For decades, until the advent of the Internet, it was the only way to visualize time and daylight in the world. Despite the company changing hands and moving from California to Oregon to Colorado Springs, Colorado, Geochron remains a niche product with a passionate fan base. Only a few skilled technicians are able to create these intricate watches, and their limited production makes them more exclusive items than mass-market successes.
Today, Bolan’s passion for Geochron continues to shine through. He has expanded into digital products in hopes of ensuring this anachronistic timepiece remains relevant in a world driven by data and convenience. During the pandemic, Bolan has been riding his BMW RT bike all over the southern portion of the 48, visiting Geochron owners in every state and putting on shows. The effort allowed Bolan to put a face to the order book and gain deeper insight into Kroc’s small but passionate fan base.
Although the timing didn’t work out, one possible visit was Mark Frankel, owner of Long Island Watch, whose Geochron will be familiar to anyone who watches his YouTube videos. Frankel, who trained as an aerospace engineer, is quick to point out not only that he has a Geochron, but also the complexity of the device that accurately captures the sun’s analemma, or figure-of-eight trajectory in the sky.
Frankel first encountered the watch in a Sharper Image catalog. It was very much in line with the customer base that Geochron had been targeting for decades. “Then I saw it in “The Hunt for Red October” and thought, “Oh my God!” I know that Reagan had the same thing,” Frankel says. “I love solar curve maps and how the sun hits a planet through its orbit over time. It just changes, and that’s amazing to me. I’m looking forward to something that can mimic that. I looked into getting one, but the 99 cent screensaver just wasn’t mechanical enough for me. So I ponytailed it up for tens of thousands of dollars, and it’s been with me ever since.”
Frankel draws similarities between the Geochron and automatic watches. A 99-cent screensaver, or Apple Watch, can display all the same information and more, but the mechanical nature of Geochrons and automatic watches tickles some geeks. fiber. To Frankel, its mechanical nervous system is what keeps the Geochron important.
