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Back in February, Alec Dent wrote a story about two new references from Cornell Watch Company, and hinted at a much more significant development a little further down the line. Well, we are now far enough down that proverbial line to see what Cornell has been teasing, not just since their February release, but in conversations with brand founders John and Chrissy Warren going back to at least the summer of last year. Cornell’s initial release, a quite expensive modern interpretation of classic American pocket watches made by the original incarnation of the Cornell Watch Company, was and continues to be a very beautifully made luxury watch. But, as any brand owner will tell you, it’s difficult to run a watch brand based on one single, expensive product. Even more so when that product is produced, as much as possible, here in the United States with an assist from industry legend Roland Murphy at RGM. It’s largely that desire to make something in America that animates Cornell, and it’s led them to their newest offering, the Lozier, a far more affordable watch that can be produced at scale, and is made in partnership with Ohio’s Hour Precision, also profiled recently by Alec Dent.
The Lozier is a three-hander designed for everyday wear, and inspired chiefly by watches produced in the first half the 20th century. It’s 37.5mm in diameter and measures 8.5mm tall, including the crystal. One of the most notable design quirks of the watch is the broad 22mm lug width, a decision made to reflect the brand’s interest in early 20th century dress watches, which often had lugs that were set widely apart, though on smaller cases than that of the Lozier’s. It’s a very subtle design decision that I think most brands would not have made (everyone seems to want 20mm lugs) but it was clearly the right decision for this watch. The case is almost entirely brushed, and the caseback is completely free of logos and engravings, another small decision that helps give the Lozier something of a timeless quality.
The most exciting aspect of the Lozier’s design is probably the dial, which is milled from a single block of German silver. German silver, also known commonly as nickel silver, is an alloy composed mostlhy of copper, nickel, and zinc. It used to be a far more common material in watchmaking, but is still used in movements made by A. Lange & Sohne, Zeitwinkel, and a handful of other brands. It’s a challenging material to work with and can easily be damaged if handled improperly (it is notably susceptible to the oils that are naturally present on our skin), but it has a warm tone to it that is hard to duplicate outside of certain gold alloys.
In any case, the fact that this dial is milled from a single block of the stuff is quite impressive given its three tier design, descending upward like steps from the dial’s center. The surface is largely frosted except for very thin bevels around the edges of each tier that are polished. At the outer edge, you’ll find Roman numerals made in a custom typeface inspired by historic Chicago Art Deco architecture (the typeface is officially called “Chicago Roman”). Cornell notes that the Roman numerals and all dial text is pad printed, a process that allows a small amount of the dial texture underneath to be visible.
The case, crown, dial, and hands (which were designed specifically for this watch, and are horizontally brushed with diamond cut edges) are all manufactured at Hour Precision’s headquarters in Columbus, OH on Kern 5-Axis CNC machines, the same machines used by some high end Swiss watch brands. According to Cornell, having as much production as possible based in the United States allows for the Warrens to be more hands-on with this project, ensuring they get as close as possible to producing exactly the watch they originally envisioned. The hope here is that over time, projects like the Lozier will lay a foundation for a high quality domestic supply chain that can be taken advantage of not just by Cornell, but other American watch brands as well. Wherever possible, Cornell is using American know-how and manufacturing. The brand notes that technical design work for the Lozier was done by Alex Voss Design Studio, based in Santa Clara, CA, and the straps supplied by Veblenist, another Chicago based brand.
There are, of course, components for which Cornell needed to reach beyond US shores. The sapphire crystals come from Japan, and the movement, as you likely suspect, is Swiss. For the Lozier, Cornell has gone with a Sellita SW-300 automatic movement, which has a 56 hour power reserve on a full wind.
Pre-orders for the Lozier are open as of today, and will remain open until July 16. Deliveries are expected to begin the fourth quarter of 2025 and extend into 2026, with watches delivered on a first come, first served basis. The retail price is $6,200, with 50% due at the time of ordering, and the balance due prior to delivery. That’s a price point that some, already (the watch was unveiled just hours ago…) are scoffing at with the usual complaints, particularly that a $6,000+ watch with a Sellita movement is some kind of unspeakable offense. While watch pricing has certainly gone a bit haywire in the last few years, I’d suggest this is a relatively rare case where the price makes a great deal of sense given what will be an inherently small production run and all of the American manufacturing involved. You can also count the number of USA produced comps for the Lozier on one hand, and I think once you do that, the price seems quite reasonable. Cornell Watch Company
