In 2012, Shinola brought the focus back to American watchmaking, marking the first year of its founding by opening a watchmaking factory in Detroit, the first in the US in almost 50 years. Over the ensuing years, the Detroit-based brand has drawn on this heritage with the Great Americans series of watches, with each limited-edition model paying tribute to an individual who has shaped American history – such as Olympic athlete Jim Thorpe (the first Native American to win gold, in 1912), artist Georgia O’Keeffe, and baseball player Jackie Robinson.
Now it’s the turn of Black American inventor Elijah McCoy to take a place in horological history – a timely move for an individual whose name is synonymous with perfection (the phrase ‘the real McCoy’ is said to derive from one of his much-copied inventions that meant steam-powered trains didn’t need to stop during a journey).
