Last week, Worn & Wound and Citizen Watch America headed west to Billings, Montana, for an evening of watches, conversation, and a little bit of Windup Watch Fair previewing at Riddle’s Jewelry’s Shiloh location.
Following our enthusiast night in Salt Lake, the Billings event was another chance to bring the Windup experience to a community that doesn’t always get the opportunity to see this kind of collection of watches in person. But more than anything, the evening was about establishing Riddle’s Jewelers as a welcoming home for watch enthusiasts in Eastern Montana—and kicking off what we hope becomes a new tradition of getting together, talking watches, and, naturally, buying a few new timepieces along the way.
The evening welcomed local enthusiasts, longtime collectors, curious newcomers, and Riddle’s clientele, all with one thing in common: an appreciation for a good watch and an excuse to talk about them. With food and drinks on hand, the evening had the easygoing feel we love about enthusiast gatherings. Watches came off wrists, new ones went on, and conversations bounced from movements and materials to personal favorites and the watches everyone had been quietly keeping an eye on.
Of course, there was plenty to get excited about on the watch front. The collection included standout pieces from Citizen, Bulova, Accutron, Frédérique Constant, and Alpina, including several watches that aren’t exactly easy to find sitting in a display case. And our new Worn & Wound Recommended program made an appearance here as well, after its debut in Salt Lake last month, identifying enthusiast-tuned watches from throughout the full showcase.
The Citizen Eco-Drive Photon, created to celebrate 50 years of Eco-Drive, was a particular point of interest, with its Super Titanium case and limited-edition status. The Accutron Spaceview 314 brought an entirely different kind of conversation to the table, reviving the brand’s legendary tuning-fork technology in a striking 18k yellow-gold case.
The Bulova Super Seville Precisionist was another crowd-pleaser, pairing its unmistakable ’70s TV-case silhouette with the brand’s 262kHz Precisionist movement and a naturally patterned white magnesite dial. The Frédérique Constant Classic Worldtimer Manufacture and Manchette offered a decidedly more European flavor, while Alpina’s Alpiner Extreme Automatic Solar “Solarmetre” showed just how far solar-powered watchmaking has come.
And then there was the new Bulova A-11 Jimmy. Inspired by Bulova’s military heritage, the 37mm automatic field watch brings the familiar A-11 aesthetic into a modern package, with a coin-edge case, black dial, luminous hands and markers, and a 42-hour-power-reserve automatic movement. Despite being a simple and straightforward, historically-informed, timepiece built to actually get worn, it was easily the standout watch of the evening.
