Windup San Francisco -- A Tale of Four Conversations

Rather than post another round of the same photos of the same watches that everyone else has already posted, I thought I'd take a different tack. One of my favorite things about WWF is the opportunity to speak with founders and heads of these indie brands. I talked to each of the four gents above on Saturday, and thought fellow Crunchers would like to hear what I learned from each.

Clockwise from upper left...

Paul Sweetenham (Farer): Once he saw the Lander Midnight on my wrist ("That's a nice watch you're wearing."), he was happy to chat about all things Farer. Among the highlights: Farer has put out a blistering array of new lines in recent months, and that's no accident or schedule quirk. It's very much the plan going forward. He also talked about the challenges of making their moonphase models, and the shift toward smaller (36mm) iterations. Oh, and he gave me a Farer cap.

Mike France (Christopher Ward): Our conversation was all about the Bel Canto. He showed me a bespoke model they're making only for Google. He talked about how they had to make the BC out of titanium, because it's so much harder than steel, and it allowed them to keep the size relatively small. With softer steel, in order to get the proper resonance from the sonerie (in the key of D, apparently!), the watch would have had to be much bigger, which would detract from its appeal. He also said that moving forward CW would take what they learned from the Bel Canto and work up a new line of "above the platine" models (meaning no dial to speak of at all, I gathered, like the BC). This was an incredibly interesting conversation, and he managed to convey all of this in a way that a relative newbie like me could understand all of it.

Neil Duckworth (Duckworth Prestex): Neil showed up without his new Coronation watches (in blue and salmon), which are off to a rousing pre-order start. The reason? The salmon sample came in last week, and it was the wrong color. He showed me a pic on his phone, and he was right. The artwork and the sample dial were two completely different shades of salmon. So back to the drawing board, but still on schedule for fall. I mentioned the WC thread from a couple weeks ago about the small shop in London (sorry, don't remember who posted it) whose owner said Neil popped in from time to time. He knew the shop, and said yes, the personal touch is partly because he's one of the very few brand owners whose name is on the dial. Adds a bit of pressure. Neil is such a friendly guy to talk to, and really passionate about his brand.

Nick Bowman-Scargill (Fears): Finally, got a few minutes with Nick from Fears. Super nice fellow. I spent the morning at Topper in Burlingame, and the owner Russ told me a story about the last time Nick came to visit. They went skiing in Tahoe (Nick's first time), and got snowed in for three days (also his first time for that). While they were stranded, they got the idea for a new series of collaborative watches based on their experience. There are four of them (I've seen the photos) and they'll be out this fall. Should be cool. Also? I talked with him about the pink Brunswick, the coolest watch I saw all weekend. In person, this dial? Sublime. The success of this colorway has completely taken the brand by surprise, and they're totally sold out. I think I have a new contender for Next Watch Up:

So anyway, yeah, lots of cool watches, and interesting gentlemen to chat with. Thanks to everyone for posting wrist shots. I thought I'd give you all another perspective on the (very crowded) fair. Cheers.