Profile
Jason Hutton
Introducing Jason Hutton: Founder of The Timepiece Show and Zenea Watches
Discusses the Need for an Accessible Watch Show and Awards
Words and photography by @furrywristabroad
“Yes, I am from the old country,” said the elderly gentleman seated across our table as he then attempted to teach the young waiter some words in their native Italian. “And don’t worry, I know he is busy, just keep the coffee coming, and I’ll see him whenever he is free,” said the elderly man as he would then wait patiently for the restaurant’s owner.”
At this point, I knew that I had chosen the right place to conduct the interview with the founder of The Timepiece Show and Zenea Watches, Jason Hutton. Located just north of the hastened commotion of Toronto, Richmond Hill’s Italian restaurant Il Fornello always exudes the level of care and authenticity which I wished to mirror in this interview. Energized and ready for the day ahead, Mr. Hutton entered the restaurant with his giant strides as he made his way to the back table where I was seated.
“I really wanted to help and create that opportunity for all brands to connect with the Canadian community,” said Jason Hutton. “I never would have done the show had I not started my own brand. It had a very direct influence.”
Jason Hutton
This immediately answered the question which many had been asking in the run-up to the inaugural Timepiece Show last year in Toronto. Anyone who had expressed any interest in watches on Instagram were being bombarded with advertisements for the show. My direct message inbox bloated with one question, who is running this show?
I did not have an answer for them until a couple of months later, when I met Jason at a brand event in one of the city’s most luxurious hotels. Zeroing in on the camera around my neck, Mr. Hutton introduced himself, and we made our way up from the lobby to the penthouse suite. While working on an article for the brand’s novelties that year, I made the time to hear about his goals for the first show, which, at that point, was still six months away. I couldn’t help but root for him. His goals were admirable, and he truly wanted to enrich an industry which he loved.
His experience with his own brand, Zenea, paid off, as the celebratory mood at the Timepiece Show in Toronto last September was electric. Brand owners, enthusiasts, and new customers alike all brimmed with curiosity and postures leaning inward towards the watches on display while eagerly listening to every single word from the brand representatives. Most of these wonderful humans manning the tables were the brand owners themselves.
The biggest challenge that new brands operating within the digital marketplace face is that there is no way for their potential customers to try on their watches before committing to make the purchase. Other shows stateside, such as WindUp and Intersect, aimed to solve this, and each has been mightily successful in spreading the gospel of microbrands in the watch industry. However, Canadian customers were left in the dark until Mr. Hutton brought such a fair to their beautiful country, first in Toronto, then Vancouver.
“I think it was attributable to a few things,” he continued as he addressed the jubilant energy of his shows. “One, a lot of the community had never been to a watch show before, so they really didn’t know what to expect. This added to the excitement.”
Furthermore, it would be an understatement to say that a lot has changed globally over the last decade, and this is most certainly true of the watch industry. As Basel World’s self-inflicted collapse as the industry’s major show left a void for major brands, smaller brands, known as microbrands, started rising in the consciousness of not just enthusiasts but also that of the general consumer. The environment seemed ripe for a new watch trade show, and Mr. Hutton sought to single-handedly put together such a show. However, not one to ever be content, Mr. Hutton decided to use the momentum of the first two shows to establish an awards ceremony celebrating the best that the world of horology has to offer.
“I started playing with the idea back in January, and I knew what I wanted to do. The challenge for this year, other than being new, is that all of the timeframes have been incredibly compressed,” said Mr. Hutton, as his posture hardened. “I wanted the awards ceremony to represent the global horology community on all levels.”
Momentum is the keyword. His second show in Vancouver cemented that there was an authentic appetite for such a show, and that everyone in attendance wanted to not only learn more about the industry, but also celebrate it.
“Vancouver was very similar. We had a little nicer venue, we had perfect weather, it was a beautiful spot, we had tremendous attendance, not only from the Vancouver area, but people from Washington state and Oregon also came up. It really created a great sense of community.”
The journey of starting Zenea Watches and The Timepiece Show was one paved forward by love. Always a collector at heart, Mr. Hutton’s fascination for watches started at a young age with his father’s watch.
“From my earliest memories, my dad was wearing his watch. It was nothing fancy. It was a gold rectangular Seiko watch from the mid-seventies,” said Mr. Hutton after we decided on our meal. A hearty lasagna for him, and an expertly crafted carbonara, which was at once creamy yet incredibly light for me.
