If you?ve never had the pleasure of attending a Windup Watch Fair in person, it?s hard to express the energy in the room or the unavoidable concentration of enthusiasm that greets you when you step through the doors. From the moment the show opens on Friday to the minute it closes on Sunday, every Windup is a marathon of excited conversation, new friends, and constant discovery ? all bound by a vague sense of risk, a sense that (if you should stop and stare for a little too long) you may be walking out of Windup with something new tucked away in your bag and a slightly lighter wallet.
Of course, for all their similarities, no two Windups are the same. The character of each host city plays a huge part in this ? it?s hard to quantify the difference between a bay-side view in San Francisco in May and a downtown October day in New York City ? but throw in different brands, different people, different venues, and (possibly most importantly) different watches and you?ll find that every Windup comes with the distinct chance to surprise.
So, to that end, with a few days between me and the end of Windup Chicago 2024, I thought I would take a moment to fill you in on some of the watches and moments that surprised me at this summer?s hottest watch fair.
NATO?s Don?t Need Holes
It seems like a fitting place to start this endeavor would be with the only booth at Windup Chicago that got me to pull out my wallet not once, but twice. Like so many of us, I go absolutely nuts for a good ...