Another year of the Windup Watch Fair is in the books, and what a year it was. I’ve probably written or said some version of this a dozen times before, but when we started Windup in 2015, we had no idea what it would become. What started as a small collection of brands in a SoHo storefront has grown to a national tour of events that houses hundreds of brands and welcomes tens of thousands of visitors.
You feel the excitement and energy at every stop, as folks return for their third, fourth, or fifth Fair, while others celebrate attending their first watch event ever. That’s what makes Windup special (or so I think). If we’ve been successful at one thing, bringing people together from across the watch community would be it. No pretension. No barriers. Just great people and great watches.
I want you all to know, we did this. Not just Worn & Wound – we the community . . . It’s your enthusiasm that made the industry take notice. Thank you for that.
But coming off the NYC Fair, you get a sense the growth of Windup has entered a new phase. In New York, Windup sits at the center (along with our friends at WatchTime) of the most important weekend for watches in America. Our two events, both started in 2015, have laid the foundation for a weekend of watches like no other. The phrase New York Watch Week has, unprompted, become part of our collective vocabulary.
And brands understand the power of the moment. At Windup this year, over 40 new watches were released, and I’m certain more new watches had their debut at one of the many other events taking place over the weekend. That means brands are planning a year or more ahead for what and how to present over the weekend.
With all that newness hitting the market, media takes notice. We had over 100 press and content creators registered to attend Windup NYC this year, with many others choosing to register at the door. Outlets like HODINKEE, Time+Tide, Bloomberg, Forbes, the Wall Street Journal, Gear Patrol, and others attend to see the latest and greatest releases.
I want you all to know, we did this. Not just Worn & Wound – we the community. There was a time when Windup was seen skeptically by some as the event with “cheap” watches. Today, it’s the center of the watch world for a weekend, playing host to brands from around the world at all price points. During one of their live streams, eBay Live sold a $100,000 watch. It’s your enthusiasm that made the industry take notice. Thank you for that.
With all of this growth comes growing pains. Yes, there was a long line at Windup this year. It sucked. I hate it. I wish we could have let everyone into the building all at once. Unfortunately, there are legal limits to the number of people that can occupy the venue where we host Windup New York at any given time. 1,200 people, to be exact. We did our best to cycle folks into the venue as fast as people left, but it wasn’t enough to keep the line to a reasonable length.
For anyone who waited in line but never got into the building, I am truly very sorry. We’ve had lines at Windup before, but never like we did this year. All I can say is that we promise to be better prepared next year.
The future of Windup is a topic that gets raised with me all the time, especially in the thick of a busy show. Standing in a room full of enthusiastic people really gets your brain firing on all cylinders. How can we lean more into this thing that worked so well? How do we avoid this pitfall? What are you going to do about the line!? With approximately five months till our next Windup (Dallas, here we come!), now is the time our team comes together to think about these questions and come up with the best solutions we can. It’s also a great time to get feedback from you. Whether you’ve been to a Windup Watch Fair or not, we want to hear from you. Check out our brief survey here. It should only take a few minutes.
Thank you to our partners.
None of this happens without the partners who believe in Windup and help us make each Fair bigger and better than the last. A huge thank you to our lead sponsors for New York:
– Bremont
– Brew Watch Co.
– Bulova
– Christopher Ward
– Oris
And to our official partners:
– eBay Live, our Official Live Streaming Partner
– WatchPro, our Official Print Media Partner
– Miyota, our Official Movement Sponsor
– The Watch Preserve, our Official Appraisal Sponsor
Part of what made this year’s Fair feel so alive was everything happening beyond the booths. If you were there, you probably stopped by at least a few of these:
– The eBay Live Studio, where the team streamed live from the floor all weekend (yes, including that $100,000 sale)
– The Fossil Signature Lounge, a place to take a breather and hang out
– Donut Watch Co. x Dough, bringing together two of New York’s favorite things
– Brew Chrono Cafe, which kept everyone caffeinated
– G-SHOCK’s Breaking Ground activation
– Omologato’s display of Indianapolis 500 champion Rodger Ward’s single-speed dirt-track racer
– Bulova and Accutron’s “A Moment in Time” installation
And thank you to everyone who joined us for our panels:
– The Grey NATO x Marathon Titanium Panel
– G-SHOCK on the MR-G 30th Anniversary Blue Sapphire Edition
To every sponsor, partner, and brand that showed up and put in the work: thank you. You helped make Windup NYC 2026 one to remember.
