As we previously announced, WatchTime is bringing the WatchTime New York event concept to the West Coast on May 3 – 4, 2019. We’ll be taking over the Hudson Loft space in Downtown Los Angeles — just minutes from Staples Center — for two days to bring you the best in luxury timepieces. For those who have attended the New York show before, you can expect a similar experience, with brands of all sizes and price points taking part; an abundance of panel discussions featuring industry VIPs, brand executives, and high-caliber collectors; wine and whiskey tastings; and plenty of opportunities to spend some quality time with your fellow enthusiasts. We’ll be collaborating with our longtime event partner Watch Anish once again, and will be working with the renowned California retailer Bhindi Jewelers for the first time.
Today, we’re happy to announce the second batch of the 30+ brands we have confirmed for the show. Click here to see the first six brands we announced last week.
Scroll down to learn a little bit more about these six brands and stay tuned for the next set of brand announcements to be revealed next week.
You can buy your tickets here and we hope to see you there!
Bovet
The Bovet company was founded in 1822 by Edouard Bovet with a focus on the watchmaking trade with China. The brand as we know it today was acquired by Pascal Raffy, a former pharmaceutical industry executive and passionate watch collector, in 2001. Shortly thereafter, Raffy began purchasing additional manufacturing sites in Switzerland – not only to ensure the company’s independence but also to have full control over the quality of all aspects of production. Today, Bovet offers haute horlogerie watches that are unmistakably inspired by the brand’s pocketwatch history. The company makes its own hairsprings and dials in addition to having the movement design and production in-house. Earlier this year, the brand exhibited at SIHH in Geneva for the first time and debuted a number of impressive new timepieces like the Virtuoso IX.
G-Shock
There’s a good chance you’re well aware of G-Shock. In 2017, Casio’s emblematic timepiece became the first wristwatch to hit 100 million sold around the world. It’s an icon in fields that range from engineering and horology to design and fashion, and is as likely to be found on the runway at New York Fashion Week as it is on the wrist of a Navy SEAL. Every single millimeter of a G-Shock watch has been sculpted and optimized for its survival. This goes back to 1981, when a Casio engineer named Kikuo Ibe irreparably damaged a watch that was gifted to him by his father after it suffered a fall. Gutted after the loss of such an important memento and fully aware of how fragile mechanical watches can be, he set off to make a watch that would be indestructible. It was that same year that he formed the “Project Team Tough” with two other Casio workers to build a timepiece that could pass the “Triple 10” test that consisted of enough shock resistance to survive a 10-meter fall, a 10-year battery life, and 10-bar (100-meters) water resistance. These days, G-Shock is going more and more upmarket with new releases that feature impressive levels of handcraft and a variety of new technical achievements.
Jaeger-LeCoultre
Jaeger-LeCoultre is one of Switzerland’s premier watchmaking firms with a history that dates back to 1833. Perhaps best known for the iconic Reverso, which literally flips timekeeping norms on its head, Jaeger-LeCoultre has a long history of producing some of the most technically interesting timepieces in all of watchmaking. Take, for example, the Master Grande Tradition Gyrotourbillon Westminster Perpétuel that was launched in January at SIHH. The new model is the first multi-axis tourbillon watch with a constant-force mechanism, a Westminster chime, and a perpetual calendar.
Moritz Grossmann
Based out of Glashütte, Germany, the Moritz Grossmann brand bears the name of one of the pillars of the German watch industry in the 19th century. Grossmann (1826-1885) was born in Dresden and studied watchmaking in Germany and Switzerland before setting up an atelier in the town of Glashütte, just south of Dresden. He is known for being the founder of Glashütte’s German School of Watchmaking and for various technical innovations, including the Grossmann curve, which is applied to the inner coil of a balance spring to improve precision. In 2008, a German watchmaker named Christine Hutter, who had bought the rights to the Grossmann name, established a new Moritz Grossmann company in Glashütte. The brand is renowned for producing its dials, hands, and movements in-house.
RGM Watches
Working out of the historic horological heartland of Lancaster County, PA, Roland G. Murphy is best known as the sole face of American watchmaking in the 21st century. Originally from Baltimore, Murphy is a WOSTEP-trained watchmaker who shocked the industry after deciding he wanted to make a mechanical watch movement completely produced in America. In 2008, he accomplished this with the unveiling of the RGM Caliber 801, which he describes as being the first high-grade mechanical watch movement produced in the United States in four decades. At the WatchTime New York show last October, RGM released four watches that feature a variety of old-world artistic sensibilities. You can check out our profile of Murphy from 2015, here.
Romain Gauthier
Romain Gauthier is the head of his eponymous 13-year old firm. Trained and certified as a constructor of precision machinery, Gauthier initially did not intend to make a career in the watch world, yet it drew him in anyways and he’s now one of the most well-regarded makers in this close-knit industry. Two years after founding his brand, he unveiled the first watches, called Prestige HM. Today, the brand offers four in-house-made calibers: Prestige HM, Prestige HMS (launched in 2010), Logical One (unveiled in 2013, the same year it won the GPHG award for Best Men’s Complication), and the Insight Micro-Rotor that made its debut at Baselworld 2017. More recently, the brand introduced its first serially-produced watch in stainless steel.
