Little Treasury Jewelers, time out - annual watch fair, review / Recap

I had the distinct pleasure of attending my second local watch gathering, in as many months, which placed together watch enthusiasts, watch vendors and brokers, great food, and spirit sampling, who could want more? The event was the Time Out! Annual Watch Fair, hosted by Little Treasury Jewelers in Gambrills, MD.

Perhaps I've never noticed before, or maybe it's just that I'm more in-tune with the various watch-related happenings, due to my daily blog and social media activities, but it seems as through the watch collecting craze has started to infiltrate it's way down to the local jewelry stores and vendors. And with good reason, as most watch collectors, myself included, purchase the majority of timepieces online, to take advantage of better pricing.

Jewelry stores, like other brick-and-mortar retail outlets have one big advantage over online retailers, it allows the consumer the opportunity to hold and inspect an item, up close and personal. Jewelry stores like Little Treasury, can take full advantage of this unique opportunity by incorporating great food and spirits, adding the ability to interact with like-minded collectors, watch makers, and distributors, and making the gathering into an event.

The Time-Out - Annual Watch Fair was a two day event, held Friday and Saturday, October 19, 2018 - October 20, 2018. And along with offering fine catered food like barbecue and oysters, and fine spirit (bourbon and whiskey) tasting, the event showcased vendor representation from many of Little Treasury's boutique brands that they sell in-house. Some of the brands represented at the fair included Grand Seiko, Nomos Glashutte, Orion, Oris, Seiko Prospex, Towson Watch Co., and Zannetti; a great variety of established major brands, local watchmakers, and a brand I would describe a Haute Boutique in Zannetti, which designs handcrafted timepieces, in very limited quantities.

It was a great experience to talk with the master watchmaker from Towson Watch Company, about the various watch movements they use in their Maryland / Nautical themed timepieces, having a conversation with the U-Boat distributor, and getting the opportunity to handle, and strap-on the new U-Boat diver; it felt perfect on the wrist, conversing with a luxury watch broker about the various specialty Zannetti, handcrafted timepieces, and talking watches with other watch collectors, it was a fun and informative afternoon.

This was my first Time Out - Watch Fair, but it certainly will not be my last. The folks at Little Treasury Jewelers put on a fantastic event, complete with door prizes each day of the fair, capped-off by a watch wardrobing contest on Saturday, in which the grand prize was a new Oris 1972 timepiece. Great stuff being done locally by various jewelers, to engage the watch collecting base, luring collectors back in from the throws of the internet, by offering good old fashioned face-to-face interaction, and the ability to experience some incredible watches in an atmosphere of merriment.