The Manchester Watch Show Awaits! A Must-Attend Event for Northern UK Watch Enthusiasts

It's high time that Manchester gets some of the fun

August 09, 2024

comments 24

The Manchester Watch Show, a highly anticipated event for watch enthusiasts and collectors, is set to take place on Saturday, November 9th, 2024, at the Hallé St. Peter’s. With its vibrant history and iconic architecture, Manchester provides the perfect backdrop for an event promising to showcase some of the best British watch brands. It’s the first time we see a watch show of this level in the North of England. London usually gets all the fun here in the UK, but now it’s Manchester’s turn. Tickets for the Manchester Watch Show are on sale right now.

The Watch Collector’s Club is hosting the Manchester Watch Show. The club chose the prestigious Hallé St Peter’s for the event. For those unfamiliar with the venue, Hallé St Peter’s is a renowned cultural venue in the vibrant Ancoats district of Manchester, UK. Originally built as a church in 1859, it has been transformed into a hub for music and events. The building is an example of Victorian Gothic architecture. It is characterized by its stunning pointed arches, intricate stonework, and high vaulted ceilings. Hamish Robertson, Watch Collector’s Club co-founder, said one of the venue’s other benefits is its excellent natural lighting. As we all know, good lighting is an oft-overlooked aspect of watch shows and meet-ups alike.

Image credit: Hallé St Peter’s

Discover the brands’ latest launches and engage with the watch community

At the heart of the Manchester Watch Show is a diverse exhibition of timepieces from 25 British watch brands. Expect to see renowned names such as Christopher Ward, Fears, and Farer alongside other emerging British independent brands pushing to help put the UK back on the watchmaking map. From intricate complications to minimalist designs, the show will present various styles and watches that cater to every taste.

Image credit: The Watch Collectors’ Club – Seiko boutique event

One of the highlights of the Manchester Watch Show is the opportunity to engage with brands and fellow watch enthusiasts. Networking opportunities abound at the Manchester Watch Show, providing a platform for attendees to connect with like-minded individuals who share a passion for watches. Want to chat with the guys at Christopher Ward and pick their brains about how the Bel Canto came to be? Maybe you want to speak with Mr. Jones about its collaborations with indie artists for their unique, fun-as-hell watches? Or maybe you just want to take wrist shots with other collectors and guess who’s taking the top prize at the GPHG awards that weekend? The Manchester Watch Show has all the bases covered.

Christopher Ward at Wind Up San Francisco 2024

Don’t leave the Manchester Watch Show empty-handed

The Manchester Watch Show is not just about showcasing watches. Many brands participating in the Manchester Watch Show will offer purchasing opportunities. Go home with a new watch on your wrist and explain to your significant other that you “had it for ages” and that it’s “definitely not a new one.” The event organizers take no responsibility for the trouble caused by purchasing “yet another watch,” though I’m pretty sure we’re all well-versed in getting out of these difficult situations by now, right?

Image credit: The Watch Collectors’ Club – Oris boutique event

Conclusion

Even though the Manchester Watch Show is three months away, excitement builds for what promises to be an unforgettable event for the North of England. From showcasing the brands’ latest releases to fostering connections within the watch community, the event encapsulates the essence of horological passion. Based on the number of pre-registrations, the organizers expect tickets to sell out quickly. So, mark your calendars for Saturday, November 9th, and get your ticket now from the Watch Collector’s Club.

I’ll be there on the day and I’m looking forward to hopefully seeing some of the Fratelli there too. Are you planning to attend the Manchester Watch Show this year? In the comments below, share your thoughts and tell us which brands or collections you’re most excited to see!

*Please note: The image in the header is from British Watchmaker’s Day 2024.

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The Manchester Watch Show Awaits! A Must-Attend Event for Northern UK Watch Enthusiasts

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AK
AlexK says:

Aug 09, 2024 at 09:08

Ancoats? The place is as rough as….
Really, lads, don’t wear your nice watches around Ancoats.

