The watches were the draw, but the conversations gave Windup Watch Fair San Francisco its pulse. Across four panels, the 2026 fair turned collecting into something broader, more tactile and a lot more personal.
This year’s San Francisco edition was the fair’s largest California showing to date, with panels that reached beyond new releases and into sport, gear culture, mechanical history and the habits that define enthusiasts.
Frederique Constant looks to padel’s rapid rise
One of the most contemporary discussions paired Frederique Constant with the booming world of padel, a sport that’s moving quickly from niche curiosity to major commercial force.
Kaitlin Derkach, Marketing Director at Frederique Constant, joined Diane Gotua, Chief Commercial Officer of the Pro Padel League, for a conversation about why the sport’s lifestyle-first appeal has become so attractive to brands.
Padel’s growth in the United States has been especially hard to ignore, with 50 percent year-over-year expansion and projections that place the global industry on track for $6 billion by 2028.
For a watch brand like Frederique Constant, the connection is less about logo placement and more about audience fit, with padel drawing active, social, design-aware enthusiasts who understand the appeal of a well-made object.
Everyday carry collecting gets its own language
The EDC Expo panel focused on a question many collectors understand instinctively, even if they don’t always articulate it.
Do you build a collection with rules, or do you assemble a quiver that simply works for the way you live?
Jim Wirth, Founder and CEO of GiantMouse Knives, Christian Freissler, Co-Founder of Evolve Agency and Creative Director at Shinzo Tamura, and Harrison McCrindle, Head of Government Operations at Marathon Watch Company, explored that tension across knives, sunglasses, watches and everyday carry gear.
The strongest point of the discussion was that collecting doesn’t always follow a straight line.
Some buyers think in terms of function, redundancy and environment, while others chase a shape, a brand story or the feeling of a specific object in hand.
Marathon and Prometheus Design Werx bring gear into the field
Another panel moved the conversation away from display cases and toward the environments where gear is actually tested.
The focus was on equipment made for harsh camping and cold-water conditions, with Marathon Watch Company and Prometheus Design Werx sitting naturally at the center of the discussion.
That made the link between watches and everyday carry especially clear, since both categories often sit at the intersection of reliability, legibility and trust.
The dive team included Aaron Potash, Asha Wagner, Ben Lowry, Brock Stevens, Chris Sohl, Jason Heaton and John Howton, bringing practical experience to a topic that can easily become overly theoretical.
Oris revisits the fight for mechanical freedom
The most historically minded panel looked back to 1965, when Oris overturned the restrictive Swiss Watch Statute and changed the trajectory of its own watchmaking.
Zach Kazan, Editorial Director at Worn & Wound, joined VJ Geronimo, CEO of The Americas at Oris, to unpack how that legal victory allowed Oris to move beyond pin-lever movements and embrace modern mechanical construction, including the lever escapement.
That fight for independence led directly into the 1966 Oris Star, giving the conversation a clean line from mid-century regulation to the newly released Star Edition shown at Watches and Wonders.
It was a reminder that brand identity isn’t only built through design codes, but also through the technical and commercial battles a company chooses to take on.
Taken together, the panels showed why Windup’s format continues to resonate with collectors who want more than a tray of watches under glass.
The best moments connected the objects to the lives around them, whether that meant a growing racket sport, a pocket knife, a dive-ready tool watch or a decades-old fight for mechanical independence.
Event details for future Windup Watch Fair dates and programming can be found at windupwatchfair.com.
