jamie weiss
March and April used to be the major trade show season for the watch industry. And for the most part, that’s still the case, as it’s the time of year for Watches and Wonders. However, since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, more and more small watch fairs have been held around the world, leading to the large Geneva Watch Week at the end of the first quarter. We now offer an attractive alternative to regional watches. Now it seems like we’re once again in the middle of the October-November trade show season. The first Milan Watch Week just happened, IAMWATCH is currently underway in Singapore, and Worn & Wound Windup and WatchTime are both about to open in the new year. York…and of course I’m also looking forward to Time+Time’s British Watch Maker Weekender at the end of November.
But what about Australia, I hear you ask. Well, don’t worry. The 5th Watchfest is also part of this international trade show season. Watchfest, held in Sydney from 1st to 16th November, is Australia’s largest watch and watch convention, run by the watch community, for the watch community. Last year was a great success, so we are looking forward to this year’s as well.
The celebrations kick off in style with an opening night gala at the Omega Boutique on Friday the 1st, followed by a day-long exhibition at the State Library of New South Wales on Saturday the 2nd. On Thursday the 7th, Watchfest’s famous “Watch Crawl” makes a grand return. It’s like a watch-specific pub crawl, with enthusiasts wandering from boutique to boutique across Sydney’s CBD.
This year’s participating brands include Longines, Nivada Grenchen, Omega, Oris, Panerai, Roger Dubuis, Studio Underdozy, Tag Heuer, Zenith, and Seiko and Grand Seiko. Tickets are free again this year. This is made possible thanks to our friends and long-time supporters of Watchfest, making the fair available to everyone in the Sydney/Australian watch community. Naturally, Time+Tide will also be at the fair. So come check out some cool watches with us today.
You can register for Watchfest 2024 here. I hope everyone has a great weekend. See you soon at Watchfest!
Jamie and the Time+Tide team
See Meme of the Week: You’ve Never Actually Owned a Patek Philippe
Cubitus, Patek’s first new watch collection in 25 years, will inevitably dominate the watch news cycle this week…as well as the watch meme cycle. I thought this was better than the others because it suggested the truth about Cubitas. Most of the people complaining about its design aren’t in the Patek market anyway.
Wrist shot of the week: Square your hips.
Photographer, style icon, Time+Tide friend (and occasional Time+Tide contributor) Christian Hagen shares what he thinks is the best photo yet of the new Patek Philippe Cubitus collection. I took a look at the case back and clasp. There is also a fabric strap for the platinum model. Rendering is fine, but nothing beats a real wrist shot.
Time+Tide Shop pick of the week: Tissot Chemin des Tourelles Skeleton
Named after the street in Le Locle where Tissot’s factory is located, the Chemin Des Tourelles Skeleton is one of the most affordable genuine skeleton watches on the market. This classically proportioned Tissot exposes the Swatch Group’s ubiquitous Powermatic 80 movement in the traditional sense, with hobnailed rings placed on the sides of the open movement for a luxurious look.
View the Tissot Chemin des Tourelles skeleton online or in the Time+Tide shop at Melbourne Discovery Studios. Price: AUD 1,535/USD 1,050
This week’s favorite Time+Tide coverage
The new Patek Philippe Cubitus is finally here
After a long time of being teased, leaked, and hinted at, the Patek Philippe Cubitus Collection is officially here, and we can finally talk about it with some degree of certainty. The third sports watch in the Patek catalogue, this new line offers something a little different from the previous Nautilus and Aquanaut, but it still has some very familiar features that help cement it in the brand’s canon. We have several. Russell has the scoop here.
How did watches evolve into wristwatches?
This has been a good week for extraordinarily detailed Buffy coverage, and the latest one is particularly interesting. It accurately chronicles the often overblown history of how watches made the leap from clocks and pocket watches to formal wristwatches. Please take a few minutes to peruse this great educational piece here.
Was the Bvlgari Octo Chiming Watch banned in medieval Rome?
Although this is not the case for all watchmakers and watch enthusiasts, have a musical idea. For most people, the mark of a minute repeater lies in its technical ability. The history behind complexityor the beautiful sounds it makes. Now, with the help of Swiss conductor Lorenzo Viotti, Bvlgari has taken a rather unconventional twist on that last point, creating a trio of watches that play the so-called “Devil’s Interlude.” Watch Andrew chat with Lorenzo about the creation of these ultra-complicated timepieces above, or read the full review here.
