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ABOUT
US
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WHO
WE ARE
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| Richcompany.com
is a web site for the Rich Company, a division of Rich Dial Corporation with offices in Marina del Rey, California and Kowloon, Hong Kong.. The web site has been especially
developed to bring the 60 years of creativity and talent
to the Internet. As one of the oldest watch companies
in the United States, Rich Company is an internationally
known company famous for the design and production of
Limited Edition and Museum collectible watches along
with the production of private label, award and promotions,
company identification and specialized packaging. |
| The
design team of Gene and Bauble Cherniak,
veterans in the watch business for a combination
of over forty years, has led the company through
numerous changes. Along with design, product technology
and a knowledgeable source of ideas for marketing,
their visionary talents have guided the company
to its continuing success and longevity. |
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It
all started in 1950 when two guys from the watch and jewelry center in Chicago,
Illinois (Gene's Dad, Ed Cherniak, and his partner Al Blaine)
started a small watch repair business in Downtown
Los Angeles. Bringing their talents from Illinois, the watch manufacturing capital at that time, they provided complete watch component
service to the trade. With a vision of expansion,
we became the largest of its kind in the West.
Expanding talents even further, we became involved
in the sales, design and marketing of watches. |
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Previously located with offices and showroom in the International Jewelry Center in downtown Los Angeles, our current design office is located in Marina del Rey, California. Our manufacturing resources are located in Hong
Kong, Switzerland, Italy and the United States.
In
the field of private label, we have been a
forerunner in the industry through concentration
of creative watch projects and clever marketing
plans. We have the ability to take an idea from
concept to the consumer. |
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In
the 60's, we were the largest distributors
on the West Coast of several famous American
name brand watches such as Hamilton, Benrus,
Elgin and Waltham with sales to drug, discount
and department stores nationally. Gene designed
and manufactured a private label watch line
for the FedCo stores in California, where he
held yearly seminars at each store regarding
their watch department.
Receiving
a contract from Walt Disney Productions in 1972,
we produced over 75,000 watches for Disneyland
and the new development DisneyWorld in Florida.
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late 70's was the beginning of a new era of
theme and logo merchandise. As one of the fastest
growing markets in America, everyone began expressing
themselves with logos, especially on t-shirts
and watches. We were involved with the production
of numerous logo watches for company identification
along with watches for award and incentives. Throughout
the years we have produced logo watches for many
notable companies and celebrities such as Mary
Tyler Moore, Steven Spielberg, Ma Bell, In-N-Out-Burger,
The Labor Unions, Lucasfilm, U.S. Armed Forces,
World Cup Soccer, Monsanto, and many others. Today
private
label is stronger than ever. |
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In
the early 80's we contracted with Johnson
Matthey of London England, the world's largest
refiners of gold, silver and platinum, to produce
2,000 of a Limited Edition series of ingot watches.
These were the first .999 gold ingot quartz watches
manufactured in the United States. Each watch
was manufactured in 14K gold and sold for over
$500.00 each. The watch dials were made from the
original bars of gold which was refined at the
Johnson Matthey refinery. |
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1982
is the year ultrAlert, the first radio frequency
transmitter watch was conceived. The idea to
send a radio frequency alert to an automatic
telephone dialer to phone for emergency help
was developed by Gene. Through a partnership
with DeSmet Precision Instruments a transmitter
watch was produced that could transmit a signal
over 100 feet. The first presentation to Life
Line baffled the staff of graduate MIT electronic
engineers.
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By
1984, Gene and Bauble had spearheaded the
creation of the "Rich Collection"
of Geneve 14K elegant gold watches. This was a
successful venture which ultimately changed the
direction of Rich Company. |
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| In
1989, Gene & Bauble created the first
series of 14K gold Limited Edition artist watches
exclusively for the famous actor, comedian and
TV star Red Skelton who became a recognized clown
artist. The series, of Limited Edition watches
were produced with14K gold bracelets valued at
$6,000 for each for the men's and ladies watch.
They sold out very quickly, appreciating in value
along with Red's art. Today the pair is worth
$35,000. |
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In
the early 90's,
we designed and produced the first
two-sided "dual movement" watch for IEI of Tokyo.
IEI is comparable to the Franklin Mint of the
U.S. The theme was to honor the celebration of
the 500th anniversary of the "Discovery
of America" in 1992 which was endorsed
by the American Geographic Society. More than
2,000 watches were sold throughout Japan by I.E.I.
The Beverly Hills Country Club Watch was added
to the IEI collection at a later date. |
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| One
of our recent outstanding achievements in
watch production is the faithful reproduction
of the famous 1948 action-motion Gene
Autry "Six Shooter" Watch which was
produced as a Limited Edition for the Gene
Autry Western Heritage Museum in Los Angeles.