Reply
1. dave says:
  
  Aug 09, 2024 at 09:18
  
  Depends on the part of Ancoats. Guessing you’ve not been for a while? There’s been a lot of money and regeneration of the area over the last ten years. It’s a trendy and modern extension of the Northern Quarter, at least where this venue is. Our Manchester RedBar had a meetup in this area just recently and it was great.
  
  Reply
  1. AK
    AlexK says:
    
    Aug 09, 2024 at 09:56
    
    I work in Manchester city centre.
    
    Really, lads, for all the money, regeneration, and nice new trendy bars & offices.
    
    It’s a city of spice zombies and vagrants. (spice is a synthetic cannabinoids, & the drogue du jour of the city)
    
    Wear a cheap Casio when walking about. There’s an Argos in the Arndale. If you want a fake Rolex, the 135 or 41 bus will take you up the Cheetham Hill Road.
    
    Reply
    1. dave says:
      
      Aug 09, 2024 at 10:12
      
      Sorry you seem to hate this city so much. Hopefully everyone else can have a nice time at the event. We never have issues at RedBar events so I don’t see why this will be any different.
      
      Reply
      1. AK
        AlexK says:
        
        Aug 09, 2024 at 10:51
        
        I do not hate Manchester. I know Manchester. To know Manchester is to love it regardless of its many faults. And it has many. But do not be blind to those faults. That may cost you and the readers of this wonderful publication dearly. Nice people with their nice watches ought to practice caution in this city. Please enjoy it, please be safe and please do not be relieved on your lovely watches at the sharp end of a knife.
        
        I do not wish to be offered your watch from a spice addled vagrant in the McDonalds on Piccadilly Gardens as I eat a sausage and egg McMuffin.
        
        Reply
        
        dave says:
        
        Aug 09, 2024 at 11:06
        
        I think the main point is here that you’re trying to tell people they cannot enjoy a watch event in Manchester because they’re going to be robbed and/or murdered by a drug-addled vagrant. That’s a gross exaggeration and very unfair representation of the city. I know Manchester very well having lived here for a considerable amount of time. What you’re doing is a disservice to the city, and to the watch community here. You don’t have to attend the event, but if others want to, let them enjoy doing so without ridiculous sensationalist doom-warnings about how dire Manchester supposedly is.
        
        Reply
        
        AK
        AlexK says:
        
        Aug 09, 2024 at 12:05
        
        I didn’t say murdered. The drug addled vagrants have scant knowledge of anatomy and their victims have a high chance of survival. Manchester has one of the best hospitals in the country.
        
        Reply
        
        SR
        SPQR. says:
        
        Aug 09, 2024 at 14:06
        
        I was born in Manchester and grew up there. My mother worked as a nurse at Ancoats Hospaital, now demolished and replaced with unsaleable, unrentable flats. I joined the Army in 1986 and briefly came back to the city in 1988 to do a legal qualification. I then left again to train as a lawyer and then joined the RAF. I did not return to Manchester except for visits until 2007. I am a lawyer working in criminal law, complex and high value fraud, money laundering and organised crime. I lived at Number 1 Deansgate, if you know the city you will know the building, it is iconic. When I moved in there is 2011 there was a Lloyds Bank, a Habitat,, A Multiyork furniture shop, An Austin Reed and many other high end shops in the same building or across the street in St Ann’s Square. Now there is Greggs, a K-Pop Poster shop, a “barbers” (read – money laundering, i know i deal the cases) and lots of vape shops, betting shops and boarded up units. The city has gone from being the “Capital of the North” and “Madchester” to the “Armpit of the North”. There is the smell of cannabis on most street corners, a Class B controlled drug, possession with intent to supply should see you getting 5 to 7 years, but Greater Manchester Police just walk past the weed smokers. I used to be able to walk from Number 1 to Piccadilly Station to get a train to London before 0600Z and it was a lovely walk, but that was in 2009 to 2015, since then it has become a lesson in urban combat skills, the last time I did it was accosted by three young men wanting money whether I was going to give to them or not. I did not. They will not ask me again, Major Fairbairn’s skills are still useful). Piccadilly Gardens, where I used to meet my ex-wife when we were teenagers and sit on benches among well maintained flower beds is now a concrete dystopia of spice zombies, drug dealing and violence. At least four of the residents at Number 1 were subjected to street robberies in the last couple of years since the pandemic. My partner is also a criminal lawyer and knows which streets to avoid and when because of gangs of youths with knives who rob the unwary and several of those streets are in Ancoats or “New Islington” as the Council like to call it. There are regular weekly gang fihgts with knives in the main shopping centre the Arndale. Manchester City Council has shut main roads and made it virtually impossible to drive around the city. I moved out of the city nearly three years ago to a village that is beautiful and as I can work from home I now rarely travel into Manchester but when I do I am hyper-vigilant. So when you say crime and violent crime do not happen in Manchester and to suggest it is a “gross exaggeration” you are being disingenuous or wilfully blind.
        
