FRIDAY WIND DOWN: WatchTime, Windup, a chiming Speedy and Accutron’s 62nd birthday
Zach BlassWatch collectors from far and wide gathered in New York City this week for an itinerary packed with watch-related events. You had the RedBar Global Meetup, WatchTime NY, and Worn & Wound Windup fairs all jam-packed into the space of seven days – giving watch lovers in the area lots to do. It may have seemed like the events would be competing, but they actually complimented each other and gave visitors plenty of horological bang for their bucks.
The WatchTime NY fair delivered exactly what has led thousands of people to come back for eight editions of the fair. With 32 brands in attendance, all of which brought their latest and greatest timepieces, there was a ton of watches for people to get hands-on with. We often remark how awesome it would be for the public to attend things like Watches & Wonders and, to an extent, WatchTime NY delivers that sort of experience in NYC.
We were also proud to see our very own Ricardo Sime as a panellist on the Engaging a New Generation of Collectors panel also featuring Perri Dash (Wrist Check Podcast), Kathleen McGivney (CEO RedBar), Bilal Khan (WatchTime Senior Editor) and moderator Jason Gong (Founder, Complecto).
While WatchTime NY is a ticketed event, the Windup Watch Fair organised by Worn & Wound is totally free to visit. It also offers balance for those visiting the various fairs over the weekend. WatchTime NY offers major and independent brands at typically higher price points while Windup presents more approachable offerings from smaller or micro brands (a total of 65 or so booths to explore).
In the case of Windup Watch Fair, you can even purchase the pieces you see – which is especially great considering many of the brands do not have a physical retail presence. I could dig into the brands and watches I saw, but Ricardo has a top five list incoming that will hit the site soon.
In other news, Omega unveiled a new and highly complicated Speedmaster Chrono Chime this week, a 45mm 18K Sedna Gold cased Speedy (with case-matching bracelet) that features a split-seconds chronograph and a chiming function that, rather than relay the hours, quarters and minutes, signals the time elapsed on the chronograph registers. Also worth a shoutout is its Grand Feu Enamel aventurine dial. We may have to circle back on this one.
Lastly, we were invited to celebrate the 62nd birthday of the Accutron brand at the Monarch Rooftop Bar in NYC – a prime position to have a nice view of the Empire State Building lit up in green in honour of Accutron. The special guest for the evening, Neil Degrasse Tyson had a conversation with hosts of the Accutron Podcast to discuss the intertwined history of NASA and Accutron – as well as answer fun questions like which popular space movie is the most scientifically accurate? The answer: The Martian.
Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!
-Zach
Watch meme of the week: Happy Halloween!
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Is it really a costume if you wear it all the time? Not all collectors wear the same clothes, but this mock-up costume definitely pokes fun at trending attire within a certain segment of the collecting community.
Wrist shot of the week: What we love to see
One of our many missions at T+T is to help usher in the next generation of watch collectors, to make watches fun for everyone. Sometimes though, when scarcity is involved, things can get heated – intimidating or limiting young collectors from getting pieces like the MoonSwatch for example. So to see @winewhiskywatches’s son wearing his M.A.D. 1 Red really warms my heart. It is so awesome, whether it’s via his or his father’s raffle entry, that led to this watch being on his wrist and becoming something he won’t want to let go off anytime soon. Granted, the poster of this picture is a GPHG Academy member, but let’s not get into the weeds on this one and just be happy where the watch has landed. Also, very kickass that @winewhiskywatches’s son built a custom computer keyboard to match his watch.
Time+Tide Shop select of the week: Pre-Order the Hamilton American Classic Railroad Pocket Watch Limited Edition now
Travel 130 years through time with the Hamilton American Classic Railroad Mechanical Pocket Watch. Limited to 917 pieces, the special edition commemorates Hamilton as “the watch of railroad accuracy”. You can learn more about the pocket watch in our review here, or click below to place your pre-order.
Pre-order the watch here in the Time+Tide Shop. Price: $2,125 AUD. Expected delivery Nov 10.
Our favourite Time+Tide coverage of the week:
So you can’t get a MoonSwatch. Here are 5 alternatives…
Given that the Swatch Group has quietly backtracked on their promise of offering these pieces online and cut the number of boutiques that stock them, Borna looked to assemble worthy alternatives to the MoonSwatch. Borna’s brief was simple – make it fun, make it affordable and, best of all, make it available. Check out the full list here.
The new 5711 successor – the 5811/1G Nautilus – is a bit of a letdown. But it is our fault, not Patek’s
“Anticipation, I suppose, sometimes exceeds realisation,” Amelia Earhart once said. Zach explores why he feels the new 5811/1G was a bit of a letdown, and how it may be our fault. Find out why here.
The T+T team picks their favourite go anywhere, do anything watches
The ultimate “go anywhere, do anything” watch depends heavily on the person that is doing the going anywhere. So, we decided to get the Time+Tide team together to showcase their different tastes and considerations when picking such a watch. You can find our GADA watch picks here.