was sued by the Federal Trade Commission for claiming "Made in the USA" when in fact they were absolutely not. 

RGM and Devon actually manufacture their watches in the US, though I cannot specifically speak to where they source parts. Vortic uses old movements, but all the work is done in the US. Weiss, who I very much like, uses a Swiss movement that he rebuilds. The rest are mostly private label watches created elsewhere with their label slapped on the dial. Not knocking the brands, watches, or quality, I own a few, but there is a reason almost none of these brands can use the label "Made in the USA." 

Can I just tell you guys how much I love when a company takes the idea of a “wrist watch” and makes it infinitely more complicated and ridiculously more difficult to read?

If that’s what America is offering these days, you can count me out. It’s made by Devon by the way. 

Like MB&F, that thing is an awesome piece of mechanical art while being absolutely rubish at being a watch. I'd love to own one of their pieces, but like Ressence, cannot justify the spend at this time. 

How do Vaer and Timex not rate this list?!

As @Edge168n pointed out, it was likely some kind of paid placement which I then stupidly shared. 
 

Looks like that site is down :(

I see two brands mentioned in the comments that have Ameriquartz movements in some of their watches and are also headquartered in the US; Vaer and Islander. One more I have not seen mentioned that I have in my collection is Bertucci. They also have their headquarters in the US and have Ameriquartz models. There are also Meridian Sky, Waldan, and Minuteman that are based in the US and have Ameriquartz models, but I do not own any of these.

I hear you, but I have a couple of semi-counter points.  1 - many of our traditionally beloved watches as enthusiasts have been coopted as a bro-flex over the past 5 years.  2 - Some of the other weird sort-of-not-really-watches, especially the automatons, make 20k look like a bargain.

I agree with the bro-flexing if you are going to wear it. 

As someone that will never own a watch of that expense, I can appreciate the look & engineering that goes into the watch. 

I know Fine Timepiece Solutions is working towards a "Made in the US" watch, but they are still pretty far from that goal.

I believe they have an automatic movement in the works as well. I have no idea how far out it is.

Timex

Hamilton

Bulova

Islander

Vaer

Elgin

Waltham (I believe I may be wrong though)

You could argue against 3 of my lost and one I think may actually be English but its a hell of a lot more accurate a list 

I'm English. From the list I have heard of Brew and Shinola?

I consider Timex should be top of any American list?

And although I know Hamilton are now Swiss I think of them as being very American still? In general I think the American watch industry, like the British , is not what it once was? With the exception in both countries of some strong microbrands?

Bloody hell that is awful!! Just spat my tea over the cat!

This list seems much more like it to me?

Blimey! I didn't know Timex were Dutch!? My knowledge is even more out of date than I thought it was! At least there are some strong US microbrands.

I'm quite a fan of Island Watches who, again I think of as being American even though they use seiko etc movements!

Unless if its a watch with an Ameriquartz movement, nobody makes a watch that is “Made in USA.”

That, and some specialty brands that use rebuilt vintage movements. RGM watches are Made in USA in that regard.

Spot on your comment on reeking of paid placement. Besides Shinola I've never heard of the rest. Timex is an American watch brand and still HQ'd in the USA even though most manufacturing is done overseas. In my mind, it's still arguably the best-known American watch brand. Then there's Hamilton which started as an American brand before being bought and manufacturing moved to Switzerland. 

Those were my observations but I was corrected that Timex is now Dutch owned apparently?

You should check out SEL instruments!  https://selinstrument.com. Andrew is great to work with, and they do some extreme things to their watches.