Every year, the world’s greatest watch companies and their biggest watch fans head to Geneva for an orgy of horological spectacle: Watches & Wonders. Here, companies pull out their latest, newest, most impressive goods, showing off the main products they intend to launch that year and the fans salivate and loosen the lips of their already pummeled wallets. It’s not a cheap hobby to be a watch lover.
The whole industry is in an odd place — and this was reflected in the watches displayed. In 2020 and 2021, the crypto and stock rush birthed lots of new-money millionaires who were eager to burn it all quickly, and Rolex, Patek and Audemars were happy to do the honors. Daytonas were sold out long before they could fly off shelves and soon resold for many multiples of their MSRP, with waitlists lasting years. But then the bubble burst, inflation ramped up and overpaying by hundreds of thousands for a fancy bracelet became less viable.
Watch companies are trying out multiple strategies in 2024. They can try to expand their customer base; cater to the reliable, evergreen customers; make flashy items ahead of a new crypto and stock bubble, or they can try hedging on all three.
For example, Rolex both introduced a very classy, steel version of last year’s GMT-Master II, with a black and gray dial; but they also showed off a garish Cosmograph Daytona, with a hideous stone dial, thick diamond bezel and rubber “Oysterflex” strap — and then topped this with a massive, heinous yellow gold and bright blue Deapsea. If you take style tips from Bob Menendez and view the former president as a subtle man, it’s the enormous, oversized, heavy watch for you.
Patek Philippe mirrored this “throw it at the wall” mentality, putting a denim strap on their Nautilus and World Time watches, releasing an iced-out Aquanaut with far more diamonds than taste, and also a Retrograde Perpetual Calendar “Rare Handcrafts,” which looks like an overly ornate grandfather clock, reduced down to your wrist.
The best of Watches & Wonders has always been the measuring contest of which brand can boast of having the most impressive figures. There are a few notable examples this year. Having been beaten by Richard Mille and Ferrari, Bulgari took back the thinnest watch lead, with their 1.7mm thick Octo Finissimo Ultra Mark II, a very technically impressive but soulless, ugly watch. It could not be more different from the other technical highlight of the show, Vacheron Constantin’s Berkley Grand Complication. This beautiful brick of a pocket-watch is packed with sixty-three different complications, including a world’s first “Chinese perpetual calendar” and was developed over eleven years by three master watchmakers. It’s almost 2” thick, has a 3.85” diameter, and almost weighs a kilogram.
In the technically impressive but uninspiring camp, we have Jaeger-LeCoultre’s Duomètre Héliotourbillon Perpetual, which features both a tourbillon and a perpetual calendar, (but looks like a Terminator with half its face ripped off) and the mechanically astonishing Kodo from Grand Seiko, whose name comes from the watches heartbeat-like tick. It’s very impressive; but given that Grand Seiko is renowned for its dials, a skeletonized watch is an odd choice.
The most impressive feat though was from Tag Heuer, with the price tag they slapped on their split-seconds chronograph Monaco’s. Last year, IWC was criticized for pricing their new Ingenieur at $10,000-$15,000, instead of the $7,000-$9,000 range that would have suited it. Tag Heuer makes them look modest and reasonable by comparison. These Monaco’s look as though they should cost in the $20,000 range, to account for their complication and material choices. They start at $138,000.
On the flip side, there were some pleasant watches towards the bottom of the market and in the indie space, which is always where the most interesting stuff happens (compromise and competition motivate great work). To celebrate their 175th anniversary, our friends at Nomos Glashütte released a limited range of thirty-one different colorways of their signature Tangente (the “Chili,” “Tiefseegrau” and “Rambazamba” are the entertainingly named ones to buy); and my favorite avant-garde watchmakers, Ressence, released a new version of their Type 1 with the playful green, red, yellow and blue Type M.
Perhaps the best stand was that of the Netherland’s greatest watchmakers, the Gronefeld brothers. They didn’t have a new watch to show off, they won’t sell you a new watch, and they’re so overwhelmed with demand that they don’t even have open waitlists. They were there just to stunt on their competition.
My favorite watches of the show? There are two clear winners. The objective winner is clearly IWC’s “Eternal Calendar,” an incredible technical achievement and improvement on the “Perpetual Calendar” complication, but in a beautiful body, with an elegant mix of black text, white dial, and transparent elements. It’s double moon display will, according to IWC, “only deviate from the moon’s actual orbit by one day after 45,000,000 years;” and it will still look beautiful then, too.
But if I had the money and poor financial decision making, the watch for me is A. Lange & Sohne’s Datograph Perpetual Tourbillon Honeygold “Lumen.” It’s not just because I’ve visited the factory where it’s made; it’s both a masterful piece of intricate design and an incredible piece of minute engineering; and they top it off with a stunning semi-transparent dial, which glows green in the dark.