        Reply
        
        dave says:
        
        Aug 09, 2024 at 14:14
        
        I did not say crime does not happen, but to suggest it’s a near certainty is ridiculous. Weekly knife fights in the Arndale Shopping Centre?? That’s not even close to true… I’ve never had any issues or worries about wearing watches in Manchester. While I appreciate one person’s experiences do not equate for the entire population of the city, this comment thread is getting a little out of hand with wild exaggeration. Common sense is, of course, always required, and every town and city has palces to avoid, as sad as it is. However, to suggest Manchester is some kind of postapocalyptic, drug-fuelled cesspit is quite far from the truth.
        
        Reply
        
        AK
        AlexK says:
        
        Aug 09, 2024 at 16:15
        
        If I have given the impression Manchester resembles Mad Max 2, that is quite wrong.
        It is more Mad Max 1 heading to Mad Max 2 before the decade is out.
        
        But really, I caution not to denigrate the city nor impair the enjoyment of my fellow enthusiasts. Simply to suggest it is a city to take precautions, if you are unfamiliar with Manchester. Do not assume the safety is on a par with other global cities. You can have a pleasant stay in Manchester but take care and be aware of the problems it has for people walking about with high value items. If you take care, you will enjoy the city and get to keep that high value item you treasure and value.
        
        The Manchester evening news is online, read and you get a feel for where the high crime districts are. SPQR is not exaggerating. I walk thru Piccadilly Gardens a couple of times a week at 7am. It is dystopian. Take care and stay safe.
        
        Reply
        
        SR
        SPQR. says:
        
        Aug 09, 2024 at 16:20
        
        “Not even close to true”, “ridiculous”?? I think you need to understand where the information is coming from. There are at least half a dozen prosecutions a week in the Magistrates Court and Minshull Street Crown Court for knife crime in the Arndale Centre. It is usually youth on youth so you wuill not be aware of it and given reporting restrictions on youth crime you probably never read about it either. I should know my partner deals with the cases. The amount of crime in Manchester is swamping the capacity of the courts to deal with it. I cannot get a court date for fraud cases that take up at least 3 months of court time for 5 years because Crown square Crwon Court has not got capacity to accommodate that length of trial. My colleagues and I regularly get cases that have been listed at Crown Square moved to Preston, Liverpool, Leeds and even Southwark Crown Court in London as the number of cases being listed in Crown Square exceeds the capacity of the court rooms there. Greater Manchester Police is in “Special Measures” this means it is failing to keep order on the streets, enforce the law and generally do its job. So, I am most definitely not indulging in “wild exaggeration”, I work in criminal justice in Manchester and have done so since 2007. I lived in the city centre from 2011 to 2022, and I mean right above Zara, Ralph Lauren and opposite The Royal Excahnge, you cannot get more “city centre” than that. I have seen the deterioration of the city from when I was a teenager and a student to today when I will not wear anything other than a G-Shock or a Seiko to go to the Royal Exchange Theatre or the Halle as there are too many street robberis (muggings to you) for comfort. The last time the office had a night out to the Northern Quarter (part of Ancoats) one of our admin girls was sexually assaulted on the street! So while, as the Americans say, “Your Mileage May Vary” take it from an ex-soldier that I would not go into Manchester unless I had too or unless there was something on there that I could only see there and I am very careful about where I go and what I take with me. I grew up there and I lived there and still (nominally) work there in the criminal justice system so I might have a better insight than you.
        
