The Roundup: the “On Tour” Edition

Each week, EWC will be gathering horological industry news, cultural conversations and moments surrounding our favorite topic: timepieces. Happy Friday; here’s what’s on our watch. 

This week, we’re taking a tour through the current watch landscape in more ways than one. Our first and arguably favorite stop each week is the new watches that hit the market.

Stop One: New York City, New Watches

In New York City, two timepieces made their debut. On Monday, Oris unveiled its second New York Harbor Limited Edition in partnership with the Billion Oyster Project, an organization working to restore oyster reefs in New York Harbor. The launch kicked off with a boat tour around Manhattan where leaders of the Billion Oyster Project illustrated the group’s efforts firsthand. Bookending the launch day, the evening gave way to a private concert with three of Oris’ most esteemed collectors: Kurt Ozan, a guitarist for Luke Combs, and country singers Keller Cox and Caylee Hammack.

Later in the week, watches and tennis became the focus as the U.S. Open ramps up. Norqain offered up its first collaboration with Swiss tennis legend Stan Wawrinka at the athlete’s 40^th birthday party in Midtown. The limited edition of 85 pieces celebrates Wawrinka’s birth year (1985) as well as his three Grand Slam titles with a commemorative tennis-ball shaped presentation case and tennis ball fibers actually integrated into the watch itself, a world first.

In addition, TAG Heuer added new models to two of its most iconic collections with the Carrera Date Automatic and Aquaracer Solargraph. Tudor also gave us two gorgeous new vintage inspired references: the compact 28mm Royal in stainless steel and two-tone.

Stop Two: Cruising to the Caribbean

City dwellers always need an escape from the urban jungle, so next we make our way to the Caribbean. Turns out, brands are starting to get creative to combat the whopping 39% tariffs that have hit the watch industry. Doxa just introduced a limited edition dive watch, the SUB 200 Dune, available exclusively on the duty-free island of St. Maarten.

Stop Three: Japan

Next up, we traverse to the other side of the globe and touchdown in Japan. Here, one of the country’s pillar watchmakers, Casio, has just named Masaki Obu to lead the US Timepiece Division. Obu brings over 16 years of global leadership experience across Japan, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia to one of the largest markets in the watchmaking industry. In addition, music legend Alicia Keys was spotted in Japan on the Asian leg of her tour wearing a timepiece from Dennison.

Last Stop of the Tour: A Tour

Speaking of musicians on tour, the Jonas Brothers are currently celebrating 20 years of entertainment with an anniversary tour. Nick Jonas took a brief departure from the group’s lineup to launch his own limited edition capsule collection with Fossil. The collection dropped this week, including classic wristwatches as well as watch rings. With Taylor Swift’s recent story in the New York Times reporting that her Eras tour grossed over $2B in ticket sales alone, Fossil (and Dennison) are clearly onto something in strategically placing their watches on the wrists of prominent artists as they hit stages worldwide.