My name is Travis Sexton, and before I ever picked up a watch, I was a man trying to hold my life together. I’ve gone through seasons where I felt lost, alone, disconnected from myself and the world around me. There were days I didn’t know what direction my life was supposed to go. Days where I wondered if I was missing whatever purpose God had for me.

And then, out of nowhere, I found Elgin.

Not the city first. Not the watches first. The story.

I was sitting there one night camping with my family, searching for something I didn’t even have words for… and I stumbled onto the Elgin National Watch Company. Something about it hit me hard — almost like recognition. Like I didn’t just find Elgin… Elgin found me.

At a time when I felt like I was drifting, I suddenly had something that pulled me in with force. I wasn’t learning about watches — I was rediscovering myself. The discipline, the detail, the history, the craftsmanship… it gave me something to focus on, something to build, something to love again.

And it’s wild, because it started with me sitting on eBay at night scrolling through old watches like it was therapy. But what I didn’t know was that every hour I spent studying those cases and dials was reshaping me.

Those late nights — the ones where I was quietly fighting my own mind — were actually preparing me for something bigger.

Somewhere along the way, I went from “a guy who likes watches” to someone who can see a half-second movie clip of a wrist and instantly say, “That’s an Elgin.”

It wasn’t studying. It wasn’t memorizing. It was connection — and connection is always personal. And then my life changed again.

Doors started opening. People in Elgin welcomed me. Historians trusted me. NAWCC treated me like I belonged. I walked into the Depot for the first time and felt something in my chest — like I had walked into a place I was supposed to protect.

I didn’t plan any of this. I didn’t ask for it. But it felt like God put me exactly where I needed to be. Because this journey isn’t really about watches. It’s about healing. It’s about purpose. It’s about legacy. It’s about a man who finally found something worth giving his life to.

It’s about my wife, Karestin — who didn’t roll her eyes when I told her my vision, but literally got out of bed one morning and started building the website.

It’s about my daughter, Maddy — who I want to grow up seeing her dad build something meaningful and rooted in history and family.

It’s about every door God opened that I didn’t even knock on.

And somewhere in that story… I became the historian. I became the preservationist. I became the guy people call when they want to understand Elgin. I became the one who cares the most, because it means the most. My dream has always been to revive the Elgin legacy. I just didn’t know how it would happen. But now I see it:

Through connection. Through storytelling. Through film. Through community. Through family. Through God. Though the people who believe in me. Through the city that has become a second home.

This is who I am:

A man who walked into history and didn’t walk back out. A man who found purpose in something forgotten. A man who finally feels like he’s living the life he was meant to live.

This is my story. This is my family’s story. This is Elgin’s story.

And this is why Elgin Vintage Watch Co. exists