        Reply
        
        dave says:
        
        Aug 09, 2024 at 16:32
        
        No problem. Guess I won’t be seeing you at the show then?
MB
MarkBu says:

Aug 09, 2024 at 09:11

See what I’m up to closer to the time. May make my way up.

Reply
1. AF
  Freeza says:
  
  Aug 09, 2024 at 10:38
  
  If you go, let us know what it was like.
  
  Reply
2. Desmodromic says:
  
  Aug 09, 2024 at 19:19
  
  Sounds interesting, so if you got, let us know.
  
  But be careful? According to Alex and SPQR, Manchester sounds like Devil’s Night in Detroit circa 1989. (Dave thinks it’s fine.)
  
  Reply
  1. MB
    MarkBu says:
    
    Aug 10, 2024 at 14:26
    
    I’ve been to Manchester many times, although not in the last several years. To be honest, things have got worse in most UK cities over the last decade; there’s even areas here in sunny Bournemouth where it’s best to be wary. As ever, be vigilant and don’t show off your valuable goods.
    
    Reply
    1. Desmodromic says:
      
      Aug 11, 2024 at 08:52
      
      I live in Downtown LA, with the largest permanent homeless population in the U.S., so stepping over junkies and being on the lookout for used needles is, unfortunately, part of my daily life. It can be an anarchist dystopia at times, but it’s also very full of life and energy. Tradeoffs, I guess.
      
      Sounds like the UK is starting to experience American style crime and grime. The good thing is you don’t have the gun stuff to worry about.
      
      Reply
      1. AK
        AlexK says:
        
        Aug 11, 2024 at 10:45
        
        Dave is right to point out out the large amounts of public and private money going in to regenerate the city. Most of the city looks prosperous, it has many great bars and restaurants. You can enjoy a visit to Manchester. It’s great that Manchester would be chosen for this event and I’m interested in getting a ticket.
        
        It is not on a par with the American cities suffering the synthetic opioid crisis.
        It also not, however, on a par with wealthy European cities.
        
        England has declined from a high trust to a low trust society. There are many reasons and this is watches not politics.
        
        I tend to wear g shock watches when out in the city. If tempted to wear a luxury watch I’d certainly keep it under my sleeve and not on show. I’d put that watches of Switzerland bag inside another bag when walking from St Anns Square through Market Street to Piccadilly station. I would not be loudly showing off my watches in a bar with other enthusiasts. Precautions that with ensure you enjoy your stay and not add to the crime statistics.
        
        Manchester is not a no go city, it is a take care of yourself city.
        
        Reply
        
        MB
        MarkBu says:
        
        Aug 11, 2024 at 12:27
        
        That’s always been my impression and puts it in line with most other UK cities.
        
        Reply
        
        Bdadave says:
        
        Aug 11, 2024 at 14:17
        
        Manchester has always been rough, I was student there for 6/7years in mid eighties to early nineties with a stint in London in between. We lived Southside and could hear the gunshots in Moss side and Hulme. Equally we had the Hacienda and Cornerhouse for fun and culture.
        Be aware and careful, it’s not Kansas.
        
        Reply
        
        MB
        MarkBu says:
        
        Aug 11, 2024 at 15:30
        
        I had two younger brothers go to Salford Uni between ’90-’97 and they both came out rather more streetwise than they started, no bad thing.
        
        Reply
Erwin says:

Aug 09, 2024 at 21:41

I am tempted to go, but if I do, likely I won’t leave empty handed…

I have not bought any watch this year, and I’m hoping to be able to make it through 2024 without buying a single watch…

Reply
Chaz_H says:

Aug 10, 2024 at 05:17

Go for the watches…stay for the plight and dystopian landscape!

Reply
1. MB
  MarkBu says:
  
  Aug 10, 2024 at 14:27
  
  “This sure ain’t Geneva!”
  
  Reply