Filson Mackinaw Field Watch

I suppose I may be in the minority here, but I’m not much of an accessories guy. Some might argue that a beard is an accessory, but I think it’s a necessity. Not really up for debate on that one. The one accessory I can get on board with though is a watch. Especially the kind of watch you buy once and have for a lifetime. The Filson Field Watches are just that, lifers.

Born in 1850, C.C. Filson inherited his father’s pioneer spirit and love of the outdoors. After homesteading in Nebraska and roaming the country as a railroad conductor, he moved to Seattle, Washington in the 1890’s.

“Filson’s timing couldn’t have been better. By 1897, the Great Klondike Gold Rush was on, and thousands of fortune hunters were stampeding into Seattle. Armed with a strong work ethic, a reputation for honesty and several years’ experience operating a small loggers’ outfitting store, C.C. Filson was ready to stake his claim to fame.”

Here’s what he had to say in their 1914 catalog: “To our customers: if a man is going North, he should come to us for his outfit, because we have obtained our ideas of what is best to wear in that country from the experience of the man from the North- not merely one- but hundreds of them. Our materials are the very best obtainable, for we know that the best is none too good and the quality is of vital importance. You can depend absolutely upon our goods both as to material and workmanship.” 100 years later, Filson still holds fast to those ideals.

Renowned for making products in the USA from fabrics such as heavyweight Tin Cloth and warm Mackinaw Wool, their company stands for the highest quality and most durable apparel and accessories available.

Filson entered the watch market in March of 2015 when they launched their USA-built Filson Watch Collection, a collaboration with Shinola (another one of my favorite brands) that included 23 styles of men’s watches.

Shinola is based in Detroit and has quite the pedigree dating back to 1907. You can read more about their brand, and one of their classic bicycles in one of our past features.

The Mackinaw Field Watch comes in 16 different versions, every one of them an absolute classic. They are assembled by hand in Shinola’s Detroit factory and is powered by Shinola’s Aragonite 5030D quartz movement. The crystals are scratch-resistant sapphire and have an anti-reflective coating for glare reduction. They’re rated at 20 ATM (of 660 feet) with a screw-down crown and a case back secured by six screws for protection from the elements.

The straps are vegetable-tanned Horween leather from Chicago, one of the oldest continuously-running tanneries in the U.S. There are plenty of straps that you can interchange for $95. They feature classic roller buckles, unique dials and Super-LumiNova hands, numbers, and index to maximize readability. It’s all covered under Shinola’s comprehensive best-in-class warranty.

Just in time for the holidays, it’s time to step up to a Filson timepiece that’s as timeless as your beard. You never know, maybe the man with the big white beard will bring you one if you’ve been nice.

$600-1100 filson.com

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