1776 Atelier Debuts $44,000 Liberty 250 Watch With 90%-Plus US-Made Movement
Updated
Updated · watchesbysjx.com · Jul 3
1776 Atelier Debuts $44,000 Liberty 250 Watch With 90%-Plus US-Made Movement
3 articles · Updated · watchesbysjx.com · Jul 3
Summary
$44,000 buys a 25-piece limited Liberty 250—an 18k rose-gold, 41 mm skeleton watch launched by Texas-based 1776 Atelier for America’s 250th anniversary.
More than 90% of the manually wound movement is made in-house from raw American materials, with US-made plates, bridges, screws, wheels and a free-sprung balance replacing the brand’s earlier Etachron setup.
About 200 hours of beveling go into the movement, and the brand claims 222 hand-finished internal angles; the watch runs at 2.5 Hz with a 52-hour power reserve.
The case is still sourced from Germany, and FTC 'Made in USA' rules keep 1776 Atelier from making an unqualified domestic-origin claim despite the movement’s overwhelmingly American content.
The launch underscores a broader push by a handful of independents to rebuild US watchmaking decades after major American factory closures wiped out the industry.