Watches depicting the history of Rumrunners

Windsor has become the home of a business which combines manufacturing watches based on the Rumrunner’s history. A local entrepreneur started making watches 10 months ago being inspired by the Prohibition era.

The Rumrunners distilled and distributed illegal alcohol across the borders of Detroit and Windsor during the Prohibition period of the 1920s. They would devise meticulous plans in transporting these spirits either using boats or driving cars when the river froze.

Jonathan Van Lare collected more than 20 watches over the last couple of years but never found one that combined quality, reasonable price and a unique story behind it. What intrigued him was how he could merge the Rumrunners’ story into his watches.

“It was interesting that we as Ontarians banned the consumption of alcohol, but we never banned the production of the alcohol…I decided to combine that with my watch designs,” said Van Lare.

Border City Style has an app that people can scan on the watches and an automatic electronic voice will start telling the story of Prohibition.  He said the first watch design is called The Rum Runner and is dedicated to the local heroes who continued supplying alcohol during that period.

The watch features stainless steel, a silver dial with a touch of sapphire crystal, reflective coating underneath and a unique mechanism.

“The bottom of the dial represents Windsor. The top of the dial represents Detroit and the middle of the watch, with an open skeleton mechanism, actually represents the Detroit river,” said Van Lare.

The watch also has another interesting feature. It has a 41-hour power reserve which does not require changing batteries and charges itself with kinetic motion. Since the watch is an automated timepiece it can be powered by moving and winding it.

Although pocket and wrist watches have been made in the past which feature a self-winding mechanism, the unique storytelling technique is a special addition to these watches.

Van Lare took The Rum Runners Tour in Windsor and that is when the idea struck him to blend the story with a watch. This in turn made Mark Baker, owner of The Rum Runners Tour, shed light upon the significance of Windsor’s history in inspiring people.

“I’m very proud of the fact that we’ve enlightened people with this story and what an important part of our history is and for someone like that to take it even further now to develop it into something else,” said Baker.

Van Lare’s watches are sold online for $416 and buyers can get a discount of 25 per cent if they sign up for his newsletter currently. The business is primarily an e-business, but he would like to open a store in Windsor in the future.

“I would love to set up maybe in the Walkerville area, that was one of the hubs in the Prohibition era,” said Van Lare.

The store would be in the area where alcohol was sold illegally in the basements of Rumrunners also known as speakeasys. The name speakeasys was used by illegal bar owners to prevent attention of police officers by speaking loudly. Van Lare said people can come into the store and browse the designs while sipping on a glass of wine or whiskey, said Van Lare.

“I like the idea because it’s very innovative…because it attracts the people towards their culture and their history,” said Shekhar Shekhar, an international student in Windsor.

Van Lare wants to bring a project to Windsor that is similar to the Shinola of Detroit, which was based on the history of Shinola Shoe Polish which was founded in 1877 in Rochester, New York. He is presently working on his second design which he plans to launch at Christmas based on the history of the Walkerville area.