Taking place from 12th to 15th November 2026, the Singapore edition of IAMWATCH will bring together more than 50 watchmakers and friends of The Hour Glass for a four-day program dedicated to collectors, enthusiasts and the culture of contemporary watchmaking.

At a time when independent watchmaking has never been more coveted and visible on social media, yet paradoxically more difficult to encounter up close, IAMWATCH aims to bring the conversation back into the room by bringing together the established makers, collectors, designers and industry figures whose ideas continue to shape modern horology.

The lineup once again includes many of independent watchmaking’s most recognizable names, from Kari Voutilainen, Rexhep Rexhepi, Andreas Strehler and Konstantin Chaykin, to Max Büsser, Raúl Pagès, Vianney Halter, Jean Arnault and Jean-Claude Biver.

Some of the Makers attending IAMWATCH 2026

The 2026 lineup also makes room for a new generation of watchmakers and creatives. Among the names to watch are Alexandre Hazemann and Victor Monnin of Hazemann & Monnin, the young duo whose School Watch won the 2025–2026 Louis Vuitton Watch Prize for Independent Creatives. The recognition builds on an earlier milestone for the pair, following Alexandre Hazemann’s 2023 F.P. Journe Young Talent Competition win with the AH.02 Signature. In just a few years, they have emerged as part of a younger generation carrying independent watchmaking’s author-led tradition forward, bringing small-scale production, technical ambition and a deeply personal point of view into a new context.

Alexandre Hazemann won the F.P. Journe Young Talent Competition in 2023. Together with Victor Monnin, he created a charming wristwatch with a sonnerie en passage and an instantaneous jumping-hour display.

Norifumi Seki of Quiet Club, whose Fading Hours was named a finalist for the same Louis Vuitton Watch Prize, will also be in attendence. A previous F.P. Journe Young Talent Competition winner, Seki is part of the wave of younger makers rethinking how time can be expressed mechanically and emotionally.

Norifumi Seki won the F.P. Journe Young Talent Competition in 2020 at the age of 23 for a pocket watch with a spherical moon and drum calendar.

Alongside other new notable names on the 2026 list include Australian independent watchmaker Reuben Schoots and second-generation Austrian horologist Simon Michlmayr, as well as URWERK co-founder Martin Frei, influential collector-collaborator William Massena and celebrated Japanese artist Takashi Murakami. Their presence points to the increasingly wide cultural orbit of contemporary watchmaking.

The crowd at IAMWATCH 2024; IAMWATCH 2026 will also be held at the spacious Singapore Edition Hotel.

For The Hour Glass, IAMWATCH is a demonstration of how the company’s role has grown beyond retail. Since its founding in 1979, the Singapore-headquartered retailer has built its identity around advancing and safeguarding watch culture, by putting education, collecting and community at the center of their mission. IAMWATCH gives that approach a more intimate format, built around conversation, discovery and direct engagement with the people behind the watches.

With independent watchmaking moving from the margins to the center of the collector-sphere, particularly in Asia, IAMWATCH 2026 brings that momentum back to Singapore in a format shaped by access, education and community.