Last weekend we participated at the Aurochronos Festival in Lodz, Poland (pronounced Woodge, spelled Łódź in Polish). The festival was founded 3 years ago by two watch aficionados Maciej Mazurkiewicz and Paweł Zalewski. I’ve met the two of them at MunichTime last year where they introduced me to the concept of their festival: Showcasing independent watch brands, that are close to their final customers in and close up and personal setting. I liked the idea and after some research into the past editions, decided to participate with Formex.
We decided to hire a hostess for the booth, to be able to tend to the visitors who didn’t speak English, which was a good call, since most of the visitors were happy to be able to talk about our watches in Polish.
The foot traffic during the two festival days was quite good and the atmosphere relaxed. Between the different exhibitors, many of them one or two-men shows of independent watchmaking, we enjoyed some good conversations and very cordial and frank exchanges about our respective collections. This warm and friendly atmosphere between the exhibitors, even the ones I haven’t met before, is something I have so far only experienced at smaller gatherings or amongst brands that were already friendly before.
The passion for watchmaking that was in the air was almost palpable and completely overshadowed the sense of competition that might arise between these microbrands.
This is definitely something the visitors could feel, which led them to experiencing the brands in a stress-free and amicable environment.
Saturday night, the organizers threw an award ceremony with different Aurochronos Awards handed out by a Jury of watch industry experts and collectors such as Theodore Diehl, Company Spokesman & Horologist of Richard Mille and Marc Andre Deschoux, founder of the Watches TV Youtube channel and Mike Stuffler, watch expert, collector and Author at watchuseek.com.
Formex was awarded the Logos Magazine award for our brand concept and timepieces. It was quite an honor receiving this award next to people who make every single cog and wheel of their timepieces by hand.
After the ceremony, the celebrations continued with a very nice dinner and a little bit too much of the local vodka. Needless to say, the exhibitors and organizers had a great time and the newly forged bonds were strengthened during the evening.
I highly recommend this event to our fans and aficionados, as it lets you experience and discover independent brands in a new and concentrated way. Lodz is about a two-hour drive from Warsaw and this festival could be part of a weekend getaway to discover the beautiful cities of Poland.
The next show we’ll be exhibiting at is Watchtime in Düsseldorf on October 25th-27th. Even though this is a more traditional fair, we will be there for you up close and personal, and we’re looking forward to present the new Essence LEGGERA there. The Formex Dinner on Saturday with almost 20 of you attending is booked out, but we have some official "invite-only" Watchtime VIP Tickets available for Thursday evening. Contact us if you're interested.
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