Hands on Horology builds on successful first edition

Hands on Horology is in the perfect position to tackle the difficult second album, according to the event’s founders, Mark Edwards and Tom Pettit.

The business partners, who also own and run Oracle Time magazine, launched the consumer watch show in 2025, spotting a gap in the market for an event that could perform a similar role in the UK to the ones that WatchTime New York and WindUp Watch Fair perform in the States.

Pettit says the feedback to the launch event was overwhelmingly positive. “We made sure to get feedback from both the attendees and the exhibitors after the show,” he said. “We did questionnaires and the answers that we got back in regards to the experience, the location, the vibe, was overwhelmingly positive from the attendees, which was hugely gratifying for us. 

“Out of the 40 plus stands we sold, I think 99% of those said they want to come back again next year [2026], so by all measures it was massively successful.”

Edwards agreed, saying: “A lot of the brands were saying to us that it’s the best event they’ve done this year [2025] and these are some brands that travel the world doing 20 plus events, some of these brands.

“A couple of them were apprehensive because they’d heard of other shows that hadn’t gone to plan, but the feedback for ours was brilliant,” he concluded.

The second edition of Hands on Horology will be held on 13th June 2026 at Protein Studios in Shoreditch.

The full interview with Edwards and Pettit will be published in the January 2026 edition of Watch Insider.