Hanging Out at Windup Watch Fair 2024

The annual watch trade show hosted by Worn & Wound was the horology event of the year.

For someone who has loved watches for the better part of 16 years, I’ve never really engaged with the watch community in real life. Luckily I finally broke the seal and attended my first real watch event over the weekend: Worn & Wound’s Windup Watch Fair, which took place at the Gateway Pavillion at Fort Mason in San Francisco’s Marina District. The event seeks to showcase the best in independent watchmaking with brands like Oris, Studio Underd0g, Christopher Ward, and many more. They also sprinkle in some bigger brands like G-Shock and Tissot, but the bulk of the brands are relatively smaller. Smaller doesn’t necessarily mean worse; however. A lot of independent watch brands offer tremendous value for money. I could only hang out for an hour, but I made the most out of my time there.

My first stop was at Fortis, located in a private room near the front of the pavilion, where I spoke to one of the brand founders about their manufacturing process and design language. Interesting stuff. Then he let me try on the Marinemaster 40mm, which fit great on my somewhat larger 7.5” wrist. After he told me it cost over three grand, I knew I had to move on. Not that I didn’t like the watch, but at this point I’ll only spend three grand for a used Omega or a Cartier Tank.

Afterward, I hung out at a pair of French brands, Serica & Beaubleu that were conveniently situated in adjacent booths. Serica crafts minimally chic timepieces aimed at active people who are looking to bring sophistication to their tool watches. I tried on the diving and field watches, both chronometer-certified. The turn of the bezel on the diver was one of the butteriest turning bezels I’ve ever toyed with. The underrated star of the show, however, was the Ecce Lys by Beaubleu. This rosegold 39mm, sub-$1000 watch was by far my favorite that I saw during the fair. The innovative design doesn’t use hands for timekeeping but instead opts for circles with nipple-points to tell the time. It takes a minute to get used to, but once you get the hang of it, telling the time will be as easy on this watch as on any other. It’s one of the most unique watches I’ve ever seen in person. They didn’t have any for sale at the fair, but they handed me a catalog with a discount code and I was on my way.

After my French brothers and sisters, I went to the Christopher Ward, the most popular booth in the building. The Twelve, Christopher Ward’s answer to the Tissot PRX was the biggest draw. I tried a couple of them on and even got to play with The Twelve X, the new $5K skeleton watch announced two weeks ago.

Christopher Ward’s watches are worth the hype, but there’s something off about the logo; it looks like that of a tech company or a video game. Beautiful watches, though. I think the colors on The Twelve are A LOT better than the colors on the PRX. The light purple? The light green? Sky blue? Oh, baby!

The other star of the show? Studio Underd0g. The Australian upstart is known for making colorful pieces at affordable price points. They make terrific watches while not taking themselves too seriously. They’re perhaps best known for their Bi-compax watches named after foods like mint chip and watermelon. I originally wanted to come to Windup for one reason: to grab one of their Pizza Party watches. Last year, they made an April Fool’s joke that they were coming out with a watch designed to look just like a pepperoni pizza, to the dismay of watch fans everywhere who wanted a chance to purchase them. The brand made right on their sick joke and made them available for the public, but on one condition: you have to grab a purchase code from the founders to get a chance to buy one. The idea is to create more community in the watch world. I grabbed a purchasing code from the founders after trying the watch on and I immediately purchased it when I got home. I f*cking can not wait.

I made a quick stop at Baltic to try on their offerings. Their MR01 with Breguet numerals on a beads-of-rice bracelet was killer. 36mm, classic elegance - reminiscent of Mike Nouveau’s beautiful vintage Patek Phillipe Calatrava. At $650, the MR01 is one of the most beautiful watches you can buy for the price.

I tried on a purple titanium field watch from Formex, a brand with a lot of fans in the independent watch world, but is yet to break into the mainstream. This sub-$1,000 watch looked great on my wrist and featured an on-the-wrist, on-the-fly adjustment for those days when your wrist begins to swell. It’s an impressive, lightweight watch. Purple is also my favorite color. I think more watches should be purple.

Furlan Marri was another favorite of mine. The brand offers chronograph watches in both meca-quartz and mechanical. It’s hard to believe the brand has only been around for 3 years because if they hadn’t told me that I would have thought it was founded in 1750 by Jean Baptiste Christophore Fusée Aublet. Simply beautiful watches at solid price points (well the quartz watch is under $1,000 and you never see a ticking seconds hand).

The last two booths I hit were Zodiac and Bulova, two well-known brands with rich brand histories and several iconic pieces. I tried on the Zodiac Super Seawolf Watermelon, a watch I’ve admired from afar for some time. I was given an offer that was nearly too good to pass up, but I ultimately decided not to pursue it because I already committed mentally to the Pizza watch from Underd0g and the Ecce Lys from Beaubleu. Bulova had a special edition San Francisco Automatic watch that I almost purchased for the Golden Gate Bridge on the case back. In the end, I resisted temptation.

I ran home and immediately bought the Pizza watch and the Ecce Lys are currently sitting in my cart. I have a handful of catalogs, pamphlets, stickers, and pins from other brands. My only regret is that I didn’t spend all day there. It’s days like today that I feel like I’m part of a strong community with people from so many walks of life. I saw so many cool watches on the wrists of my peers. I spotted many Rolexes and Omegas, but I also saw several Seikos and G-Shocks, vintage Bulovas, and watches from brands I didn’t even recognize.

Days like the one spent at Windup remind me why I love watches and the community surrounding them. There’s a lot of snobbery out there, especially once you get into the high-end stuff, but Windup was full of enthusiasts, young and old, with childlike excitement in their eyes, as many of them held in their hands watches from these elusive brands for the first time. When you’re not worrying about getting your hands on a $15K Rolex and you’re looking at affordable watches, you begin to realize how fun collecting can really be. There is a world of creativity going on in independent watchmaking. It was such a treat to experience. The majority of these brands can only be purchased online, so coming to tradeshows like Windup may be the only way you can test the goods before buying. It did not disappoint. Dozens of brands have gained a new fan in me.

Peace and Love