Manhattans and marvelous watches: what happened at our Time+Tide x Toledano & Chan event
Russell SheldrakeOn Thursday evening, we held the very first event with upstart microbrand Toledano & Chan in our London Discovery Studio. This was to celebrate the launch of the brand’s new B/1.2 with its extremely rich Tahitian mother-of-pearl dial, along with a few various upgrades and tweaks to the original B/1 and its lapis lazuli dial.
Of course, the main stars of the event, besides the watch, were Phil Toledano and Alfred Chan, who were in attendance and ready to let people try on their latest creation. A fun side note: not only was this the first event the young brand has held, it was also only the second time Phil and Alfred had been in the same room together. With Phil residing in New York and Alfred in Hong Kong, they formed their enterprise during the pandemic and still only get to see each other in person on rare occasions. The first time they met was during Geneva Watch Days last year when they appeared on a panel discussion hosted by our very own Andrew McUtchen and Wei Koh.
So this was not a night to be missed, and the Studio was packed out with the great and good of the London watch scene. A few other young brand founders were in attendance, such as Matteo Vianello of Anoma, Richard Benc of Studio Underd0g, and Nicholas Bowman-Scargill of Fears. We also saw luminaries of the London collecting scene there who have incredibly famous collections, including Ahmed Rahman, Roni Madhvani and Mo Coppoletta, just to name a few. It was clear that Phil attracts people who are just as creative as him, with the likes of Johnny Dowell (aka King Nerd), Lee Yuen-Rapati of @onehourwatch and Fears, and famed watch designer Emmanuel Gueit all making an appearance.
The night centred around a panel discussion hosted by our founder Andrew with Chan and Toledano, where they discussed the difficulties of starting and running this brand at such a great distance from one another, along with how the dynamic between the two of them works, given that they have such different personalities. What was clear from this talk was that Toledano & Chan has been able to grow its distinct aesthetic and rabid following because of the contrast that exists between these two, and it is thanks to this balancing of personalities that we can see a bright future for the brand.
They did give away a bit of a tease of what would be coming next, with the possibility of precious metals and a leather strap to replace the highly faceted, tapering bracelet they currently use. But no promises were made, just that they have something in the works with no real timeline. The rest of the night was filled with Manhattans being served from the bar and a constant stream of people wanting to try on the new watch, keen to take wrist rolls and grill its makers on its various aspects.
Not only was this event special for us here at Time+Tide as we had the honour of hosting this exciting brand’s first event, but we were also allocated a small number of these hard-to-get watches. That meant those who were able to get hands-on with the watch during the event were able to put their names and money down for one of the 200 pieces that are set to be produced. Last time I checked with our Studio staff, we only had a couple left, so if you live in or near London and want to add one to your collection, your best bet is to hurry down to our Discovery Studio.
