Concept render of the Electric with a deep green dial, square-grid center texture, silver tiller hands and a fine brass ring, on a tan leather strap
Concept render · J6 Green

The Electric

Our first watch: an automatic, designed in the open. Where the design stands, how it got here, and a vote between its two dials.

Where it stands

The Electric will launch with two dials. The first takes its colors from a 1916 Rauch & Lang Model J6 at Cleveland’s Crawford Auto-Aviation Museum: deep coach green, after the body, and brass, after its lamps. The second is ivory, with black hands and markers.

The center of the dial carries a raised square-grid texture, taken from the knurled pattern on the car’s running board. The hands are tiller hands, after the levers the cars were steered with. The crown is capped in brass, and a fine brass ring circles the dial center, both after the car’s coach lamps.

Case
316L steel, about 39 mm
Movement
Swiss automatic, 28,800 vph
Crystal
Sapphire, anti-reflective coating
Water
100 m
Working spec, subject to change.

Which would you wear?

Two dials, one first run. Pick the one you’d wear and join the waitlist. The count helps set how many of each we make, and we’ll share the results in the letter.

Choose a dial

How it got here

  1. Concept render of the first Electric design, with a sunburst navy dial Concept render

    The first concept

    Sunburst navy

    The first Electric had a sunburst navy dial, gilt markers, tiller hands and a brass-capped crown. We kept the layout and changed the color, because navy was our choice, not one taken from the cars.

  2. Concept render of the Electric in J6 green Concept render

    October 2026

    The J6

    At the Crawford museum we stood in front of a real Rauch & Lang: a 1916 Model J6 in deep green, with black moldings and a single red pinstripe. We moved the dial to the car’s colors and took the square-grid texture from its running board. We also dropped the date window to keep the dial clean.

  3. Concept render of the Electric in J6 green with silver hands and a fine brass ring Concept render

    October 2026

    Silver and brass

    We took the red pinstripe off the dial. Next to the green it read as festive, and the J6’s brass lamps tell the same story. A fine brass ring replaced it. The hands and markers went to silver so they read at a glance, and a second dial joined: ivory, with black hands. Both launch together.

  4. Next

    From render to drawing

    Both dials go to a watch designer, who turns the concepts into technical drawings: real dimensions, real finishes. Then comes the first prototype. Each step will be posted here.

Questions

When can I buy one?
Not yet, and there’s no date. A watch designer turns the concept into technical drawings, then comes a prototype. Orders open only once there’s a real watch to photograph, and the waitlist hears first.
How much will the Electric cost?
The price is set once production costs are known, after the prototype. The waitlist hears it before anyone else.
Where is it made?
Not decided yet. The plan is a Swiss automatic movement. Where the case, dial and hands come from, and where each watch is assembled, gets settled after the designer’s drawings and the first quotes. Before you can buy, we’ll tell you exactly where every part comes from and where each watch is assembled.
What does “automatic” mean?
The watch winds itself as you wear it, with no battery. The seconds hand moves eight times a second, so it sweeps instead of ticking. Taken off, it keeps running for a day or more before it needs wearing or a few turns of the crown.
What does the waitlist get me?
It’s free and asks nothing of you. You get about one letter a month: design decisions, archive finds and, when they exist, the first prototypes. When the collection opens, the list hears first. Unsubscribe anytime.
Does my vote count?
Yes. The split between green and ivory helps set how many of each dial go into the first run. The results go out in the letter.
Can I see one in person?
Not yet. Every watch on this site is a concept render, not a photograph. The first prototypes appear in the letter.
Are you connected to the old car company?
No. Rauch & Lang LLC is a new, independent watch company in Cleveland, reviving the name of the city’s carriage and electric-car maker. The last cars to carry the name were built in 1928, and we aren’t affiliated with the original company or its successors. The cars are where the watches take their colors, their hands and their standard.

Something else? hello@rauchandlang.com