Vortic returns to Kickstarter with the Journeyman Series

July 20, 2016

Vortic Journeyman

Vortic is one of those brands that we covered from their early days, when they first launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for their “Made in America” watches. Their idea to fit old pocket watch movements into 3D-printed cases did not go unnoticed and since then, the Fort Collins, Colorado-based managed to build a solid following base, people that loved both having a historic American-made movement ticking on their wrist, but also enjoy the unique texture of the Vortic custom-made cases.

Vortic is back on Kickstarter with the Journeyman collection that got its name from Vortic’s journey to bring back watchmaking to America. To me, this collection represents an upgraded version of their initial concept. Gone are the restored antique pocket watch movements, this time, the new line of 3D-printed titanium cases will incorporate modern automatic or hand-wound movements. We are talking about the 19 jewels Eterna hand-wound Calibre 39, the 29 jewels Eterna automatic Calibre 39, both offering 65 hours of power reserve, and finally, because Vortic is, after all, a Made in America story, they also offer the “Power Reserve” model with newly-announced hand-wound Weiss Caliber 1003.

Vortic Journeyman Power Reserve using the Weiss Caliber 1003

They also created an ingenious on-line tool to customise your watch: pick the movement, the dial style, the case finish, the crown, the strap, and even the decoration of the movement.

The campaign itself was launched earlier today and only after a few hours it is fully funded. The pre-order prices start at $795 for the “Manual Wind”, $1,495 for the “Automatic”, and $1,745 for the “Power Reserve” model, and these prices will go higher if you want to have a “first batch”, pieces serial numbered “0003” to “0009”.

Vortic Watch founders Tyler Wolfe and R.T. Custer at the World Watch Market

I had the pleasure to meet the founders of Vortic, Tyler Wolfe and R.T. Custer, at the World Watch Market in Vegas, this is where they first announced the Journeyman collection. R.T. told me about their plan that during the Kickstarter campaign to go on a tour, as true “journeymen”, to meet potential clients and give them the opportunity to see first-hand the watches. I think this is a great idea! When was the last time you could actually try out a prototype from Kickstarter? Exactly! If you like the Vortic Journeyman concept, but before putting up the money, you actually want to see how it would look on your wrist, you can find bellow a list of their stops.