I spent a few hours yesterday afternoon at the WatchTime event in New York, and thought I would share some observations (and most importantly, pics). First, I stopped by Akrivia, and was surprised that Rexhep Rexhepi himself flew to New York for the event. He was super nice and inviting, explaining the inner workings of each of his pieces. I thought the Chronometre Contemporain was stunning (obviously I am not the only one with that opinion, as it won the award in 2018 at GPHG for men's watch). We chatted for a bit about his upbringing and apprenticeship at PP, then about his brand, and he explained that he manufactures 35 pieces per year, of which about 50-60 percent are the Chronometre Contemporain (55,000 CHF). I asked him how long the backlog was, and he said he can't even quote a wait time anymore, but he was still willing to take names. From Akrivia, I went to Oris, as I wanted to try on the new Big Crown ProPilot X. I can attest that in person the dial is much more legible, but as the photo below shows the 44mm case totally enveloped my wrist. This is a watch that for me wore much bigger than the stated dimensions. From Oris I dropped by Grand Seiko. Full disclosure, over the summer I purchased the SBGK005 and think that watch is absolutely stunning, so I am partial to GS. I tried on the Godzilla, and thought the watch was really cool. The watch is 44.5mm, so technically larger than the ProPilot, but for me it wore much smaller and I don't think it looked too ridiculous on my wrist. $12,500 is a bit rich for me for a watch that isn't very versatile and can't be dressed up, but it is a super cool weekend watch. The GS rep said the Godzilla is sold out in Japan (makes sense) but still available in the U.S. for those who are interested. From GS I moved over to Lange, and as expected the watches and movements were stunning. I tried on the Zeitwerk and the 1815 Chronograph, both of which were fantastic. Lange was the only brand that brought with them a massive microscope (Leica, I believe) and encouraged people to look at a movement they brought separately under the microscope - almost daring you to find some imperfection. Needless to say, the movement looked even better under close scrutiny. From Lange I went over to FP Journe. I knew the answer, but wanted to get confirmation, so I asked, "If I go to your boutique on Madison Avenue and want a Chronometre Bleu, is it possible to get one if you happen to have one in the store or get on the list?" The answer was no on both counts. The rep elaborated, explaining that the NY boutique got 8 Chronometre Bleu watches all of last year, and has a waitlist that is 150 people long and is closed. He played coy, explaining that Francois-Paul may decide next year that he no longer wants to make the watch (he claimed FP Journe does not make any money on this watch given the difficulty of making the Tantalum case and the blue dial (apparently it can only be made during certain seasons in Geneva when the weather is right). He stated Francois-Paul decided to make the watch during the Global Financial Crisis to keep his workers employed, as he needed a lower cost watch for customers. I delicately mentioned that the Chronometre Bleu is available in lots of auctions and online, for roughly 2x retail (around $40,000), with newly stamped warranty cards. It seemed clear to me that they were not pleased to see this. Finally, I asked if he could trace the origins of this craze for the watch and he smiled and immediately said, "Hodinkee." He said before Hodinkee started writing up the watch (3 years ago) you could easily walk into the boutique and pick it up no problem. Anyway, after that I tried on the below watch, which I thought was fantastic. I made some remark about how their date display looks like Lange's (two different wheels for the oversized date), and he responded that theirs is better and they patented something that makes their date look more integrated and like it is one disc. He also mentioned the moonphase is now done on a sapphire plate, which makes it blend into the dial more seamlessly. The watch was really fantastic in person. Finally, in the more attainable category I stopped by Zenith and tried on the El Primero 50th anniversary. I think they did a great job with this piece, as they were very faithful to the original (reminded me of the Omega Trilogy Set) - same hands, same movement, same dimensions, same date display, etc. The finishing on the movement looks really great, and it wears beautifully. The Zenith rep said the piece is now a part of their permanent collection, so they should be producing these for the foreseeable future. This definitely moved to the top of my list for modern pieces I am interested in. Overall, I think as you can tell from this write-up, I thought the event was great. Since nobody was trying to make a sale, there was no pressure, and the reps were very open, let you handle all of the pieces and try any of them on, and answered any questions you had. I also visited Breguet, Blancpain, De Bethune, and a few others, but didn't take photos of those so I didn't write those up. The Omega stall was a bit disappointing, as there was nothing there you couldn't see in the Boutique, and the pieces they brought were entry level for the boutique (I could be wrong, but nothing that immediately caught my eye). A bit surprised IWC and Longines were not at the event, as it would have been nice to try on some of their pieces.