Watson Laminates USA

Watson Laminates USA Watson Laminates has been proudly making premium skateboards in San Diego, CA since 1975. I’d go with them to check it out and cruise down some hills.

Watson Laminates was started originally as The Shack Out Back in approximately 1974, in the rear gardening shed behind my family duplex in Pacific Beach. I was doing custom furniture, cabinets and repair, working construction jobs when available and apartment improvements for clients and friends between surfing after high school. Friends of my neighbors were into skateboarding when the original Ca

dillac wheels came out and they would go to some small hills in LaCosta and Encinitas. At that same time I would go to the hardwood lumber yard and get the scrap oak and cut out classic skateboard shapes of the time. I was selling them to the local shops. The friends up the street were the originators of Tracker Trucks (Larry Balma and Dave Dominick), which revolutionized the industry. That’s when I started making more of a laminated deck out of maple veneers for curved boards. I went back to my high school welding shop teacher who ran the night classes and he let me use the shop to weld up my first presses for my laminated decks. He was a cool guy. At first I tried my own brand, Archeryflex, which was too different of a skateboard and did not sell (One quarter page ad appeared in SkateBoarder March 77). Using the same Epoxy/ fiberglass configuration as my Archeryflex decks, I started making more regular, kick tail deck for other companies like Rockit Skateboards. Then I made decks for surfboard shaper Bill Caster and his company, Caster Skateboards. He was starting with riders like Chris Strople, Tom Inouye and others. I started to make a larger volume of boards out of small garages and mini storage place on Mission Bay Dr. Rusty Surfboards had a shaping room in the same complex as did myself and other small craftsman. After year and half the fire marshall came through and had most of us kicked out! We moved to a larger building in the Miramar Road area and were ready to keep growing just as the bottom dropped out in the early 80’s. Skateboarding came to almost a dead stop. SkateBoarder magazine stopped printing and everything sucked. The time of Road Rider Wheels and Fiberflex was fading fast. I did not want to go away so I moved into my shop and had no helpers or employees. I was working by myself making a little amount of skateboards during the day and doing tenant improvement in the evening and sanding and painting yachts on the weekend in the harbor. After a year or more of down time it started to come back some. During this slow time I made some of the early wood-epoxy-fiberglass snowboards with side fins for Tom Sims and Chuck Barfoot. I made epoxy decks for George Powell and Stacy Peralta. I also made decks for Brad Dorfman of Vision/Sims as well. I was making molds by hand, carving them and trying to make new concave kick tail decks that were the new thing. I was approached by Steve Cathey of G&S who were just across the street to make some decks for them because their old manufacturer, Taylor-Dykmea, was not interested in doing their decks since the amounts were so small. This started a ten-year relationship making decks for Larry Gordon. He was a great guy who was just across the street and we made lots of great decks (Saladino, Blender, Ruff) decks over those years. During the early 80’s we started making the standard seven ply decks that are that basis of all skateboards manufactured for the last 20 plus years and on.

– Written as best remembered, Charlie Watson.

Freestyle decks for the kings of skate; the Sk8kings! Primo and Diane models are looking very 1980's. Time to skadance!
12/04/2016

Freestyle decks for the kings of skate; the Sk8kings! Primo and Diane models are looking very 1980's. Time to skadance!

We love making skateboards.
10/08/2016

We love making skateboards.

Cool video by O. The Krack Knight start to finish. http://youtu.be/fRrZOXZuTaE
09/13/2016

Cool video by O.
The Krack Knight start to finish.

http://youtu.be/fRrZOXZuTaE

HAND MADE VINTAGE STYLE SKATEBOARDS ALA BLACK KNIGHT

GGI. Go Get It. The Pegasus. These guys are at the forefront of skateboard design, or in the very back somewhere. Either...
08/26/2016

GGI. Go Get It. The Pegasus. These guys are at the forefront of skateboard design, or in the very back somewhere. Either way it's working perfectly.
I suggest that you go get it.

For those about to rock, we salute you! Sam Hitz has some new limited edition decks out, get em fast before they're gon...
06/29/2016

For those about to rock, we salute you! Sam Hitz has some new limited edition decks out, get em fast before they're gone for good.

Assault Skateboards! Designed in America, made in America, owned by skaters, and run for skaters! Long live skate compan...
06/23/2016

Assault Skateboards! Designed in America, made in America, owned by skaters, and run for skaters! Long live skate companies that take pride in what they do, and what they stand for.

T-Mag cruised in this week with a legendary skateboarder, and legendary human being. A new project with and Matt Hensle...
06/15/2016

T-Mag cruised in this week with a legendary skateboarder, and legendary human being. A new project with and Matt Hensley is in the works!

We've got all the best flavors! Which combination is your favorite?
06/02/2016

We've got all the best flavors! Which combination is your favorite?

What's new at Watson these days? A lot, including these one of a kind hand-painted Shed decks, created by Mr. Sam Hitz h...
05/24/2016

What's new at Watson these days? A lot, including these one of a kind hand-painted Shed decks, created by Mr. Sam Hitz himself.

Bucky Lasek stopped in to pick up some fresh decks today! Exciting stuff happening here at Watson.
03/17/2016

Bucky Lasek stopped in to pick up some fresh decks today! Exciting stuff happening here at Watson.

Jim "Red Dog" Muir cruised through this morning! Anyone that knows skateboarding knows that this man was part of the ori...
02/23/2016

Jim "Red Dog" Muir cruised through this morning! Anyone that knows skateboarding knows that this man was part of the original Zephyr team. It's always a pleasure when a legend stops in like this.

A couple weeks ago we posted a teaser of a new model from G&S Surfboards and Skateboards. Now that the cat is out of the...
02/09/2016

A couple weeks ago we posted a teaser of a new model from G&S Surfboards and Skateboards. Now that the cat is out of the bag we are happy to post a picture of the finished product. The Jim Gray Model reissue has one of the coolest screen print graphics we have ever seen here at the shop, inspired by the classic airbrushed surfboards from back in the day. These boards couldn't have come out any better...This is a classic, reinvented, and reincarnated.

Address

San Diego, CA
92113

Opening Hours

Monday 7am - 3:30pm
Tuesday 7am - 3:30pm
Wednesday 7am - 3:30pm
Thursday 7am - 3:30pm
Friday 7am - 3:30pm
Saturday 7am - 3:30pm
Sunday 7am - 3:30pm

Telephone

+16192331625

Website

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