Studio underdog

Top ten reasons to come to WATCHPRO Market

WATCHPRO Market is a unique opportunity for watch lovers to meet some of the most exciting young designers and makers working in the UK today.

WATCHPRO Market, which opens for the first time in just a week, is a unique opportunity for watch lovers to meet some of the most exciting young designers and makers working in the UK today.

Confirmed 2022 exhibitors and partners include: AERA | AUDRIC WATCHES | CHARLIE PARIS | CIRCULA | CULEM WATCHES | ENCELADE | GIULIANO MAZZUOLI | HANHARTHAWCHESTER LONDON | IKEPOD | KOIA | MICHEL HERBELIN | OLIGO QLOCKTWO | STUDIO UNDERD0G | THE WATCH STAND | SEQUENT | SWISS CAPSULE | LORIER | NITE WATCHES 

The two-day shopping event takes place at The Truman Brewery in London’s Shoreditch on Friday, May 13, to Saturday, May 14.

Click here to book WATCHPRO Market tickets.

WATCHPRO Market is designed to fit in with the fashionable vibe of the Shoreditch and Spitalfield Market area. Most participating watchmakers are young, exciting, digital-native brands that are eager to tell the story of their timepieces direct to the public.

WATCHPRO Market is a chance to try on and buy watches and accessories that can only normally be seen online, and any aficionado will tell you they would never buy a watch unless they had seen it on their own wrist to understand how it looks and feels.

TOP TEN REASONS TO COME TO MARKET

01: The world’s first solar-charging smartwatch

Elektron hr 2. 2 macro e1651227078835

Swiss start up Sequent is presenting its revolutionary self-charging smartwatch in the UK for the first time at WATCHPRO Market and every ticket holder to the two day event will be entered into a prize draw to win one.

Click here to book WATCHPRO Market tickets.

Sequent has created a smartwatch that uses the same charging system as a traditional automatic mechanical watch — an oscillating weight that transforms movement into energy. But instead of a regulated release of that energy to turn a watch’s hands, it is converted into electricity that is used to power both a physical watch face and electronics for sensors and connection to a smartphone app.

The Sequent Elektron, a 42.1mm smartwatch made of titanium, has an analogue watch face in black or white, but onboard gadgetry tracking activity and distances, monitoring heart rate and blood oxygen level.

Elektron hr 2. 2 glow

All data is beamed to an iOS or Android-compatible smartphone Oxygo app.

The Elektron weighs just 77 grams, including its titanium case and strap (strap options include Eco #Tide ocean material, rubber or leather), and is water resistant to 50 meters.

It will be on sale at WATCHPRO Market for CHF 599 to CHF 650.

Click here to book WATCHPRO Market tickets.

02: Discover sold out Studio Underd0g watches

Studio underdog

Studio Underd0g is arguably the hottest watch brand in London today. Its creator, Richard Benc, is a qualified designer with a love of horology who gambled on launching his own business in the first months of the pandemic in 2020 and sold out his first collection almost immediately.

The Studio Underd0g name is both a description of his design studio working environment and the plucky David versus the Swiss watchmaking industry Goliath.

As an underdog, Mr Benc decided he had to stand out with radical timepieces rather than just a small tweak on mainstream sports watches, which is why the Bicompax range has such striking colour combinations and textured dials.

It is as if they are made for the sort of collectors that give nicknames to watches like the Hulk, Pepsi or Smurf, although Mr Benc got ahead of the name game by providing his own: Mint Ch0c Chip, Desert Sky, Watermel0n, and Go0fy Panda. The watches use a Seagull ST-190 hand wound chronograph movement.

Studio underdog bicompax back

The first Studio Underd0g watches were only available on a pre-order basis, and sold out fast. Demand is running so far ahead of supply on these watches, they could be trading way above their retail value very soon.

Click here to book WATCHPRO Market tickets.

03: Try and buy the futuristic IKEPOD SEAPOD

S002 jacques seapod blue web port
IKEPOD SEAPOD Jacques.

IKEPOD’s first two launches in 1996 and 1997 were the Seaslug dive watch and the UFO, which was shaped like a flying saucer. Bringing the two together has created the shape and style of today’s Seapod collection, which comes in several versions including the Seapod Zale in black with orange hands and markers while Seapod Jacques is also blue, but with sky blue accents and Francois has a black PVD finish on the steel.

