Shinola (originally called the American Chemical Manufacturing and Mining Company) was a shoe polish manufacturer based in Rochester, New York. Founded way back in 1877, this brand birthed the idiom “You don’t know sh*t from Shinola.” However, it went belly-up in 1960.
Then, in 2011, the brand name was revived as a style and accessory brand, offering everything from premium leather bags to high-end reinterpretations of classic board games. But the product category that really solidified the revived brand as a legitimate contender was its watches.
While its catalog is pretty deep, the brand’s latest drop, the Shinola Runwell Detrola Art Series, may actually be the most interesting timepiece it has produced in years. And that’s made all the more enticing by its affordable price point.
Detroit rock city
While you might not be able to tell at first glance, these new watches are, in fact, members of the brand’s Detrola lineup. Yes, there are some very big stylistic changes, but the core watch remains.
For the uninitiated, the Detrola line was first released in 2019 as an affordable alternative to luxury timepieces that didn’t skimp on style and reliability. And they were named after a now-defunct Detroit-based brand from the 1930s that built radios and cameras. In fact, the original Detrola brand is what inspired some of the colors and materials used in the watch lineup.
