Photo Report: Toronto Timepiece Show 2026

I barely looked at watches this time, if I'm honest. I mostly talked. Watchmakers, media folks, collectors I only ever seem to bump into here. Every conversation went longer than I meant it to and I didn't try to cut any of them short. By Sunday there were still tables I hadn't made it to. Oh well.

I remember when you could get round the whole room in one afternoon and still have time to hang about after.

The big new thing this year was the artisanal exhibition. JN Shapiro (via his representative) and Bradley Taylor were there, Beauregard and Charles Simon came down from Montreal. Grönefeld too! Bart brought his daughter Lynn, and the two of them were right there at their booth. I still can't quite get over that happening in Toronto. Normally I'd have to fly somewhere for that.

I think that's what the show was missing, even in the good years. Seeing watches in a case is nice but getting to talk to the person who made them is why I actually go.

I also kept getting pulled over by brands I'd never heard of. Came home with a pile of names to look up.

Some bigger names turned up too. MB&F brought MAD Editions, and Dennison was there. Not totally sure how I feel about it yet. Sometimes I liked how small the show used to feel. But MAD Editions is probably the easiest way into MB&F there is, and Dennison suits a lot of the people who come through the door, so it didn't feel like they'd taken over. It felt more like the show had just gotten big enough that those brands thought it was worth showing up.

That progression is probably what makes the Timepiece Show series interesting to me. The range of what you can come across in one room keeps widening. You can spend time with a tiny independent maker's work, walk a few tables over to a brand you've never heard of, then end up talking to someone from one of the better-known names.

Big thanks to Jason Hutton and the team. No idea what they'll do next year, or how much bigger it can get before it stops feeling like this. Guess we’ll find out.