Detroit's Shinola debuts first brand campaign as Swiss rivals navigate a volatile year

As Swiss watch brands contend with a reshaped US tariff regime and supply disruptions stemming from the conflict in the Middle East, Detroit-based Shinola is making its most ambitious brand statement to date. On Tuesday, the company unveiled its first-ever overarching brand campaign, "Set The Pace," reintroducing the Runwell, the watch that launched the brand in 2011, through a cinematic short film starring and directed by actor Nicholas Braun. The campaign also marks Braun's directorial debut.

The timing of the campaign is notable, considering the current scenario of the watch market in the US. Swiss watchmakers have spent the past year absorbing a volatile trade environment, after a 39 percent US tariff on Swiss goods took effect in August, and US-bound Swiss watch exports fell by more than half year-over-year in September as brands slowed shipments to a crawl.

The Middle East conflict has since compounded the pressure. The military escalation of late February 2026 triggered closures of the Strait of Hormuz, a full suspension of Suez Canal transits and widespread airspace shutdowns across the Gulf, forcing carriers such as Maersk to reroute via the Cape of Good Hope, adding eight to 15 days to transit times and layering emergency surcharges onto freight. The Middle East accounted for around 10 percent of the sector's exports last year, as Yves Bugmann, president of the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry, told AFP in April.

Against that backdrop, Shinola's "Made in Detroit" positioning has a structural advantage. The brand's director of marketing Dana Mosa-Basha, however, resists the framing that Shinola is capitalizing on Swiss turbulence.

"That differentiation has never been about reacting to market conditions — it's about having an authentic point of view," she told FashionUnited. "We've never viewed Detroit as a marketing claim or a heritage story. It's simply the reality of how Shinola was built."

Since 2011, Shinola has assembled more than one million watches at its Argonaut Building headquarters in Detroit. The relaunch centers on three Runwell references — a 41mm, a 37mm chronograph and a 36mm mother-of-pearl edition — all assembled in the city.

"The Restaurant"

The campaign itself, the first major creative work under creative director Jonathan Bailey, marks a deliberate shift from product storytelling to cultural positioning. Developed with brand consultancy GentleForces and written by Quba Tuakli, it launches with "The Restaurant," a short film built around the sound of a ticking second hand. "This campaign isn't really about a watch," Bailey said in a statement. "It's about our relationship with time."

Mosa-Basha said the moment felt right because "culture had caught up to a conversation we felt uniquely positioned to have," pointing to growing consumer fatigue with acceleration and consumption. On the wholesale side, she noted that Shinola's story "continues to resonate across both wholesale and direct channels."