Before Levi Strauss & Co. and Wells Fargo established themselves in California, there was Ducommun, a company that traces its roots to 1849.
Over the past 177 years, Ducommun has evolved from selling clocks and outfitting starry-eyed Gold Rush miners to supplying components for some of the world’s largest aerospace and defense companies.
“We’ve had our doors open for most of it, and I think that’s a cool headline,” Ducommun CEO Steve Oswald told the Business Journal.
Today, the Costa Mesa-based company produces components and structures for military and commercial aircraft, counting customers such as Boeing, Airbus and RTX (formerly Raytheon Technologies).
Riding a wave of commercial and military aircraft production, Ducommun has seen its shares double over the course of a year.
The shares were trading at $162.43 apiece on June 18 for a market cap of $2.5 billion, up from $80 per share on June 18, 2025.
Very Humble Beginnings
For Oswald, who took over as chief executive in 2017, the company’s longevity remains one of its most remarkable attributes. Reflecting on Ducommun’s “very humble beginnings,” he describes the firm as “the oldest company in California.”
Its founder Charles Ducommun was born in France and raised in Switzerland, where he learned watchmaking. He arrived in the U.S. in 1843 and made his way to California—a journey that was not so easy.
“Charles walked across the country. It took him nine months roughly. He walked the Santa Fe Trail,” according to Oswald.
“He had some tough luck. He did lose an eye when he got to the U.S. through disease.”
After arriving in California, Ducommun opened a watch business that later expanded into a general store during the Gold Rush.
Selling Picks, Axes
The timing proved fortuitous for Ducommun.
While countless prospectors arrived hoping to strike it rich, he found opportunity in supplying them with the tools they needed.
It proved to be a savvy business model because he bet on the miners, rather than striking gold.
“If you are going to sell the picks and the axes, whether they’re going to find anything or not, you’re going to get your revenue,” Oswald notes.
The founder’s sons eventually took over the company.
By the early 20th century, Ducommun had become a “sort of mini-Sears Roebuck” with catalog sales.
Aviation in 1920s
The company’s next major transformation came with the rise of aviation.
“In the 1920s, we started getting into aviation,” Oswald says. It became one of the first companies to back Southern California aviation pioneer Donald Douglas, whose name is one of the greats in aviation history. Ducommun also provided metal to aircraft pioneers Lockheed brothers Allan and Malcolm in the 1930s.
The company also sold the tubular steel used in Charles Lindbergh’s Spirit of St. Louis, the aircraft that completed the first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic in 1927.
In 1942, the company’s name changed to Ducommun Metals & Supply Co. reflecting its increasing focus on industrial metals. By the 1950s, it had become the largest metals supplier to the aerospace industry in Southern California.
In the 1960s, it diversified into the distribution of electronic components for the aerospace industry.
Ducommun joined the space programs of the 1970s and 1980s.
“We were involved in building part of the Space Shuttle,” Oswald says.
In the 2000s, it expanded into engineered product through strategic acquisitions.
Ducommun Chief Will Promote Co. in NY as Stock Price Doubles
Ducommun CEO Steve Oswald will be heading to New York City to talk to investors in September, promoting his company whose market cap has doubled in just 12 months.
The shares were trading at $162.43 apiece on June 18 for a market cap of $2.5 billion, up from $80 per share a year earlier.
“People are still trying to get to know us,” he told the Business Journal on June 10. The Investor Day will be held on September 17.
He said the company is generally considered a top-level “Tier 1” supplier when it comes to major defense companies.
“We generally deal directly with the Raytheons (RTX), the Lockheeds of the world,” Oswald said of the defense work.
It supplies complex electronics and structural systems for the commercial aerospace, defense and space markets.
Other customers include Boeing, Airbus, Northrop Grumman, Sikorsky and Parker Aerospace.
Oswald took over in 2017, refining the company’s goals.
Revenue was $551 million in 2016, the year before he arrived. It climbed some 50% to $824.7 million as of 2025.
Electronic systems, including wire harnesses, complex circuit cards and motion controls, made up 56% of 2025 revenue.
Structural systems, including ammunition handling systems, magnetic seals and “extruded thermoplastics” made up 44% of 2025 revenue.
Ducommun
FOUNDED: 1849
FOUNDER: Charles Ducommun
HEADQUARTERS: Costa Mesa
LEGACY: Founded as a watch business during the California Gold Rush by Swiss immigrant Charles Ducommun, who later expanded into a general store serving miners.
OC SIGNIFICANCE: Says it’s California’s oldest continuously operating company. Evolved from supplying Gold Rush prospectors to becoming a key aerospace and defense manufacturer serving Boeing, Airbus, RTX, Lockheed Martin and other industry leaders.
DEFINING MOMENT: Entered the aviation business in the 1920s, supplying metal to aircraft pioneers including Donald Douglas and the Lockheed brothers.
BY THE NUMBERS: 177 years in business; $824.7 million in 2025 revenue.
QUOTABLE: “We’ve had our doors open for most of it, and I think that’s a cool headline.” — Steve Oswald, chairman, president and CEO
