One of the attractions of events like British Watchmakers’ Day is the chance to meet your fellow collectors and talk about the shared passion of watches. It also presents the opportunity to wear your favourite watches and show them off. In order to celebrate the huge variety of watches worn at British Watchmakers’ Day 2026 we gave our photographer the challenge to snap as many as possible. Did you get your wristshot taken and which is your favourite?
Making the Best of Bad Situation
In what has to be one of the best fashion statements of all time, this collector has paired his pink arm cast with the Tudor Black Bay Chrono Pink. Not only are the colours a surprisingly close match but the comedic pairing is pure class. However, the cast is on his right arm, leaving his left wrist bare, which simply feels wrong for any righthanded collector. The solution is to double wrist, and his second watch of choice is a vintage Audemars Piguet Royal Oak, featuring that instantly recognisable octagonal bezel and Tapisserie dial.
A Trio of Mr Jones
With their combination of accessibility and fun designs, Mr Jones watches were a popular feature of the 2026 British Watchmakers’ Day scene. Our very own Sam Kessler was repping a recent launch, the Feline Fine, which alternates between ‘Everything is Fine’ and ‘Everything is Fucked’ which is already an apt description of 2026.
The Mr Jones Ascendent uses a mechanical movement to tell time in a distinctive manner. Rather than a traditional minute hand, it has a rotating disc with a series of stars on it and their position on the dial tells you the current time past the hour – the hour itself displayed in the boughs of a tree.
If the Mr Jones Feline Fine is filled with a certain amount of existential dread, then A Perfectly Useless Afternoon is the yin to that yang. With a pool inspired by a dial that sees a person lazily float around the face of the watch, it’s pure relaxation.
Unsung Vintage Hero
A vintage Breitling that doesn’t get as much love as it deserves, the Chronomat 808 is a classy bicompax chronograph with slide rule scales. Here it’s presented in a reverse panda colourway with vibrant red chronograph hands. It also pre-dates the update to the Chronomat collection that happened in the 60s that intentionally distanced the model from the Navitimer, resulting in the sportier design we’re familiar with across modern Chronomats.
A British Partnership
Fears and Studio Underd0g have produced a few collaboration watches together at this point and many of them were on display on the wrists of collectors at British Watchmakers’ Day. The Gimlet, their first partnership, takes the case of the Brunswick and imagines it with the dial of a SERIES02, inspired by the titular cocktail. It paved the way for subsequent watches like the Manhattan and Mim0sa, the latter of which is seen here with its gradient display.
Best Shirt Award
The impromptu Best Shirt Award goes to the wearer of this Little Lange 1 Moonphase, which has a dial that captures the essence of the night sky with its dark blue base and gold flux decoration. It has been paired with a colourful, patterned shirt in pastel shades depicting leaves, clouds and geometric shapes. The darker tone of the dial helps the Lange stand out against the riot of colour.
