Worn & Wound teases that it’s bringing the successful watch fair to Chicago in 2020
In Worn & Wound’s final podcast of the year, hosts Zach Weiss, Blake Malin and Zach Kazan tease that a Worn & Wound Windup Watch Fair in Chicago in 2020 is “all but certain”. The news came after the group had just visited the city to host an event with Chicago microbrand Oak & Oscar.
Worn & Wound has been hosting a Windup Watch Fair in New York since 2015. In 2018, they expanded to the West Coast, hosting a Fair in San Francisco in the spring, opposite New York’s typical fall event. Worn & Wound followed that pattern in 2019, hosting the San Francisco Windup Watch Fair in March and the New York Fair in November. They’ve already announced that San Francisco’s 2020 Windup Watch Fair will be held from March 27-29. The events typically span over a three-day weekend, kicking off on Friday evening and running through Saturday and Sunday. With New York’s event likely slated for the fall again, perhaps Chicago’s event will be slotted sometime in the summer, in between the New York and San Francisco events. The Worn & Wound team didn’t provided details as they teased the event in their podcast.
Windup Watch Fair coming to Chicago is welcome news for the large collector and enthusiast community in the city. Chicago is perhaps the biggest U.S. market that’s devoid of any annual watch event: Miami has become the host of Watches and Wonders Miami, put on by the Foundation de la Haute Horologerie every year or so, and Los Angeles frequently plays host to events from WatchTime, Hodinkee, aBlogtoWatch, and others. And of course, New York plays host to events from almost every major player in the watch industry, from auction houses and trade organizations to publications and brands themselves.
Chicago played host to another microbrand showcase, MicroLux in October 2019, but it’s unclear if it will be back again in 2020 or beyond. With five years of experience putting on successful fairs that continue to grow in popularity, Worn & Wound promises to bring additional interest to Chicago as a watch market.