When you make the leap from quartz movements into mechanical watches, it's really a different world. You're blessing your wrist with throwback artistry that will last generations. And there's just something miraculous about all those springs and gears working together.

Look for that kind of product made in America and you'll run out of options real quick. Cameron Weiss would like to change that. He grew up surfing in California and started Weiss Watches after attending watchmaking school in Switzerland. Now he runs Weiss Watches out of Los Angeles, making watches with his hands and taking advantage of the machinists and engineers in the local aerospace industry while using ancient tools that aren't even commercially available anymore.

We chatted with him about his love of underwater photography, the industry-shaking impact of the Swatch Watch and whether or not being a watchmaker is at all similar to being a god.

Why is it important for you to have Los Angeles, California, printed on the face of the watch?

This is one of the only places in the U.S. that we can really achieve what we're doing. There's a lot of highly skilled workers that have been working in aerospace and all kinds of advanced machining and engineering. It's a perfect place to have a rebirth of watchmaking in the U.S.

Are those industries represented in the workforce at Weiss?

A little bit. A lot of that is secretive, but Boeing is a big part of the manufacturing in some of the partners that we work with.

Can you talk a little bit about the origin of the company and what it means to you to be in charge of it?

Ever since I became interested in watches, I always wanted to have my own company. It took a long time. I worked with a lot of Swiss companies and eventually went to school there to become a watchmaker. It was definitely a huge stepping stone to designing my own watches.

Switzerland is known as the capitol of timekeeping. Why?

They've been very innovative. In the past 15 years they've taken over watchmaking globally with new innovations, while the U.S. withdrew. It had a lot to do with one particular individual, the founder of the watchmaking school I attended. The school I went to was the Nicolas G. Hayek School of Engineering. Nicolas G. Hayek was the founder of Swatch Group. His engineering firm was contacted by the Swiss government to basically help save watchmaking in Switzerland. The U.S. was gaining a lot of ground, especially with quartz watches and battery powered watches coming out. And the Japanese were getting into the market. A lot of changes were happening. Hayek's plan involved a lot of different paths, all innovative. One being the Swatch Watch, which was very affordable. But he had all different kinds of high-end innovations as well.

What was his most lasting contribution on the technical innovation side?

The most lasting innovation was definitely Swatch Watches, being that they came up with this plan to make something that was inexpensive for a Swiss watch, but also forward in design. While investing a lot of money in design, they were also investing a lot of money in manufacturing in completely new ways to manufacture a watch. The big thing with a Swatch is it's put together robotically, and a lot of the parts are plastic, very inexpensive. So they could put it together inexpensively and easily mass produce it, and focus on the design and sales of it. That actually kept the higher-end watchmaking alive, with the company leaning on sales in that lower category.

What years were you studying?

Back in 2010. It's a two-year program. I call it a school but it's more like an apprenticeship. Six students and two master watchmakers, and we trained with them full-time.

So there was a Henry Ford revolution in making watches. At what point is a master watchmaker someone who's a visionary about automation and uses CAD (computer-aided drafting) software, versus someone who's really good with their hands?

It starts out with the basics, really: being able to focus and concentrate and follow directions, and to learn from someone. From there, there's a lot of specialties that anyone interested in furthering their craft can get into. At watchmaking school we didn't learn anything relating to manufacturing or anything like that. It's more small-scale. We would use hand-powered lathes and mills and cut parts completely by hand on kind of antique equipment, almost. You'd make one part. A very traditional way of making watches. A lot of the equipment was either antique, or the company that makes the tools makes them specifically for schools, because that's the only place they're used, in schools to teach the history of watchmaking.

That's so arcane. What was happening in your life right before you decided to go to watchmaking school?

I was working at an underwater camera manufacturer. I wanted to learn about machining. We worked with Hollywood and would do custom housings for cameras. It gave me access to learn CAD programs and also hands-on experience with a CNC (computerized numerical control) milling machine. Before I went to watchmaking school I was trying to learn about machining.

What else brought you into the that job besides wanting to learn machining?

Being from Southern California and loving the ocean, being a surfer and a diver. It was a really fun way of getting hands-on time with CNC and CAD. I went diving a lot, was on set with all kinds of cool people. I still enjoy water photography.

What was the original goal when you started Weiss Watches?

The goal was to keep everything in Los Angeles. I used to think I had to move to Switzerland permanently. But then the more I learned, the more I realized I didn't have to uproot to Europe. Really the goal started as making everything in L.A. and that's still the goal. We just moved into a brand new facility with all the CNC machines and assembly. We're getting closer and closer to making every single component in L.A.

What are the main stylistic influences of Weiss Watches? I can see the military reflected, but what else?

I always liked simple watches. I have a collection of pocket watches as well from U.S. manufacturers. The military influence is strong, and comes across in wanting to make something that's extremely legible: esay to read, strong, black and white. Also with pocket watches, I'm inspired by the simplicity and the ritual of winding your watch every day, with a manual wind. I think that's important to feel the connection with your watch. And then also with the aerospace connection being here in L.A., we designed our logo to be in the shape of the outline of a pair of wings from an airplane. As if you were looking down on an airplane from up above. I'm also inspired by the gauges on a plane and also old cars.

Have you ever met anyone who didn't know what a mechanical watch was?

Yes, and usually they're blown away that something can tell time with only mechanical pieces. People think only a computer can do that. But it's just wheels and springs. When you wind the watch, you're turning the crown of the watch. And through a series of gears, that turns a main spring barrel which has a big spring inside it. Once fully wound it will power the rest of the gear train and escapement for about two days. The rest of the gear train and escapement are pretty complex to explain. But as far as powering it, it's done by turning the crown and winding that main spring up.

What's the history of that kind of watch?

Well prior to having a clock or wristwatch, the only thing that existed was the pendulum. You can't fit a pendulum on your wrist. And actually the larger the pendulum the more accurate the clock. A lot of towns had one clock, and that's why they had a clock tower and bells. You couldn't see the clock. You couldn't even see the clock tower. So you had to listen for the bells to know what time it was.

Especially in Western philosophy the watchmaker is frequently used as a metaphor for god. How godlike do you feel?

I don't feel godlike. But I can see how that would have come about. Watchmaking as a field grew along with the development of calendars, which were used for planting food and feeding people. So the development of keeping time and working with the calendars was very connected to keeping people alive, creating the rhythm of whole civil ecologies. It's pretty heavy if you think about it.

-Andrew Matson