MADE ON ISLAND
Making Time with Rubin Cronig
Handcrafting Watches that Reflect the Vineyard Spirit
While other sixteen-year-olds were playing baseball or video games, Rubin Cronig was developing a prototype of a high-end men’s timepiece for a student project at the Martha’s Vineyard Public Charter School. That was nine years ago and today, at 24, he’s the owner of three businesses, Rubin Douglas and Vineyard Time, both watchmaking companies, and AquaNaut, a new retail store in downtown Vineyard Haven.
“I got my entrepreneurial spirit from my family,” he theorizes, crediting his paternal great-grandfather, founder of Cronig’s Market in 1917, his paternal grandfather, founder of Cronig’s Real Estate, as well as his father, owner of Beacon Home Inspections.
Determined to learn everything he could about the craft, he conducted hours of research and interviewed experts in watchmaking, design and engineering, traveling off-Island to accomplish his mission.
Today, Rubin handcrafts high-end, made-to-order watches under the Rubin Douglas name. But in 2010 he decided to create a new line of watches priced at under $1,000 using the Rubin Douglas designs for prototyping platforms. Calling the new company Vineyard Time, his more moderately priced collection for men and women features scrimshaw dials with Island themes – lighthouses, schooners, maps, mermaids, and Nantucket baskets with flowers, to name just a few. And, if Rubin doesn’t offer the exact image a customer wants, Vineyard Time designers will custom-craft one to order.
To showcase his new line of watches and to feature other scrimshawed products including knives, jewelry and bookmarks, many at affordable prices, Rubin opened AquaNaut in April 2012 at 76 Main Street, Vineyard Haven.
“Anything is possible,” he says, explaining his success. “You have to hold onto your dreams and your imagination.”
Visit www.rubindouglas.com or www.vineyardtime.com to learn more about Rubin’s Vineyard-designed and crafted watches, or call AquaNaut at 508-687-9865.
“I got my entrepreneurial spirit from my family,” he theorizes, crediting his paternal great-grandfather, founder of Cronig’s Market in 1917, his paternal grandfather, founder of Cronig’s Real Estate, as well as his father, owner of Beacon Home Inspections.
Determined to learn everything he could about the craft, he conducted hours of research and interviewed experts in watchmaking, design and engineering, traveling off-Island to accomplish his mission.
Today, Rubin handcrafts high-end, made-to-order watches under the Rubin Douglas name. But in 2010 he decided to create a new line of watches priced at under $1,000 using the Rubin Douglas designs for prototyping platforms. Calling the new company Vineyard Time, his more moderately priced collection for men and women features scrimshaw dials with Island themes – lighthouses, schooners, maps, mermaids, and Nantucket baskets with flowers, to name just a few. And, if Rubin doesn’t offer the exact image a customer wants, Vineyard Time designers will custom-craft one to order.
To showcase his new line of watches and to feature other scrimshawed products including knives, jewelry and bookmarks, many at affordable prices, Rubin opened AquaNaut in April 2012 at 76 Main Street, Vineyard Haven.
“Anything is possible,” he says, explaining his success. “You have to hold onto your dreams and your imagination.”
Visit www.rubindouglas.com or www.vineyardtime.com to learn more about Rubin’s Vineyard-designed and crafted watches, or call AquaNaut at 508-687-9865.