Welcome to Tools of Time.
This is the home for three shops that share a single obsession: tools that help us understand and enjoy and tell our time. Camera West. Leica Store San Francisco. CW Watch Shop. Different objects, same idea.
What we mean by tools of time
Time is the one thing none of us can hold onto. But we have built remarkable tools to capture it and pass down the stories we live out day to day to the generations to come.
Cameras have helped us capture the passage of time over the past century, giving us tangible points in time to look back on and understand how we got to where we are today and where we can go from here.
Watches are a little bit different but in the same spirit, offering a way to both capture and tell time. They are pieces we use day to day and hand down from generation to generation, while also helping us measure and tell time in various ways in the moment.
Cameras and watches do different things, but they belong to the same family. Both are tools for paying attention to time. Both reward craftsmanship and curiosity. Both gather communities of people who care about how something is made and why it matters.
What you’ll find here
Tools of Time is where the friends and family of Camera West talk about all of it, organized the way we have always organized this work: capture, collect, connect.
Capture. The stories we tell with our tools, from photo essays and travel notebooks to dispatches from the field.
Collect. The particular tools we love and what makes a piece worth knowing, whether it is a vintage Leica or a new Hasselblad or a watch on the wrist.
Connect. The events and workshops and pop-ups we are part of, and the escapades that come with carrying these tools through the world. Because the best part of these objects has always been the people who love them.
Who we are
Camera West is a fine photographic tools retailer founded in 2000 with locations in San Francisco, New York, and Palm Springs. An authorized partner of Leica, Fujifilm, Hasselblad, Tudor, Squale, and many other leading brands in photography and horology, the company brings together Camera West, Leica Store SF, CW Watch Shop, and the first Hasselblad Boutique in the United States around a single ethos: Capture, Collect, Connect.
Thanks for being here. We hope you find something inspiring and insightful.