PARALLÈLE | NEW YORK WATCH 2026
IN FOCUS
A familiar name.
A fresh encounter.
Schwarz Etienne at WatchTime New York: watches people came to see, details worth discovering, and a growing connection with the American watch community.
WATCHTIME NEW YORK 2026 · SCHWARZ ETIENNE
There is a particular pleasure in welcoming someone to a watch presentation and realizing the introduction has already happened.
They know the name. They have seen the watch. Sometimes, they are wearing one.
For Schwarz Etienne at WatchTime New York 2026, those moments became a memorable part of the weekend. From October 16 to 18 at Gotham Hall, editors, content creators and collectors arrived with a genuine familiarity with the Manufacture, and a clear idea of what they wanted to see.
The 1902 Synergy by Peter Speake. The 1902 Petite Seconde Heure Dorée. A closer look at Geometry. Often, all three.
As the agency supporting Schwarz Etienne’s international communications, we were there to help make those encounters happen. What made them particularly rewarding was seeing how much curiosity had arrived ahead of us.
A GROWING PRESENCE
They already knew the name.
For an independent watch brand, visibility becomes especially meaningful when it brings someone through the door.
Throughout WatchTime, visitors came specifically to see Schwarz Etienne. Some had followed its recent releases online. Others had encountered the brand through editorial coverage or earlier events. Several were already owners, including collectors of its collaborations with Kari Voutilainen.
That last detail stayed with us. These were conversations with people who already had a relationship with the watches, and were curious about where the Manufacture was going next.
The United States is a priority market for Schwarz Etienne. Its presence in Atlanta and Nashville, alongside its commercial activities and sustained press outreach, has helped create more opportunities for American collectors to encounter the brand.
After roughly a year and a half of our communications work together, WatchTime offered something particularly valuable: direct feedback on how that growing presence was being received. The familiarity across the table was an encouraging sign of the combined work taking shape.
FROM LA CHAUX-DE-FONDS TO NEW YORK
A Manufacture with plenty to show.
Founded in La Chaux-de-Fonds in 1902, Schwarz Etienne has movement making at the heart of its identity. Its ability to develop and produce its own calibers gives the collections a mechanical character that is as important as their appearance.
At WatchTime, the breadth of the presentation made that clear. The 1902 Petite Seconde, Réserve de Marche and GMT offered different expressions of the collection, alongside the Synergy by Peter Speake and the Petite Seconde Heure Dorée. Geometry brought another perspective, with its distinctive arrangement of hand-decorated dial surfaces.
There was a recognizable identity across the table, and enough variety to keep the conversation moving.
1902 SYNERGY BY PETER SPEAKE
Better in person? There was a case for it.
Introduced during Watches and Wonders 2026, the 1902 Synergy by Peter Speake was already familiar to many visitors through photographs. Handling it prompted a new appreciation of its construction.
The layered sapphire dial was a particular talking point. Ice white, Prussian blue and Cayenne orange create a fresh composition, while the arrangement of its different levels gives the display a subtle sense of depth. In the hand, visitors could better appreciate how the elements appear to float, and how much detail sits within an apparently light design.
Turning the watch over continued the discovery. The hand-wound movement has six bridges inspired by historic pocket-watch architecture, with polished bevels, Geneva stripes and sunburst decoration on the ratchet wheels. Twin barrels provide a 120-hour power reserve.
Limited to 88 pieces, the collaboration also entered the 2026 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève competition, although it did not reach the final selection.
In New York, the response was immediate and personal: people who knew the images were discovering the watch.
1902 PETITE SECONDE HEURE DORÉE
A little golden hour, on the wrist.
First presented at Geneva Watch Days 2026, the Petite Seconde Heure Dorée arrived in New York with an audience already eager to see it.
Its appeal becomes clearer as the light changes. Deep black gives the dial its depth, while 4N gold-toned details bring warmth to the hands and applied markers. The contrast feels considered, with small shifts in angle revealing differences between the dial’s textures.
Through the caseback, the dialogue continues. Anthracite tones and ruthenium-treated surfaces meet a 4N gold-toned micro-rotor. Six slender bridges, concentric circular Geneva stripes and polished bevels give visitors plenty to examine. The micro-rotor’s sandblasted and satin-finished surfaces, including Schwarz Etienne’s chevron motif, reward a particularly close look.
The automatic movement offers an 86-hour power reserve, within a 39 mm titanium case with a multilayer black DLC treatment. The edition is limited to eight pieces.
For us, its charm lies in that continuity: a golden-hour idea carried from the dial into the movement. Visitors spent time exploring both.
GEOMETRY
The details invite another look.
Geometry had its own way of slowing the conversation.
Its 18-karat gold dial brings together hand-guilloché decoration within a deliberately deconstructed composition. Different zones, including fluted, azuré and clous de Paris patterns, give the surface a changing rhythm as the watch moves.
The precision is striking, but so is the human work behind it. Explaining how the decoration is executed by hand gives collectors another way to understand what they are seeing.
The patterns are carefully defined; their manual execution gives each dial its own subtle character.
Here too, the view through the back matters. An automatic micro-rotor movement leaves room to appreciate the finishing, adding another layer to a watch whose dial already offers plenty to discuss.
They knew the watches.
Now they could spend time with them.
BEYOND THE SCREEN
Meeting the people behind the posts.
For the Sparkling PR team, New York also brought the pleasure of meeting collectors and content creators we had previously known through Instagram.
A familiar account became a face. An exchange in the comments became a conversation across the table. We could hear what had caught someone’s attention, show them a detail they had missed, and learn more about the watches they already owned.
Those encounters are part of what makes shows like WatchTime valuable. A photograph can start an interest. Holding the watch, asking a question and taking the time to look can develop it into something more lasting.
We were happy to see that happen throughout the weekend, and look forward to continuing those conversations as Schwarz Etienne’s collections develop.
WHAT COMES NEXT
Recognition worth building on.
WatchTime was a success for Schwarz Etienne because it brought together the right watches with an audience ready to discover more about them.
The growing familiarity with the brand, the presence of existing owners and the response to its recent releases all gave us reasons to leave New York encouraged. They also gave us a clear direction for the work ahead: continue building visibility, deepen relationships and give the American watch community more opportunities to experience the Manufacture in person.
For now, we are taking home the pleasure of those encounters. And the memory of a few watches being turned over, then turned over again.
Continue reading: our opening New York Watch Week editorial. Explore the collections at Schwarz Etienne.
PREVIOUSLY
NYC NOTES 01
Col&McArthur: When history becomes personal
Deconstructing the storytelling behind the Belgium brand’s unique DNA.
OPINION
A personal perspective
Has New York Watch Week Outgrown a Week?
Marina Coelho’s reflections on a week growing into something much bigger.
COMING NEXT
NYC NOTES | FINAL
New York Watch Week: Beyond the Watches
Our personal view and conclusion from a week with watches in New York City.
