Conspiracy theory: deliberately fail in order to demonstrate that “Made in America” doesn’t work so they’ll get less criticism about manufacturing elsewhere.
More realistic: fleece suckers who think “Made in America” make it worth spending $500 for a $50 watch.
Or, you know, taking advantage of some tax breaks and benefits. It's not like factory jobs are for other races and countries, and Americans should just sit back and solely devote themselves to pure ideas and entrepreneurship.
>More realistic: fleece suckers who think “Made in America” make it worth spending $500 for a $50 watch.
Most $500 watches are worth way less, even $50, so nothing special about this (regardless of where they are made).
Besides, getting domestic jobs for people is still worth something. Those laid off factory workers of old aren't gonna "reinvent" themselves anytime soon and get into Silicon Valley, but if they could get a new factory job that's something - and beats homelessness or low-end shitty gigs like Uber.
Plenty of great stuff is made in the US. I’d rather we focus on making things we’re good at, rather than taking random stuff, slapping “Made in America” on it, and hoping someone is willing to pay a premium for that text.
>I’d rather we focus on making things we’re good at, rather than taking random stuff, slapping “Made in America” on it, and hoping someone is willing to pay a premium for that text.
Why not make everything you can make? Would there be a problem is the US manufactured CPUs and phones as opposed to sending them to be made in China/Korea/Taiwan/etc?
To outsource externalities (e.g. environmental costs)? Or to stifle any labor demands (by moving your production to wherever you like any time they are raised somewhere)?
Are there laws about the "Made in" claim? That is, could they realistically have the movement and case and everything made abroad, then only do the final assembly in the US and earn the "Made in the USA" brand?
Yes. In 2016 the FTC stopped Shinola from claiming their watches were "made" in America. Much more accurately they were "assembled" in America (Detroit) from foreign parts [1].
I entirely agree with the FTC, their claims were dishonest. As a point of comparison, Switzerland regulates what percentage of the watch must be Swiss before it can be claimed to be "Swiss," but it's not an easy question. For example, with completely made up numbers, low wage Chinese manufacturer sells mostly finished movement for $20 that required 4 hours to make. High wage Swiss assembler puts in another hour, at a cost of $40. Total time is 5 hours, 80/20 Chinese/Swiss and total cost is 60, 33/67 Chinese/Swiss. From time perspective, it's a Chinese watch, but from cost perspective it's Swiss.
They already are. Their web site claims that they're using a Swiss movement. They're silent on where the case and other parts are being manufactured, but I'd guess that the movement accounts for a good portion of the production cost.
More realistic: fleece suckers who think “Made in America” make it worth spending $500 for a $50 watch.