Held on the mountainous slope of Vancouver’s North Shore, the Vancouver Timepiece Show offered its second-ever installment this past April. The event offers a true enthusiast-driven platform for a variety of value-driven brands and is part of a now three-show-strong portfolio for Canada’s Timepiece Shows, spanning Vancouver, Toronto, and, later this month, Montreal for the first-ever appearance.
Less than a week after the big show in Geneva ended, I hopped on a plane and flew to Vancouver for a very different type of watch show. Held in a bright and airy space in The Shipyards of North Van, the Vancouver show evolved this year, with fewer brands showing but attendance up by about 20%, to roughly 3,000 people over the weekend.
A smaller, more casual show than the Toronto event held in September, the Vancouver Timepiece Show reflects the local watch scene while attracting brands and attendees from a much wider range. Scroll on for highlights from the brands at the show and a good handful of local watch-spotting.
A pastel Halios Seaforth with the 12-hour bezel. Very Vancouver.
Some Marathon wares glowing under UV light.
The newly released Marathon CeraShell Navigator evolves a 40-year-old classic with a new case material that offers improved bezel performance, conventional springbars (vs. fixed), and a lighter weight on the wrist.
Micromilspec continues to impress with versions of their multi-talented Milgraph, seen here as a special 75-piece version called “Project Sabotage” that was created in collaboration with none other than Black Badger.
Ares made a special run of the brand’s Diver-1 Quartz with laser-etched topographical maps of some of the major elevations in the mountains north of the Vancouver show.
A Tudor Black Bay Pro.
A Gulf livery Ferro & Co Racemaster.
A Sigma BF.
Sunrex watches on display with some vintage racing inspiration.
Belgium-based Gavox watches were a fan-fave at the show.
The wild Romago Roulette Master II Skeleton in hand.
The very cool Beaubleu La Piece No2 Silver with the brand’s signature display bolstered by a floating seconds hand (circle? hoop?). Call it what you like, it’s very cool in person.
The Christopher Ward C63 True GMT on a thin and soft rubber strap.
Maurice Lacroix was among the larger brands exhibiting at the Vancouver show.
A new colorway of the Isotope Moonshot chrono offers an entirely different vibe than the version I reviewed here.
Isotope continues its inventive and fun designs with the (now sold-out) Ovni Jumping Hour Founders Edition. Each jump rotates the aperture of the hour display to show the current hour through the opening.
Bob sports an Isotope Mercury Shadow.
Love to see modern GMTII on a NATO.
A Glycine Combat Auto GMT.
The Mount West Summit is a new offering currently on pre-order that features what the brand calls a “Dual Uni-Directional Bezel”. In counter-clockwise rotation, both the elapsed outer time bezel and the inner 12-hour bezel rotate. Then, if you turn it clockwise, only the outer bezel rotates. You can read more about it here.
A personal fave, the Vaer G5 GMT.
A beefy Marathon.
A version of the Vario 1918 Trench.
Perhaps more my speed, the Vario 1945 D12 Field Watch.
The rather handsome Venezianico Nereide Avventurina Nera, a 200-meter diver with an aventurine dial and a tungsten bezel.
The newly released and intensely colorful latest version of RZE’s excellent UTD-8000.
Canopy Watch Co was brand new to me. Here is the brand’s 39mm Wake One diver that has a forged carbon bezel insert.
This is the Field One in orange, a fully titanium field watch with a DLC treatment to aid in scratch resistance. This was definitely a value pick from the Vancouver show at $599 USD.
Two versions of the Vostra Vector chronograph.
A rarely seen Halios Seaforth Bronze.
A CWC quartz diver.
A lovely vintage Omega.
Got to try on the recently-released Baltic Heuers du Monde Worldtimer with the labradorite. Very nice and very compact on wrist.
Another highlight from the Vancouver show was the presence of 22Studio and their cement-dialed watches. The brand produces a handful of wares made from cement (pens, clocks, etc.), and this is the 4D Concrete Watch, which features a dial inspired by dual spiral staircases and offers a fascinating application of depth and tone. Powered by a Miyota 9015, it’s 43mm wide and sells for a bit over $1000.
Check out the way the hands rise from the center of the dial.
Never not pumped to see an Aerospace, especially on a grey NATO.
Photographer & videographer Julian Fok (@4thdimension.pics) sporting an awesome yellow-dial Breitling Emergency.
A subtle new green colorway for the Arken Alterum.
The Makoto Boken diver stood out for strong value with a 40mm G5 titanium case, 300 meters of water resistance, and a starting price under $800.
Howie sports an Accutron Astronaut on an incredible bracelet.
The wildly colorful engraved dial of the 5280 Watch Co Antero.
A Sinn U50 S L!
A Panerai Luminor with a Canadian backdrop.
The Beaucroft Controu GMT in Tropical Teal.
A very nerdy double wrist scenario pairs a Franck Muller with a Redbar Oris Divers Sixty-Five.
A very fun My Neighbor Totoro promotional watch.
An Omega 2231 Titanium Seamaster with a dial that has faded from blue to a deep purple. 2231’s are such sleepers.
Had to try it on.
A Ming 17.06.
A friend, who is faceless on the internet, sports his lovely A. Lange & Sohne 1815.
A rare and very subtle execution of the Chronoswiss Delphis Jump Hour.