This project involved the research for over one
year to locate the special mechanical movement
with the moving action function enabling the pistol
on the watch to "fire 120 shots a minute." |
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Route
66 Day in Pasadena was proclaimed by the Mayor
on October 14, 1993 where we launched our famous
"Bobby
Troup Route 66 Commemorative Limited Edition Watch"
at the Route 66 Restaurant in Pasadena. The
celebration honored Bobby Troup, the famous actor
and song writer who wrote the legendary song "Get
Your Kicks on Route 66". The design and production
of this watch with a unique revolving road map
accompanied by a CD recording of an interview
with Bobby Troup and a 16 page booklet, was the
brainchild of Gene & Bauble and has been sold
world-wide. |
| The
True Americana series of the Rich Collection
was created to feature our American nostalgia
watch designs for Burma
Shave, Mel's
Drive-In, and
Cracker
Jack®. With the
permission of the Borden Company,
Gene was the first person to change the image
of the legendary "Sailor Jack and his dog Bingo"
. Our Cracker Jack Limited Edition watches are
currently being exhibited at the
Columbus Ohio Museum of
Science and Industry (COSI). |
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A
specialty private label division, K.C. Rich
Productions, was formed in 1997 which placed
an emphasis on the entertainment industry for
the design and production of custom watches
and limited editions. Through the efforts of
this new division, new accounts were established
with Disney, Warner Bros. Universal Studios
and Camp Snoopy.
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| Rich Company & Gold Power Worldwide of Hong Kong joined forces in the production of Snoopy by Everhart. The two companies collaborated in the design and manufacturing of watches, table clocks and wall clocks along with packaging for limited edition models as licensees. Tom Everhart is the only artist that has the permission to paint Peanuts after the death of Charles Schulz. Rich Company produced Snoopy watches for the Camp Snoopy theme parks along with the Snoopy Gift shop and Charles Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa California. |
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In 2003, Rich Company joined forces with the MC&T Group and Bright Aggregation Technology of Hong Kong to form a joint venture for the production of the world's first sonar wrist receiver for our client Techsonic, a division of Johnson Outdoors. The production of the SmartCast wireless fish finder watch has been a very successful product sold world wide for over seven years with over 250,000 wrist watches and rod mounts sold.
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Rich Company and Image Design, Inc. formed a joint venture Rich Image Designs, LLC in 2004. This partnership brings over 70 years of expertise in the customized watch industry to our clients. Our mission is to develop innovative limited edition programs as well as technologically advanced solutions based on the continued evolution of watches. Our team of conceptual designers produced the first collection of watches for Yosemite National Park.
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The Internet became the inspiration for the development of designAwatch.com. The website gives the consumer the opportunity to design their own personalized custom watch online with the ability to select a watch and strap along with a vast selection of dial categories from Snoopy by Everhart, Inspirational Time, Hubble Telescope, Route 66, Military Time watches, dogs, cats, sports, flags, flowers cities, zodiacs and special occasions. The back of the watch can be engraved with a personal message. |
| A personal voice messaging system for the wrist is planning to be introduced in 2010 after seven years of development in collaboration with Interstate Batteries and Bright Aggregation Technology. The analog quartz movement along with a recorder and speaker has the ability to record a message then play it back whenever you require. Eight alarm settings can be set/reset
with 30 seconds of voice recording time per alarm. "Memory on demand" can record
notes with 45 seconds of voice time
per memo. The watch comes with a contactless charging unit ready to charge the battery merely by placing the watch on the top of the small charging table |
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In 2010 Rich Company acquired the Peanuts license for designAwatch.com. Over 175 dial images are available for designing a Peanuts watch online. The various Peanuts categories are Charlie Brown, Lucy, Linus, Snoopy, Sally, Marcie and the rest of the Peanuts gang. |
| In 2011 "The Masonic" 17 jewel automatic was conceived by the Barclay Watch Company. Rich Company collaborated in the design and production of this unique watch with a special dial which was designed after the famous Dudley pocket watch from the 1920's era where a Masonic emblem was placed in the position of a moving gear on the back of the watch movement. Now the Masonic emblems are on the dial of the watch. |
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SOME
OTHER HIGHLIGHTS OF OUR PRODUCTIONS ARE:
For Disney, we designed and produced The Lion
King, Beauty & the Beast, Mighty Ducks, California
Angels Baseball, Pooh Friendship Club.
For
Universal Studios we produced Jurassic Park and
Dr. Seuss and various Islands of adventure theme watches.
Snoopy
collectible watches were designed and produced
For Camp Snoopy at Knott’s Berry Farm and Mall of
America.
The 3 Stooges line of watches were designed
and produced for Knuckleheads Corp.
The
Lone Ranger & Little Lulu were produced for Golden
Books Entertainment.
Taz, Pepe and Bugs Bunny collectible watches
for Warner Bros.
For a Sony Corporate division, we designed
and produced character watches.
The Lord of the Dance watch was designed and
produced for the opening of the New York, New York
Hotel in Las Vegas through Bill Graham Presents.
Peanuts Licensee Rich Company is the exclusive designer and
manufacturer for the Camp Snoopy theme parks where
our designs can be viewed at www.snoopywatches.com..
We hold the licence for PEANUTS, Snoopy by Everhart and own
the trademark "Inspirational Time" where
our inspirational designs are shown at www.inspirational-time.com.
Today
our specialty is the watch production of "Design Your Own Watch Online" which can be located at www.designAwatch.com. All of our production samples and new custom designs are featured at eBay and Amazon.
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