The highlights from the Australian Financial Review’s About Time Watch Fair

Jamie Weiss

We here at Time+Tide are pretty fortunate in that we regularly get to head overseas to attend the world’s big watch fairs, such as Watches & Wonders or LVMH Watch Week. But Australia is a long way away from Europe’s big conventions, so it’s pretty hard for most Aussie watch fans to get in on the action. The Australian Financial Review has changed that, however. Last week, AFR held About Time, which was billed as Australia’s very first prestige watch fair and was undoubtedly a big moment for Australian watch culture.

Held over two days in Sydney and open to AFR subscribers, it followed a similar format to Geneva Watch Days, where rather than the fair being held in one central convention building, activations took place throughout the city in each participating brand’s boutique. Thirteen brands took part in the fair: Cartier, Chopard, Grand Seiko, Hublot, IWC Schaffhausen, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Louis Vuitton, Panerai, Piaget, Ralph Lauren, Roger Dubuis, TAG Heuer and Vacheron Constantin.

With events being held at each boutique each hour on the hour, there was plenty for watch lovers to see and do. Fortunately, I was also in Sydney during the fair, and had the chance to get in on the action – here’s my vote for the big highlights of the About Time fair.

Vacheron Constantin’s rare vintage watch exhibition

Vacheron Constantin made a big splash with their Less’Ential exhibition, which encapsulated millions of dollars of rare and historically significant Vacheron Constantin references chosen from the nearly 1,600 timepieces that compose the brand’s private collection – as well as artwork from the Louvre brought to Australia for the very first time. The brand also ensured that hard-to-get current models were in stock for attendees to peruse, such as the Overseas Dual Time and the Historiques Corne de Vache.

That Vacheron’s big exhibition coincided with About Time was no coincidence. The fact that Vacheron Constantin went to the effort and expense to bring such rare timepieces and objets d’art Down Under demonstrates how seriously the brand was taking About Time, as well as how seriously VC treats the Australian market.

Grand Seiko’s watchmaking demonstration

Sydney is home to Grand Seiko’s only Australian standalone boutique, so it was perhaps no big surprise that sessions for Grand Seiko booked out quicker than just about any other brand participating in About Time. The Japanese brand has long demanded a cult following among watch aficionados, and Sydney’s horological cognoscenti came out in force to check out what they had in store for the fair.

What did they have in store? An intimate Spring Drive watchmaking session with Master Craftsman Ikukiyo Komatsu, one of Japan’s most acclaimed watchmakers and a Medal of Honour recipient. This was a rare opportunity for Sydneysiders to get an up close and personal look at what goes into assembling a Grand Seiko timepiece.

Piaget’s boutique opening

Another brand that took About Time particularly seriously was Piaget, who timed the opening of their luxurious new King Street boutique with the fair. As a Sydneysider, it’s been interesting to see King Street develop into Sydney’s ‘watch alley’: Piaget is now one of a dozen luxury watch purveyors to call King Street home, and no doubt won’t be the last watchmaker to open up shop in that part of town.

Piaget had two activations for attendees: a Metiers d’Or Atelier jewellery-making workshop, and a multisensory cognac tasting-slash-touch and feel session for the Altiplano and Polo collections. Cognac and watches? Not a bad way to spend a weekend…