Five New(ish) Watches I Liked at the Windup Watch Fair in Chicago

This year’s edition of the Windup Watch Fair in Chicago is in the books. As always, the Chicago show played host to a huge variety of brands that covered every imaginable genre of watch, price points up and down the spectrum, and truly offered something for every taste. And as is the case with every Windup these days, it was an opportunity for many brands to debut brand new watches for an audience hungry for something special. There was no shortage of limited edition releases and entirely new watches timed for unveiling at Windup this year, as well as a bunch that launched recently and were getting their first public look. 

This list is by no means exhaustive, but here are five watches I saw at Windup in Chicago over the weekend that are either brand new or almost new that really stood out to me. Let me know in the comments what I may have missed – even with three days to wander around, I’m sure there are watches I simply didn’t get a chance to see. 

Vulcain Cricket Titanium 

There’s just something so charming about the Vulcain Cricket. Alarm watches are an anachronistic niche within an already anachronistic hobby. Setting a mechanical alarm on your watch when simply saying the words “Siri, set an alarm for…” feels like an act of rebellion in the digital age. I’m not sure how many owners of modern (or vintage) Crickets actually use the alarm function for practical purposes (it’s one of the great parlor tricks at a watch meetup, of course) but knowing it’s there is honestly the real joy of these things. 

The new Vulcain Cricket Titanium was unveiled a few weeks ago, and Chicago was my first opportunity to see it. It’s probably the watch I liked most at the fair. The polished titanium case wears light and comfortably, and the finishing is notably ahead of what we’ve seen from the brand in the recent past (polished titanium is still a less frequent execution for the metal than brushing or blasting). But what makes this watch special is the dial, also in titanium, with a stamped guilloche pattern. The Cricket that’s forever in my head is a relatively staid dial in a neutral color that is, let’s face it, not exactly the most visually interesting thing in the world. But this dial was exceptional in person. The movement revealed through the caseback is another nice touch, but honestly Vulcain could put this dial on a watch in a similar case without an alarm, and I’d probably be a buyer. 

Horage Relik Tourbillon 3 

We don’t talk enough about the fact that Horage is making Swiss tourbillons starting at around $10,000. Visiting their spot at Windup over the weekend was like stepping into a little corner of the enthusiast community that might as well be built on the tourbillon – they had half a dozen at least just sitting on their table for anyone to walk up to and experience. That’s a kind of incredible thing for a complication that many still see as the most exclusive and challenging in watchmaking. 

The Relik Tourbillon 3 debuted in April, but this was my first pass with one. I particularly enjoyed the purple variant, but all of the dial options accomplish the same trick of providing a unique view of the movement from the dial side through a skeletonization execution unlike any I’ve seen. The lattice-like dial work is very well done, surprisingly easy to read the time on, and does a great job of showing off the tourbillon at 6:00. It’s also very nicely sized at 38.5mm and about 10mm tall. Just shy of $13,500, it’s objectively not inexpensive, but it does represent an incredible value in the specific realm of the Swiss tourbillon, and defines, in a lot of ways, what Horage is all about. 

Atelier Wen Perception V3

When we talk about watch pricing, one of the most frequent refrains is that the watches get more expensive, but they don’t necessarily get better. The Perception V3 is a great example of how one brand, Atelier Wen, makes little improvements to a core model over time that make the watch quite a bit better and go a long way toward justifying the price. 

The third version of the Perception is an improvement on earlier versions of the watch on a number of fronts. It’s very slightly thinner, so it wears a bit better. It has an upgraded movement, a Pequinet with 65 hours of power reserve. And, most importantly in my opinion, the finishing has been significantly improved, with higher polished facets and bead blasted surfaces that provide a dramatic contrast to those bevels. It’s very, very nice, and feels a lot more like a luxury object than earlier versions of the Perception, which were completely fine, but didn’t always make my jaw drop. I have a feeling that the brand has sought to step up the baseline level of work they’re doing now that they have a full tantalum piece in the catalog that commands a significantly higher retail price. The Perception V3, at $4,850, feels like a more than fairly priced entry point to a brand that is rapidly raising their own bar (versions of their Ancestra, now closer to the production than the last time I saw prototypes, were also on display, and similarly impressive). 

Oak & Oscar Humboldt GMT Limited Edition 

Being a Chicago based brand, Oak & Oscar always does something special for their hometown show. This year, they made a very limited edition (just 5 pieces) version of their Humboldt GMT, a watch that has become a signature for the brand. This one has a black dial with crisp white contrasting text, and a black PVD coated bezel insert. 

What really makes this watch cool though is the caseback. Laser engraved with an image of the Chicago skyline, it’s made in-house on the brand’s own machinery in their Chicago headquarters. Any micro or independent brand that is fabricating or making things on their own is worth nothing, and always a point of pride for the brand itself. Oak & Oscar, over the past several years, has slowly expanded what they’re able to accomplish in their home city, and it’s always fun to see what they’re working on. They have the ethos of true tinkerers, experimenting and learning as they go, and it’s been great to observe year after year. 

Prevail Onward Field Watch 

Prevail debuted a new tan (or maybe desert sand?) colorway of their Onward field watch in both “Explorer” and “Tactical” executions in Chicago. Full disclosure: I liked the new colorway so much, I decided to take one home for myself.

Prevail debuted in the fall of 2024 with a very different take on the military inspired field watch, creating a modern, practical version of something that had become a bit of a trope. Something that endeared me to the brand right away was a note in that first press release from founder Hassan Madras that said point blank that part of the spirit of the brand would be to avoid the “tired clichés” that mark the genre. Honestly, it’s refreshing to hear a founder of a brand simply admit that the military watch landscape is indeed loaded with clichés. 

It’s helpful, too, that the watch really works on the wrist. The design, by Matt Smith-Johnson, does a weird thing in that it looks bulky and tool-ish, but wears sleek. The case lines have an almost organic quality to them, and while you can certainly see field watch DNA in there, it’s also kind of alien and forward thinking, which is exactly what Matt specializes in. The whole project is really ingenious, and Hassan gave me a little preview of what Prevail has coming later this year, which is perhaps even cooler than the Onward.