Saturday, November 9th; Rugby Warwickshire: the inaugural WatchIt! watch fair took place between 13:00-18:00.
I had been thinking of arranging a watch event for a couple of years, and this year I finally got around to doing it. Thanks to Chris of Christopher Ward and Ross from Hamtun, who were quick to say yes, push me on, and encourage me to follow through with my goal.
What was my goal? I wanted to showcase an array of awesome British brands, at a variety of price points. I wanted a friendly, relaxed atmosphere where people could just chat and have a nice time with other watch enthusiasts. I wanted an event in the Midlands, as so many are in London or far North and we’re a bit left out in the middle. I also wanted some awesome giveaways to make it even more special to the many visitors who made the journey.
I feel I reached my goal, and everyone I spoke to appeared to enjoy it thoroughly (unless they were just being polite). Of course, it simply would not have been possible without the amazing brands who agreed to join and take a punt on a brand new event. Without them, it never would have happened and I have the utmost respect to those who supported it without knowing whether it would be worth it.
Thankfully, we had plenty of visitors! I’ll admit, I was seriously nervous in the morning as I simply did not know how many would come. But a special thanks goes out to those who visited; many travelling for hours! It’s truly humbling to have people come such a distance and it was brilliant to see everyone enjoying themselves.
I got the impression that this kind of event does not happen enough – so I’m definitely going to arrange another WatchIt! in 2020. It’ll be at a larger venue, with more brands, giveaways, and hopefully even more visitors!
Thanks to all who made it, and if you didn’t, then keep an eye out for news of the 2020 edition!
Scottish Watches were there, listen to their podcast now – with an interview with myself and a number of the brands there.
Rob Nudds from A Blog To Watch was also there and thoroughly enjoyed it. Read his report on A Blog To Watch now!
Finally, please watch by highlights reel video below:
Mark muddimer
12 November, 2019 at 10:31 pm
Fantastic inaugural event for WIAA. We’ll done Josh.
Joshua Clare-Flagg
13 November, 2019 at 1:57 pm
Thank you very much Mark.
nick
13 November, 2019 at 1:39 pm
WOW no pics of the kraken h2 yet pics of all of the others in hamtuns range……. including watches that are not even properly anounced.. that bye the way look really nice
Joshua Clare-Flagg
13 November, 2019 at 1:55 pm
Hi Nick, if you’re after pics of the Hamtun Kraken then check out my review here: https://12and60.com/hamtun-h2-kraken-watch-review/
nick
13 November, 2019 at 5:37 pm
joshua, thanks for reply, yeh i watched and read your reveiw back in feb 2019, i was looking for updates nov 1019 on the kraken….the watch seems to be a bit shy of cameras at the moment..
Art of Horology
13 November, 2019 at 1:53 pm
Great event, Josh! We had an absolute blast and can’t wait for the next 😉
Liam
Joshua Clare-Flagg
13 November, 2019 at 1:57 pm
Thanks for coming, was great to meet you!
con
13 November, 2019 at 3:18 pm
No Hamtun Kraken???
Ross lied again…
Joshua Clare-Flagg
13 November, 2019 at 4:03 pm
It was there. Smaller brands usually work with orders of 300-500, so when he received over 2200 orders from Kickstarter it was never going to be quite as simple! I’m not surprised the timeline has been stretched out due to the sheer volume of orders, but I can say that he’s a great guy working his butt off to get these watches out as quickly as possible.
Alan R. Handley
14 November, 2019 at 9:10 pm
Loved the event Josh, very relaxed with all the brands representatives being very engaging.
Yourself & colleagues always on hand to assist with any requests!
Look forward to future events.