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

By Steven John December 17, 2019

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.

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.

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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…

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