Scout Motors hasn’t delivered a single vehicle to a customer yet. But it has found time to threaten a one-man watchmaking operation in Chicago over the word “Scout.”
Astor+Banks, an independent microbrand run by founder Andrew Perez, announced on March 5 that it has stopped taking orders for its Terra Scout mechanical watch after the Volkswagen-backed automaker claimed the name infringes on its brand. Pre-orders that were already placed are in limbo. Refunds are available for anyone unwilling to wait out a legal dispute that, by any reasonable measure, should not exist.
The Terra Scout is a 38.5 mm automatic field watch with a 68-hour power reserve, priced between $875 and $1,195 depending on the case finish. It was inspired by Perez’s own military service. It is not an electric SUV, a pickup truck, and it does not have wheels.
Scout Motors, meanwhile, is reviving the old International Harvester Scout nameplate with plans for battery-electric and range-extended off-road vehicles. The company has a factory under construction in South Carolina, billions in VW backing, and a launch window that keeps getting closer. You would think all of that would occupy every waking hour of its legal department.
Instead, the company is spending resources pressuring a small watchmaker who sells to a niche audience of mechanical watch enthusiasts. Astor+Banks argues the two brands operate in entirely separate industries, serve different customers, and present zero likelihood of consumer confusion. That argument seems almost too obvious to need stating.
Trademark law, though, doesn’t always reward common sense. Companies often feel compelled to defend their marks aggressively, even against absurd overlaps, because failing to do so can weaken their legal position in future disputes that actually matter. That’s the logic, anyway.
But the optics are terrible. Scout Motors is trying to build goodwill with a customer base that values authenticity, heritage, and ruggedness. The original Scout was a blue-collar icon. Sending lawyers after a veteran-owned microbrand making military-inspired watches is not exactly on-brand.
“It is deeply disappointing to have the momentum of the Terra Scout, a project born from genuine passion and military heritage, interrupted by a claim we believe lacks any merit,” Perez told WatchPro.
Scout Motors did not respond to requests for comment, which tracks. There is no version of this story where the automaker looks good explaining why a sub-$1,000 wristwatch threatens a multi-billion-dollar vehicle program.
The word “scout” predates both companies by centuries. It has been used across countless products, organizations, and contexts without the fabric of commerce tearing apart. The Boy Scouts of America managed to coexist with the International Harvester Scout for decades without a single consumer accidentally earning a merit badge while off-roading.
For now, Astor+Banks customers wait. The watches they ordered exist in a legal gray zone, held hostage by a trademark claim filed by a company that has yet to put a single production vehicle in a driveway. Perez says he will keep buyers updated as the situation develops.
Whether the two Scouts can coexist is now a question for attorneys. The rest of us already know the answer.
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