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Watch Fair & Chill: there’s a new way to do watch fairs. And it’s on the couch with this feature length video. Watch Fair & Chill: there’s a new way to do watch fairs. And it’s on the couch with this feature length video.

Watch Fair & Chill: there’s a new way to do watch fairs. And it’s on the couch with this feature length video.

Andrew McUtchen

Watches & Wonders, the second biggest watch fair of the year, has just dropped. And by dropped we mean there’s a website with some stuff on it, because this is 2020 and we’re all stuck at home self isolating. We found the concept of having to opt in to an interactive website a little too involved for a Saturday morning, so we’ve taken the legwork out of it by filming the first-ever feature length Time+Tide video – and it’s essentially an hour-long virtual watch fair that recaps all the major brands and their releases in a talk show format.

Because, personally speaking, do you really want to read on a Saturday? Me, nah. And in case you’re wondering, by ‘feature length’, we ain’t gilding the lily. This is over an hour of analysis, banter and brand new watches – it’s the ultimate ISO-FIX for watch lovers.

Watch fair with benefits. This video is best enjoyed on couch, with coffee or Corona, whatever – with thanks to Mila and JT

It’s called the Time+Tide Home Delivery Watch Fair. It does what it says on the tin. Delivers a fresh watch fair to you, wherever you are, for your viewing pleasure. Isolation is nothing. Pyjamas are everything. We have you covered and you can come 100 as you are.

IWC CEO Christoph Grainger-Herr at the IWC manufacture in Schaffhausen

Why should I watch this video? I have the extra episode of Tiger King to catch up on…

Honestly, why? There’s one reason that comes to mind, and it’s not just that the extra ep of TK sans Joe Exotic is a money-grabbin’, low budget waste of time. Catching up on every brand’s releases at Watches & Wonders is serious graft. And you can take it from us, because we’ve brought it to you for five years straight until now. Why not just get a 6-pack, or a Grande Latté with someone you love and let it happen to you on the couch, instead of training your tired eyes on story after story on the Intraweb? Beyond that, which I think is a bit of a mic-dropper, at the very least, here are my top four drawcards:

  1. Laziness. You’ll get your head around the fair without moving a muscle. Not one spare, solitary click. 
  2. Christoph Grainger-Herr will explain the IWC collection to you, and he’ll drop some truth bombs about Jason Statham that you’re going to want to hear. 
  3. You will see the best fake-game-show entrance by someone who is NOT Nicholas Kenyon. R.I.P CF. 
  4. Speaking of IWC, there is a watch that has time AND tides! You gotta see this…

How did we get it done in these socially distanced times?

Good question. Running the gauntlet of Australian social distancing regulations, we have worked with a skeleton staff of filming crew (thank you Saxall for dealing with our insane deadlines) to capture ALL of the embargoed watches which will be released to the world this morning, Australian time. That’s a lot of watches, as well as some footage of how it would all be unfolding if we were actually at a watch fair. We’ve phoned several friends to help talk us through the details, including our own Deputy Editor, Nicholas Kenyon (live from Collingwood), and the inimitable Sandra Lane (live from New Zealand).

We knew we were onto a winner with the concept when it was embraced by one of the leading lights in the industry, Mr Christoph Grainger-Herr, CEO of IWC. Christoph joins us midway through to remind us what watches Jason Statham wears in movies when he gets a choice, as well as to introduce us to some pretty exciting new IWC models. Including their first-ever watch with both time, and tides…! All of this is a win for you, if the idea of an hour-long experience about new watches appeals.

Hope to see you shortly! – Andrew