Walking into Watson’s Hat Shop is a bit like stepping back in time. Sunlight glints off the polished wood floor. Racks display scores of hats. To one side of the shop, steam rises as a master hatter irons the brim of a custom chapeau on a workbench dotted with vintage tools, some dating to the 1860s. In the center of the retail space, a 1920s-era baby grand piano is the focal point, where owner Eric Watson occasionally bangs out a ragtime tune.

“Growing up in Ohio, I loved Indiana Jones,” remembers Watson, “especially Harrison Ford’s fedora. As a hobby, I bought old hats, took them apart and rebuilt them.” After learning international studies and aviation technology in college, Watson pivoted, turning his hobby into a career. With his wife, Emily, whom he met in flight training, he opened the eponymous hat shop in Cave Creek in 2012, often working until midnight to handcraft classic styles such as fedoras, cowboy and Panama hats. Over the years, Watson acquired tools and display cases from long-shuttered hat shops across the country, which saw business tank when JFK famously appeared hatless during his 1961 inauguration speech. “There really is no modern way to handcraft a hat,” he says. “Lasers and computers don’t work. You have to use these traditional tools.”

While some clients buy off the rack, most hat orders are custom, which involves careful measuring, material selection and trim choices, such as artistic embroidery or ribbon work, done by Emily, who also makes hats and handles business operations. While the hat-making process takes some 64 steps and a few days to complete, Watson’s order queue is a few months out. The shop, which also includes another master hatter and a hat restorer, has supplied cowboys, politicians, fashionistas and a sheriff or two with handmade headgear, shipping around the world. They’ve also been the official hat-maker for shows including Netflix’s “Godless.”

“This is a niche business,” says Watson. “There are only a few of us doing this in the whole country. This is not an everyday purchase, but I believe everyone should have a good hat, and it should last a lifetime.”

1 The 150-year-old conformateur is placed on a client to create a paper template of the head.

2 Used with the conformateur, the formillion—also 150 years old—translates the paper impression to help build the hat.

3 The hat stretcher adjusts the size of an existing hat or one in the process of being crafted.

4 Surrounding the hat block is a wood brim mold, which shapes the brim, also with steam. 

5 The wood hat block is used to shape the crease into a fedora with steam.

6 The sizing compass measures the inside of the hat as it’s being built.

7 Handmade decorative hatbands are the final touch for many of the custom pieces.

Sources

Watson’s Hat Shop, Cave Creek, watsonshatshop.com.