The Truth about the Ameriquartz Movement

The Ameriquartz movement is a line of quartz (battery-powered) watch movements built in the United States by Fine Timepiece Solutions, better known as FTS, in Fountain Hills, Arizona. It is the engine that runs a watch, and right now it is about the only quartz movement actually put together on American soil.

Let me break down what that really means, who makes it, and why I care about it enough to give FTS movements their own tier on this site.

What is a watch movement, and what is quartz?

A movement is the motor inside a watch. It keeps time and drives the hands. A quartz movement uses a tiny quartz crystal and a battery to keep time. A mechanical movement uses a wound spring instead. Quartz is usually cheaper, more accurate day to day, and needs less fuss.

So when I say Ameriquartz, I mean a family of quartz movements that FTS designs and builds in Arizona.

Who makes the Ameriquartz movement?

Fine Timepiece Solutions makes it. FTS set up shop in Fountain Hills, Arizona, inside a converted old elementary school that now holds workshops and offices. CEO Kunal Naik started the company to bring watch part manufacturing back to the US. FTS also leaned on a technology partnership with Titan, a large watch company out of India, to get the operation running and to train its American workers.

FTS does two things. It builds and tests the Ameriquartz movements, and it also assembles complete watches for brands that want their timepieces put together in the US.

What makes Ameriquartz different from a regular quartz movement?

A lot of cheap quartz movements use plastic parts. Ameriquartz does not. Here is what stands out:

• All metal and jeweled. The parts are machined metal with jeweled bearings, which is more like what you find in a nicer movement.
• Fully serviceable. A watchmaker can repair it instead of tossing the whole thing when something goes wrong.
• Self-adjusting accuracy. The movement checks itself and nudges the timing if the quartz crystal starts running a little fast or slow.
• Made in the US. This is the big one. Almost every other quartz movement in an “American” watch comes from Japan or Switzerland.

Is the Ameriquartz movement 100% made in America?

No, and this is the part I want to be straight about. FTS builds and assembles the movements in Arizona, but the parts are a mix of American-made and imported pieces. FTS has said it wants to move toward a fully American-made movement, and it has been honest that it is not there yet.

That mix matters on this site. A watch running an Ameriquartz movement is not the same as a fully American-manufactured watch. That is why I place brands that use FTS movements in Tier 3 of our American watch brand rankings, which covers US-made movements with US assembly, rather than Tier 1. The movement is built here. The whole watch is not manufactured here. Both things can be true at once.

Which watches use the Ameriquartz movement?

A handful of American brands build watches around it. Vaer is probably the most visible one, and it has done a lot to put Ameriquartz in front of collectors. You will also find it in field watches, dive watches, and other everyday pieces from brands that want a US-built engine inside.

If you are shopping and you see “Ameriquartz” or “FTS” on a spec sheet, that is your signal that the movement was built and assembled in Arizona.

What about a US-made automatic movement?

FTS has been working on a mechanical (automatic) movement called the Americhron. An automatic winds itself from the motion of your wrist, no battery needed. As of now it is just starting to appear, so most FTS-powered watches you will run into still use the quartz Ameriquartz. If a real, shipping American automatic shows up, that is a genuinely big deal, and I will cover it.

Why the Ameriquartz movement matters

The movement has always been the hardest part of a watch to make in America. Cases and dials are one thing. A working movement is another. FTS building quartz calibers in Arizona, and selling them to any brand that wants them, is one of the most important things happening in American watchmaking right now. It is not perfect, and it is not fully American yet. But it is real, it is shipping, and it gives US brands a homegrown engine to build on.