McDowell Time and Stella, photo by Loren Sciurba
Last weekend, 50 watch brands and vendors gathered in Washington, D.C., for District Time 2024. They were met by about 1,500 watch fans, and it was amazing.
It was a crazy couple of days, and all of us had an absolute blast. As usual, I spent most of the time greeting guests, handing out complimentary copies of Hodinkee Magazine, meeting new watch enthusiasts, and catching up with old friends from previous District Time events. This year, the local watch clubs arrived in force. I saw friendly faces from Red Bar, Watchingtonians, the DMV Watch Club, NoVa Watches and Coffee, and even some of the online denizens of the League of Microbrands Facebook Group (learn more about these watch clubs here). The crowd was, as always, engaged, enthusiastic, and exceptionally good-natured.
Tsao Baltimore, photo by Loren Sciurba
Our lead sponsor, Tsao Baltimore, had a huge display of watches, including the new (and by now almost completely sold out) Natty Boh Moonphase in its clever beer can packaging. Moving through our sponsors’ gallery, our guests met McDowell Time (and my other half in the District Time duo, Bill McDowell), Stella, Rado, Canopy, Zenea, Bespoke Watch Projects, and Formex. The Christopher Ward display was at the end of the gallery, surrounded by a throng of patient fans. The Vortic and the Colorado Watch Company display bridged the short span from the front gallery to the main rooms, where you could start with our final sponsor, Traska, and make the loop through the rest of the display tables, each hosting some of the most exciting independent watch brands on the market.
Bespoke Watch Projects, photo by Jerry Wang
It was a banner year, objectively our biggest in terms of the number of participating brands and overall attendance. Now it’s time to plan our 2025 show! Rest assured that as we do, we will keep pace with the event’s growth, preserve the diversity of our participating watch brands, and ensure a pleasant experience for all who visit.
Until then, enjoy the little sampling in our pics, and also be sure to check out Random Rob’s video tour!
