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Windup Watch Fair Chicago is closer than ever! If you’ve been following along, you know Windup is growing fast. This year, we are returning to the same venue in the West Loop and adding more watches, more live events, more accessories, and a whole lot more in general. You don’t want to miss it. As a reminder, here are the key event details:
Venue West – 221 N Paulina St, Chicago, IL 60612
Friday, July 14: 12PM – 6PM
Saturday, July 15: 12PM – 6PM
Sunday, July 16: 12PM – 5PM
Free and open to the public
Here’s a sneak preview of just some of the watches from our Lead Sponsors you’ll be able to get your hands on at Windup this year. For a full roster of presenting brands, scheduled events, and a product showcase, head to windupwatchfair.com and join our email community.
Citizen
Citizen, a trusted name and brand leader in the watch industry for over 100 years, is known the world over for its uncompromising values: technical precision, innovative mindset, quality craftsmanship and design excellence. The first to create quartz crystal and titanium timepieces, Citizen was also an early pioneer in advocating for the environment, launching the first light-powered watches with proprietary Eco-Drive technology in 1976, thus adding eco-mindful as a core value. Citizen’s diverse portfolio of high-performance and eco-mindful watches is accessibly priced and ranges from professional-grade, sport-inspired designs with advanced functions to sophisticated, timeless silhouettes that are beautiful as well as collectible.
At Windup Chicago be sure to check out the 50th Anniversary edition Promaster Tsuno Chrono Racer, a high-performance timepiece with an undeniably distinct design. Inspired by the original Citizen Bullhead from 1973, the uncommon chronograph features a 45mm two-tone stainless steel case secured by a sleek brown leather strap. With a gold-tone dial, the layout design makes use of four black sub-dials accented with red hands to create a dynamic and sporty aesthetic. Features of the timepiece include a hand assembled movement, a 1/5 second fly back chronograph that can measure up to 12 hours, an alarm, a power reserved indicator, and a date aperture. Maintaining the robust standards of the Promaster Collection, the watch is water resistant up to 200 meters. Powered by Citizen’s proprietary Eco-Drive technology to provide light-powered vitality continuously and sustainably without ever needing a battery.
Fortis
Fortis is well known as one of the go-to watch brands for pilots. With a history of timepieces with their own life and character, Fortis continues to delight with independence, passion, and curiosity instilled into every one of their crafts.Their new Flieger Collection consists of amazing designs and functionalities, as seen in the F-43 Petrol Bicompax below.
Together with Professional Pilots, the Flieger series includes unique features like the Synchroline®, the Brixtrack® and a 12h Bezel to bring Ultimate Readability and Two Time Zones onto your wrist. At this year’s Windup, they’ll be showcasing the Flieger F-41 Black, the Flieger F-39 Liberty Blue, the Flieger F-43 Petrol Bicompax among the other technical feats in the product line.
G-SHOCK
G-SHOCK was born from a simple idea — a watch should not break when dropped. Back in 1983, the original square-shaped DW-5000C was created after Kikuo Ibe witnessed a child bouncing a rubber ball. It struck him that a watch floating within a rubber case would be impervious to shocks. After a bunch of testing and design with toughness in mind, the brand was born. Nearly 35 years and hundreds of models later, G-SHOCK is still best known for being some of the toughest, hard-wearing watches that money can buy.
Launch recently to be featured at Windup Watch Fair Chicago is the new Aurora Oval from G-Shock. This horological marvel is as unique as it is mesmerizing, boasting a stainless steel bezel that undergoes a careful process of recrystallization and deep-layer hardening before being adorned with a rainbow ion-plated (IP) coating. The resulting top bezel captures the ethereal hues of the aurora borealis in spectacular fashion. The translucent, soft urethane band, dyed a mysterious purple hue, further enhances the watch’s hypnotic aura. In addition to its beauty, the MTG-B3000PRB also comes with a plethora of features. Full Calendar, 1-Second Stopwatch, Multi-Function Alarm and a Countdown Timer just to name a few. The watch is also radio controlled so you will always be right on time.
Oris
The rich history of Oris dates back to 1904, when Paul Cattin and Georges Christian founded the brand in Hölstein, Switzerland, where it is still based. Over the past century, Oris has attained many great achievements, including being one of the 10 largest watch brands in the world in the 1960’s. After the quartz crisis took its toll on the Swiss watch industry, Oris reemerged as an independent brand, a status it still maintains to this day, with a focus solely on mechanical timepieces, bucking the trends of the day.
In a special collaboration with Disney’s The Muppets, we have The ProPilot X Kermit Edition. Building on the 39mm titanium ProPilot X Calibre 400, one special feature shows Kermit’s friendly smile in the date window on the first of the month. Be sure to hit up the Oris booth at the Windup Watch Fair to check out the ProPilot X Kermit, Big Crown Calibre 473, and their popular Propilot Altimeter.
Zodiac
Since 1882, Zodiac Watches has been a truly innovative force in the world of watchmaking. Founded by Ariste Calame in Le Locle, Switzerland, Zodiac was a pioneer in the worlds of automatic watches, “mystery” watches, electronic and even quartz watches. Now, under the wing of Fossil, Zodiac has been working hard to bring this rich history to the surface by recreating their iconic timepieces to new standards. Affordable, luxurious timepieces, Zodiac watches perfectly straddle the line between vintage style and modern functionality.
Zodiac will have a number of their vintage-inspired dive watches on hand at the Windup Watch Fair, including both the Super Sea Wolf Automatic Blue Rubber Watch and Super Sea Wolf 53 Skin Automatic Stainless Steel along with the Limited Edition Super Sea Wolf World TIme Automatic Stainless Steel pictured above.
Check out the Windup Watch Fair full site and join the email list for the latest announcements regarding programming and all things Windup. You can browse through a small sample of the products we’re expecting to see on the floor in the Windup New Product Showcase. We’re looking forward to seeing you in Chicago!
