Skip to main content

These Watches Are Made of Beer Barrels and Seats from Yankee Stadium

By Steven John Published April 20, 2021

original grain watch — Steven John/The Manual

A watch made out of a whiskey or beer barrel wouldn’t be worth a single comment if the watch didn’t work well and look great. On the other hand, Original Grain watches would be worth showing off even if they weren’t made largely out of wood sourced from whiskey barrels, beer barrels, used Major League Baseball bats, stadium seats, ammunition crates, and all sorts of other materials one would never expect to find in a watch.

But you’ll be glad you did because these watches are far from gimmicks. Those unexpected source materials blend perfectly with more classic materials like brushed steel, crystal, genuine leather, and others. Original Grain watches feature a Japanese quartz movement and are highly reliable.

Recommended Videos

And they’re attainable, too. These watches range in price from around $160 on the lowest end to just under $900 on the other end of the spectrum. Which isn’t cheap, but also isn’t madness in the oft-inflated world of timepieces. (And if you’re looking to give one as a gift, the presentation? You could set your watch to it.)

Steven John/The Manual

Original Grain was launched in 2013 by a pair of brothers, Andrew and Ryan Beltran, who had the elegantly simple idea to incorporate reclaimed wood into elegant watches. And the idea worked surprisingly well. Now six years into their project, the company is still expanding and adding new pieces regularly.

The company offers dozens of different styles of watches, from the bold and assertive to the more demure and subtle, so you’ll surely find one to suit your style. And because of the decidedly unique source materials, you can count on every Original Grain watch to be decidedly unique. Despite every model enjoying the same meticulous construction, the varied hues and grain of the woods used to make your very own chronometer ensure it will be one of a kind. Just like you are, buddy.

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Steven John is a writer and journalist living just outside New York City, by way of 12 years in Los Angeles, by way of…

Topics

Watches

Fashion & Style

The 5 suit brands you need to know to build your first suit wardrobe: Including the first aspirational one

Building a suit wardrobe starts with the brands you can trust

Men's Wearhouse Custom

Look, starting a wardrobe is difficult. You have to decide what kind of man you want to be. What kind of message do you want to send? What kind of budget do you want to use? And how often you want to go back to the drawing board. What kind of man do you want to be? Sounds heavy. Sounds dramatic. Maybe because, in some ways, it is. So much of what people initially believe about you remains in their subconscious long after they get to know you. So what you wear is important. The message you want to send is one of being put together, attentive to details, or it is the opposite. Laid back and unbothered. The budget is also integral to the wardrobe you build. High quality comes with high prices. However, it comes with longevity, so it means you don't have to replace it as often, saving money in the long run. So, what kind of man do you want to be? Hopefully one that wears men's suits.

No matter what man, message, budget, or shopping frequency you choose, a good suit wardrobe will need to be a part of it. So, where do you go? How do you start? Here are the five brands to trust to get started. No Tom Ford, Brioni, giant fashion houses here. These are the five suits for the man starting out. And one for the man aspiring to the next step. The first four, you can grab your first quality suit for around the $1,000 mark. The aspirational one will be your first custom, so it will be a bit more.

Fashion & Style

Longines refreshes its cult-favorite central power reserve in light blue

The Swiss watch company is giving the Conquest Heritage Central Power Reserve some new dial and bracelet options.

Wristwatch, Arm, Dial

Longines has been around since 1832, which makes it one of the oldest continuously operating watchmakers on Earth — old enough to have spent decades strapped to the wrists of aviators and explorers before most brands existed. So when the Saint-Imier company, now part of the Swiss giant Swatch Group, revives something from its own archives, it's got real history to draw on. The Conquest Heritage Central Power Reserve is a good example.

The Conquest line dates to 1954 — the first Longines collection to have its name trademarked with the Swiss IP office. And in 1959, one Conquest model introduced the complication this watch is built around: a power reserve indicator planted dead center on the dial. For 2026, Longines has given the modern revival a light refresh: a new light-blue opaline dial and (for the first time on this model) a stainless-steel bracelet alongside the returning dark leather strap.

Fashion & Style

Shohei Ohtani’s newest Seiko is out of this world

Seiko built Shohei Ohtani a one-of-one watch that tracks a million hours across five rotating discs — and you can't buy it.

Wristwatch, Arm, Body Part

The Seiko Star Time, presented to Shohei Ohtani on July 3, marks his tenth year as a Seiko ambassador. It's not for sale, will never be for sale, and there's exactly one on Earth — currently strapped to the best baseball player alive. Oh, and also? It looks absolutely nuts. Instead of hands, the Star Time tells time with five stacked, concentric discs, each tracking a different scale of accumulated time: 24 hours, then 1,000, 10,000, 100,000, and finally a disc that runs all the way to one million hours.

That's roughly 114 years — a full human lifetime, give or take. The discs turn continuously, so slowly you can't see them move. Seiko named it "Star Time" for exactly that reason: like stars drifting across the sky, the motion is imperceptible in the moment but relentless. A little existential for a watch company, but let's go with it.