The IKEPOD SEAPOD Jacques on a blue rubber strap will be on sale at WATCHPRO Market for £1,295.

There is also talk of a limited edition getting its world-wide debut at the Market.

Click here to book WATCHPRO Market tickets.

04: Meet London’s most sustainable watch brand

Culem london skyline gmt

Fresh faced British watch brand CuleM has been aiming to become a new standard bearer for sustainability in the luxury watch industry since its creation in 2018.

CuleM’s watches are designed with plastic-free packaging and the company is working to offset its CO2 footprint by investing in international sustainability projects such as wind energy in India and preserving prime Brazilian rain forest.

While protecting the planet, CuleM is also proud of its London roots and has created a special version of its GMT automatic watch, the London Skyline GMT Black.

The watch showcases CuleM’s distinctive interpretation of London’s famous landmarks the London Eye, the Tower of London, Tower Bridge, Big Ben and others.

The design also depicts the Meridian line in Greenwich, starting at 12 o’clock and finishing in the centre of the dial, from which the silver sunray effect radiates.

The beautiful dial is housed in a round 40mm black stainless steel case and complemented by a smooth black Italian leather strap, and an additional second strap or bracelet of your choice. Both straps have quick change pins.

An open caseback exhibits the automatic ETA 2893-2 GMT movement and is engraved with 6 continents and 24 destinations showing the correct world time zones in both GMT and BST.

It will be presented and sold at WATCHPRO Market for £1,095.

Click here to book WATCHPRO Market tickets.

05: Charlie Paris comes to London

Charlie paris erro
Charlie Paris Initial limited edition with dial art by Erró.

Charlie Paris has been an established watchmaker and retailer in France since 2014, but is making a rare foray across the Channel to present its watches at WATCHPRO Market.

The business has a boutique and workshop in Paris’s leafy and luxurious 6th arrondissement, from where it retails a range of men’s and ladies watches.

Charlie Paris‘s logo, a flying stork, conjures thoughts of newborns on the way, and visitors to WATCHPRO Market will have the chance to try-on and buy the very latest mechanical and quartz-based arrivals from the brand.

In the UK, where demand slants heavily towards the mechanical, the brand’s most popular collection is likely to be the Initial, which uses Miyota automatic movements in clean and classic three-handers with date and open heart models with apertures exposing the beating balance wheel of the movement.

Charlie paris 11
Charlie Paris Initial.

Top of the Initial line is a pair of watches in blue or white with power reserves on the dial.

A particularly interesting watch for the Shoreditch set visiting WATCHPRO Market is a Charlie Paris Initial limited edition with dial art by Erró an artist and painter who is best known for his painted pop art collages of images from comic books and advertisements.

Click here to book WATCHPRO Market tickets.

Prices range from €395 to €595 for the three-handers and power reserve models while the limited edition Erró watch sells for €750.

06: Buy your own slice of a unicorn watch from Koia

Rolex gmt master pepsi

Talk of fractional ownership of luxury watches is running ahead of reality right now, but Koia, a UK-based startup is ahead of the pack and has already sold its first shavings of a Rolex GMT Master II Pepsi.

Koia members will get regular updates on deals to buy fractional ownership shares in high unicorn watches that are impossible to find at retail.

Anybody buying a fraction, will have their purchase registered as an NFT that can be traded at a later date, hopefully at a profit as the red hot market for rare timepieces continues to rise.

If you would like to invest in a broader portfolio of rare goods, Koia is also offering fractional ownership in exclusive whiskeys, trading cards and other collectibles.

Click here to book WATCHPRO Market tickets.

07: Discover OLIGO

Oligo

OLIGO, the creation of passionate watchmaker Olivier Gaud, is a new brand of mechanical watches made in Switzerland and assembled in Geneva in a way that is local and respectful of the environment including the use of recycled steel.

Watches have a minimalist look with no logo on the dial and hands that appear to float in thin air. They are, of course, driven by Swiss-made Soprod M100 automatic movements.

Vegan and PVC-free straps are crafted in Italy in collaboration with ColaReb, and follow the brand’s ethics: local, eco-friendly and high quality. Even the packaging, produced in Geneva, is designed to be recyclable and recycled.