“In my memories of him, he was always wearing that watch. I used to be pretty fascinated by it. I would pick it up out of the dresser drawer, look at it.”
This inevitably led to watches always being a part of Mr. Hutton’s life. His first watch spoke to his level of curiosity and sense of joy surrounding watches, which would stay with him nearly a half-century later. “It was a digital watch, it was one of those old school, fully black, red LED screens where you pressed the button and the time would come up. I remembered the case was made of an anodized or PVD black case. The strap was plastic, but the case was metal. I liked it. I was a bit of a celebrity.”
His tone and posture suddenly shifted as he started impersonating his childhood classmates, gently bouncing on the comfortable seat as both his hands gestured their amazement. “Everyone was like, oh, a digital watch! Let’s check it out!”
When entering high school, a young Mr. Hutton chose a three-hand Loris Mickey Mouse watch, which he wore for many years. “I was trying to do something a little fun and a little different. That’s always been a part of my ethos in terms of watch collecting, that you should wear them and enjoy them.”
“I also got another watch when I graduated from high school. My mom asked me what I wanted for a nice gift for myself, and I chose a watch. I had a Gucci G Face, which was another popular 80s watch which I had for a number of years as well. The watches have always been a long-term thing for me.”
This remained true into his twenties when, like many others growing up before the turn of the millennium, TAG Heuer became the target of fascination. “I had a TAG Formula 1 that I wore for many, many, years, I had that watch for probably over a decade. I enjoyed that. I wore it hiking, when playing sports. That was the first time that I saved up and invested some of my hard-earned cash from my part-time jobs to purchase something more significant.”
Like Mr. Hutton, I chose a TAG Heuer as a timepiece to commemorate a professional milestone, mine was a Carrera, his was a Kirium. “When I moved to Toronto and I was promoted, I upgraded and bought myself a TAG Kirium – with the white classic dial. I had that for quite a few years as well. After that, I started going down the rabbit hole, if you want to call it that, for more serious collecting. Once I went down that path, there was sort of no coming back.”
Watches were not simply an item to tell the time, or to accessorize his outfits, but a reminder to never take anything for granted. “In my career, I worked in hospitals and I’ve seen people’s lives turned upside down, where unexpected things had happened,” said Mr. Hutton about his time as a cardiac technologist before devoting his life to watches.
“I developed a very strong, ingrained sense of being grateful for the gifts I have been given in my life, including my health. A watch is my reminder of that,” his fingertips unconsciously started gently following the outline of the vintage Glashütte Original on his wrist. “When I feel its weight on my wrist, it is the ultimate reminder about the beautiful things that are around in the world. I feel my watch three or five times during the day.”
His time in the healthcare industry and leading teams ultimately led him to take on the large project of The Timepiece Show after Zenea. Being hands-on with patients whose lives were upended, to managing coworkers working in such environments, taught Mr. Hutton the importance of community and a sense of belonging. The watch industry was missing this, and so he decided to do something about it.
“The biggest driver for me is bringing people together and creating this incredible experience.” Watches are very personal items for us. They represent different periods of our lives, and Mr. Hutton wants to share this sentiment through The Timepiece Show globally. “I am very excited about Toronto this year. It’s a bigger venue, we’ve got a lot of people coming, and as of today, we have over 3,500 tickets registered already. I’m very excited for that weekend, but also for the future as well. We are excited to bring the model under the Timepiece Show banner to new geographies in the future as well.”
As the clock is winding down on the second Timepiece Show in Toronto, Mr. Hutton is busy in his home office on constant calls with brands, the venue, journalists, content creators, and members of the community.
“This year we have a new venue at the Meridian Arts Centre, which has a live theatre complex,” he said enthusiastically. “We have access to some great facilities not only for speaking presentations, but to put together a truly global awards ceremony.”
As we finished our meals and each had an espresso to cap off the interview, the owner of Il Fornello made his way to see his old friend across from us, with a chilled bottle of Amarone in his hands. As they embraced, Mr. Hutton and I left with our stomachs full and our minds enriched with hope for the future.
Hope is not a word that comes to mind as we approach the final quarter of 2025. The world is decidedly a more closed-off place than it was a decade ago. Just as Mr. Hutton unconsciously reaches for the watch on his wrist as a reminder of being thankful for what we have, he is also doing this for the watch industry at large, while also opening up the world of horology for the masses.
The Timepiece Show will be returning to Toronto on the weekend of September 20th, and we here at Mainspring look forward to seeing you there.