Monster

Until 2017 all Shinola watches were quartz. The Monster line was born on November 7 of that year with the Lake Erie Monster, presented by the brand as its first automatic mechanical watch: a 43 mm steel case, water resistant to 300 meters, with a rotating dive-watch graduated bezel and a movement that Shinola called the "Argomatic R-150", based on the Ronda R-150 automatic caliber unveiled at Baselworld 2016 — assembled and finished, as is the brand's practice, at the Detroit plant.

The name of the line and of its first reference evokes the legends of "lake monsters" attributed to the North American Great Lakes since the 19th century: the Lake Erie Monster carries on its case back a relief depicting the legendary creature, with a colored sapphire eye set into the case. The first series was limited to 500 pieces, of which five special units (numbered "000/500") were auctioned on the StockX platform from November 7 to 12, 2017, with a starting bid equal to the list price of $2,250 and the proceeds going to Detroit charities, including The Empowerment Plan, Project ACT and the Detroit Children's Fund.

The success of the debut led Shinola to expand the line to other Great Lakes "monsters", such as the Lake Michigan Monster, keeping the 300-meter dive-watch setup and the theme of the legendary creature engraved on the case back. The later generations of the brand's automatic line, according to several industry sources, moved to the more widespread Sellita SW200 caliber, a sign of Shinola's gradual settling on the Swiss mechanical-movement suppliers already used for other automatic lines in the catalogue as well.