WATCHPRO Market visitors will be able to buy the watches for CHF 1,999 (around £1,650).

Click here to book WATCHPRO Market tickets.

08: Fly high with AVI-8 and take a deep dive with Spinnaker

Avi 8 hawker hurricane e1651833338660
Hawker Hurricane Classic Chronograph – £165.

AVI-8 and Spinnaker are appearing side-by-side at WATCHPRO Market and will give the crowd exciting choices of aviation-inspired watches and affordable diver timekeepers.

Arguably AVI-8’s signature watch is the Hawker Hurricane Classic Chronograph, which links its watchmaking to designs inspired by the World War II bomber.

The quartz-based Hawker Hurricane Classic Chronograph, on sale for just £165, is characterised by a simplicity that echoes the design of its namesake.

Clean, bold lines surround the dial on which the colours and graphics celebrate the fighter plane’s simple but striking motif that identified the Hawker Hurricane.

Spinnaker bradner
Spinnaker Bradner – £225.

Spinnaker is all about sailing and diving with a range of watches inspired by classic professional dive watches of the 1950s and 60s when Blancpain’s Fifty Fathoms and Rolex’s Submariner set the pace.

Spinnaker Bradner watches pick up design cues from the Fifty Fathoms while the Croft line is more akin to the Subs of the mid-20th century.

Click here to book WATCHPRO Market tickets.

09: Meet the watchmaker with a surgeon’s eye

Hawchester london lifestyle

Hawchester London founder Dr Shehab Jabir knows the value of a steady hand and attention to detail. The qualified plastic and reconstructive surgeon sees horology as complementary to his professional life, which is why he launched his own watch brand, which will be seen for the first time at WATCHPRO Market.

Contemporary yet elegant, and designed in a quintessentially British style, Hawchester’s first collection is a tribute to the watchmakers of Clerkenwell, London, which in the early 20th century included the mighty Rolex.

The Hawchester Clerkenwell collection includes tonneau-shaped models with both mechanical automatic three-handers with date and a range of quartz-based chronographs. Both ranges come in five dial colours — white, black, blue, green and red — all with matching straps that can be swapped without tools to create a fresh look.

The Clerkenwell Automatic is priced at £649 and the Clerkenwell Chrono is £549.

Click here to book WATCHPRO Market tickets.

10: Geek out on watches and enjoy a craft cocktail or beer

Kamo vodka

ˈkamō Premium Vodka was created by a small group of friends from Birmingham who were burned out on corporate environments and ready to carve out their own paths.

ˈKamō is hand crafted and batch distilled using 100% natural ingredients. It is filtered nine times and distilled seven times to create its unique taste and character for straight up vodka or fruity flavoured options.

Ace plus freak

Alternatively, enjoy WATCHPRO Market with a refreshing boozy cocktail from the award-winning Ace+Freak, which will be offering fruity mixes in a can including Ginger and Lemongrass Mule and Mint and Watermelon Sangria.

If craft beer is more your tipple, come along and sample the delights of the Five Points Brewing Company, from just down the road from WATCHPRO Market in Hackney.

Click here to book WATCHPRO Market tickets.

WATCHPRO Market 2022

Watchpro market 2022 pink transparent

WATCHPRO Market is a two-day retail event, taking place at The Truman Brewery – East London’s revolutionary arts, street food, entertainment and media quarter, home to a hive of creative businesses as well as independent shops, galleries, markets bars and restaurants.

There are two editions in 2022 – a Spring/Summer event 13-14 May and a Christmas show 2-4 December.

Click here to book WATCHPRO Market tickets.

Confirmed 2022 exhibitors and partners include:

AERA | AUDRIC WATCHES | AVI-8 | CHARLIE PARIS | CIRCULA | CULEM WATCHES | ENCELADE | GIULIANO MAZZUOLI | HANHARTHAWCHESTER LONDON | IKEPOD | KOIA | MICHEL HERBELIN | OLIGO QLOCKTWO | STUDIO UNDERD0G | THE WATCH STAND | SEQUENT | SPINNAKER | SWISS CAPSULE | LORIER | NITE WATCHES 

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