Resco Watches HQ
I was recently able to visit #Resco Instruments in Coronado, CA while out in San Diego for Comic-Con. While I didn’t find anyone dressed in cosplay at Resco HQ, I did find a few of the nicest people I’ve ever met working at Coronado’s #watch company, located near the ferry landing.
Coronado is an interesting place and small enough that you can see what it has to offer with a quick visit. There’s 10 bars, 30 restaurants, 20 hotels, 10 boutiques and one watch company. While Coronado is touristy, it’s nowhere near what San Diego is. Having a large U.S. Navy presence, along with being home to the West Coast SEAL Teams, it would make sense that a watch company owned by an active duty Navy SEAL would also find its home in Coronado.
Resco’s owner and and 20-year active duty SEAL, Rob Smith, has had a passion for watches that began when he was 8-years-old and given a box of watches that didn’t work. His dad had found them at a garage sale and Rob was able to take them apart and rebuild them; even getting a few to work again. Funny enough, his first watch design was actually sketched on the back of an MRE box in 2004.
Rob comes from a family of inventors and tinkerers and has always loved watches and watch collecting. His wife Nicole, who also works at Resco, mentioned that he has a photographic memory and can remember every detail about each watch on the market. A little trivia for those that don’t already know, Rob also goes by R.E. Smith and his initials are what make up the company name.
Officially started in 2009, Resco had been operating out of military housing since 2006 and the first 300 watches were built by Resco we’re out of the Smith’s garage. Resco is not only a family owned and operated business, but a Veteran owned one at that. Nicole joined the military herself the day after 9-11 and served for 10 years. An early motivation for Resco’s start was the relationship Rob had with fellow watchmaker, Kobold, who Rob had met through Naval Special Warfare many years back. Kobold had mentioned Rob’s eye for watchmaking and it was just the motivation Rob needed to see it through.
