Andrew McUtchen, the Australian who founded Time+Tide in his native Melbourne back in 2014 as a digital platform for watch enthusiasts, was watch editor of Australian GQ when he decided to start his own platform. It began as a conventional watch website, albeit with a different attitude:
‘The Australian tone was much friendlier than any written content about watches on the internet. So we were attracting people from all over the map,’ he remembers. ‘If we did anything in these early days, we de-snobbed watches. And the world noticed.’
The Time+Tide Watch Discovery Studio first launched in Melbourne in 2023, with the second arriving in London, just off Oxford Circus in October 2024 and the third is set to open in February in New York. All three Studios share a certain DNA: they’re bright, welcoming and full of places to sit, talk and get hands-on with the watches Time+Tide champions. You’ll find coffee, books and passionate staff who live and breathe watches.
‘We’re building a home of watch culture,’ says McUtchen, ‘a space where the indie brands that excite us sit comfortably alongside major events in the space with brands like Piaget, Blancpain and Tudor. It’s about giving people a place to belong in this watch world – and a reason to stay.’
The prices tend to be reasonable as many are small-scale manufacturers, but the collectability factor can be quite high, with several hard-to-get models trading at above retail on the secondary market.
As for the mainstream luxury watch industry and its place in the Studio, McUtchen is not averse to promoting some of the big boys too if he likes what they do. Three limited-edition surf watches made as a collaboration with Zenith testify to this, as does the newly opened “Tudor Library & Lounge” – a world-first for Tudor that has the brand’s new watches for sale among a library of books and artefacts, couching the brand in a cultural as well as historical context.
The New York Watch Discovery Studio is in what McUtchen calls the city’s ‘newest watch district’ in SoHo. This is on account of all the neighbouring watch retailers both new and old-school. It’s in a 100-year-old building and has a light industrial vibe with exposed brick walls and 17ft-high ceilings. The Studio aims to give Americans the same access to watch culture as McUtchen has brought to Australians and Brits. So, if you’re passing through Manhattan’s watch district and you fancy a browse or some watch chat, you know where to go.
Peter Howarth has been the style director of British GQ and the editor of Arena, British Esquire and Man About Town. He is the co-founder and CEO of London creative agency SHOW and managing director of Secret Trips.
