Windup Watch Fair New York 2026 Recap

Windup Watch Fair New York wrapped up this past Sunday after three days at Center415 on Fifth Avenue, with more than 160 brands on the floor. In past years, my goal at Windup was to see as many watches as possible, take as many pictures as possible, and meet as many people as possible. This year I spent nearly the entire weekend working the MONTA booth (Everest and MONTA share ownership), so I made fewer laps of the floor and spent more time with the watches I really wanted to see and the people I've met at past shows. It was one of the most fun weekends I've had at a Windup, and I feel a few things from it are worth sharing.

The Line Wrapped Around the Block

Crowds have come up in nearly every Windup NYC recap I've ever written, and this year the line wrapped fully around the block: from the entrance on Fifth Avenue up to East 38th Street, over to Madison Avenue, down to East 37th, and back toward Fifth. We had people reach the MONTA booth who told us they'd waited more than three hours to get in. Saturday seemed to be the busiest day, with Friday and Sunday close behind. The floor itself felt a little less packed than last year. Word around the fair was that entry was being limited on Friday and Saturday, with the fire marshal in attendance. I can't confirm that, but it would explain a comfortable floor and a brutal line on the same afternoon. This was also the first year I saw attendees posting videos dedicated entirely to the wait.

On one hand, that demand is a good problem for Windup to have. More people want to see independent, micro, and larger brands in person than the fair can currently hold. On the other hand, part of what makes Windup special is the ability to walk in off the street, find a watch you love, and walk out with it. A three-hour wait filters out the person who might have wandered in out of curiosity. I can't imagine how difficult and expensive it is to find a Midtown Manhattan venue for 160-plus brands and thousands of attendees, and I don't think there's an easy fix. But Windup New York has been at Center415 since 2024, the fair has grown every year since, and the line has become one of the main things people talk about afterward.

MONTA Celebrated Ten Years at Windup

This year's fair coincided with MONTA's tenth anniversary, which the brand marked with two limited editions that debuted at the booth on Friday: the Skyquest Neuchâtel · X and the Triumph Neuchâtel · X, each limited to 100 numbered pieces. Both are named for Neuchâtel, Switzerland, where every MONTA has been developed, and both pair a painted Opalin dial (a fine, matte-grained finish) with beige, Old Radium-toned lume. The Skyquest is a GMT priced at $2,485, and the Triumph is a field watch priced at $1,895. Both really resonated with people, but the Triumph seemed to be a favorite. Being on the other side of the booth for a release like this, and watching people react to the watches in real time, was a highlight of the weekend for me.

The People Who Came to the Booth

Last year, when I only worked a booth for a few hours, I wrote about how those few hours changed my perspective on the fair. A full weekend manning the MONTA booth only reinforced that. Some people walked up, pounded their fists on the table, and said something to the effect of "I've been following you guys for years and I've never seen these in person." The enthusiast in me just loves hearing that, and I was grateful to be the one handing them the watches and walking through all the nerdy details. Others weren't especially into watches at all. With them, I got to point out the details that make a watch interesting up close: an exhibition caseback that shows off the movement, the small-but-mighty details of a dial, a clasp with micro-adjustment, or the way a GMT hand tracks a second time zone.

The Watch Industry's Revolving Door

Working the booth also meant catching up with people I've met at past shows, including plenty who work in the industry, from brand staff to members of the media. You end up seeing a lot of the same people every year, and often they're at a different brand than the last time you saw them. The same thing happens at the larger Swiss brands (we see it at Watches and Wonders every year), where a rep might represent a different house from one year to the next. From the outside, that might seem like a strange norm. Realistically, I think it's just the nature of a specialized industry like this. I've grown to sort of love this revolving door. To me, it shows people who are dedicated to watches as a whole: specialists who understand the product, care about it, and can communicate that on behalf of whichever brand they end up with.

The Watches

With less time on the floor, I was more deliberate about what I went to see. The GPHG-nominated Christopher Ward C1 Loco Classic was near the top of my list. It takes the concept of the C12 Loco, which has its balance and escapement suspended on the dial side, and applies it to a more traditional 41mm steel watch on a leather strap, priced at $5,995. The finishing on both sides of this watch is absolutely beautiful.

A few of the best watches at the show came to me. One visitor to the MONTA booth was wearing a vintage Seiko 62MAS, the brand's first dive watch from 1965. I always love seeing these in person, and I hope to own one someday.

Another had a Rolex Oyster Perpetual 36 from this year's centenary collection, which marks 100 years of the Oyster case, and I hadn't seen one in person since Watches and Wonders in April. I also got a look at what I was told was the very first new-generation Universal Genève Polerouter delivered to a customer, a 39mm rose gold model with a lapis lazuli dial. UG relaunched the Polerouter this spring with a micro-rotor movement, so seeing one already out in the world was a treat.

A Different Kind of Windup

I took fewer pictures and visited fewer booths than in any previous year, but I spent more time with the watches and people I cared about, and I came away with a clearer sense of who shows up to this fair and why. My one hope for next year is that more of them can get through the door.