Small Company Offers Watches Made From Pieces of Collapsed Baltimore Bridge
The Francis Scott Key Bridge was one of the most iconic landmarks in the Baltimore area before it partially collapsed earlier this year. A small Baltimore business is trying to keep its memory alive by incorporating parts of the collapsed structure into clocks.
Alan Tsao is a Baltimore native and founder of Tsao Baltimore, a local watch brand. Since founding the company in 2017, he has incorporated his love of his hometown into his watches. For example, Tsao Baltimore previously collaborated with local beer company National Bohemian on a line of limited-edition watches, which sold out instantly.
Now, Tsao is incorporating pieces from the Key Bridge into his latest watch collections, as another example of his commitment to honoring his hometown through watchmaking.
Equal recently He told the Baltimore Banner,“Watches are not just a tool to tell time, they are like a story on your wrist, a conversation piece.”
In addition to these limited-edition product lines, Tsao shows his company’s local pride by assembling all of his watches in Maryland. He also recently opened a local showroom where customers can see the watches up close and discuss the watches with anyone who walks through the door.
“I was born and raised in Baltimore,” he told the Baltimore Banner. “It was always a goal to be in Baltimore and support local businesses. There’s a certain heart to Maryland and Baltimore. Baltimore is more than any of the negative reporting that you might get sometimes here and there. So by having a watch company based in the city, we just want to put out some good light and great, innovative designs.”
Local pride can be a great way for a company to differentiate itself. With a showroom in Baltimore, Tsao primarily sells watches to customers in its local community. So, incorporating local landmarks and well-known brands can make the company and its products stand out from other watch brands that are more nationally or internationally focused.
Image: tsaobaltimore.com
