The best watches and brands from Watches and Wonders 2024
This year’s prestigious watches and wonders fair confirms just how much the world of horology captures the spirit of the moment.
What do people want in a watch in 2024? The answer, according to this year’s Watches and Wonders fair, held once again in Geneva, is both simple, and not so.
So, too, is the state of the watch market. A fact that makes sense given it is in many ways a reflection of the world more broadly. After several years of extraordinary growth in the watch industry – and the subsequent soaring of prices on the secondary market – exports of Swiss watches have slowed for the first time in more than two years. Indeed the luxury industry – in some parts, although not all – has slowed. Meanwhile, the “hard luxury” category, which includes watches and jewellery, is somewhat cocooned from pesky thoughts around the cost of living and other such practicalities. Especially at the pointy end. Which goes some way in explaining the industry’s recent focus on top-tier clients with jaw-droppingly complicated (and priced) limited-edition watches and gumdrop-sized jewels.
At Watches and Wonders 2024 there was, to be sure, a certain level of prudence in keeping with slightly more straitened times. Some brands opted for what Julian Farren-Price, owner and managing director of Sydney’s J Farren-Price watch retailer called “evolution rather than revolution” with their releases.
However, there was still plenty of catering to the seasoned collector, the financially unbothered and those seeking something extraordinary. One consensus in the industry is that clients are still buying, although perhaps considering their purchases more. They are happy to wait for the perfect thing and most of all, want something special.
This is something Farren-Price has noticed in what he labels a “consolidation period” post the frenzy of luxury purchasing during the pandemic. A new “normality” is to be welcomed he says, especially for genuine watch aficionados.
“Additionally, as clients have effectively stocked up in the past few years, I do see a trend for focusing on more special pieces to add to their collections. [Which is] probably why the major brands are concentrating on more valuable products. They know what they are doing,” he adds. Farren-Price says he has also noticed a certain maturing of the Australian watch market, with increased interest in high-end mechanical watches and gem-set pieces, including among male clients.
“In fact, our issue is we cannot get enough as it is so difficult for watchmakers to source these exceptional and rare gems in the quality they demand.”
A reset is something that Hublot chief executive Ricardo Guadalupe welcomes, too. With three decades in the industry, Guadalupe has seen tougher times before. They shouldn’t mean, he says, a dulling of creativity. For the boundary-pushing Swiss brand, this creativity was expressed in new additions to its Big Bang sapphire collection and the MP-13 Tourbillon Bi-Axis Retrograde Black Carbon. Hublot has also invested in a new manufacture to be completed in the next three years.
“We’re coming to a new normality. We are back, maybe more to 2019, [which] was our record year after 2022, which was even better. So, we’re back to good years, but not as good as 2022. If we look at the numbers without comparing it, you’d say, ‘Yes, that’s good numbers, we’re profitable’. It’s not that we’re in a crisis, let’s say,” he adds.
This move upstream could also be found at brands such as IWC Schaffhausen, who added an eternal calendar into the Portugieser (accurate to 400 years, so any quibbles will need to be written into your will). TAG Heuer also went for new complications, such as a rattrapante (split seconds) added to its beloved Monaco watch.
TAG Heuer movement director Carole Forestier-Kasapi says the complication was a perfect alignment for the brand with its long connection to race car driving.
“Usually in watchmaking, complications are not really developed for sport activities, and this is exactly what TAG Heuer is. So, for me, it makes a lot of sense,” she says.
There were horological showdowns, with Piaget – this year celebrating its 150th anniversary – and Bvlgari duking it out to create the thinnest ever mechanical watch. Both pieces, it must be said, look so unreal as to resemble more drawing than timepiece.
Jewellery that tells time was a focus at Chanel, where director of the Chanel Watchmaking Creation Studio Arnaud Chastaingt continues to playfully reinterpret the so-recognisable codes of Chanel. Piaget, meanwhile, also returned to its golden era of design – the ’70s – with a Swinging Sautoir timepiece, while Van Cleef & Arpels maintained its focus on telling time not so much as a function but as an expression.
For Nicolas Bos, the chief executive of Van Cleef & Arpels who took over as chief executive of Richemont (the luxury conglomerate that includes Cartier, Piaget, Van Cleef & Arpels and more) in June, it was important to focus on the craftsmanship, or métiers d’art, behind the timepieces.
The extraordinary techniques utilised by the French maison this year included miniature painting, sculpture and enamelling. “We wanted to take the opportunity to highlight [the craftsmanship in the ateliers] and to explain what that means to us today,” says Bos, noting that some of these techniques had almost disappeared until Van Cleef & Arpels revived them and also introduced new ones. “It’s true that we are lucky in a way in the world of watchmaking. We used to say, [other brands] have a lot of racing cars and speedboats and planes and boy’s toys. And we always come with little enchanted gardens and fairies and flowers. It kind of keeps us a bit in a specific area. So, we try to renew ourselves, keeping the same identity and the same territory or expression, without necessarily going for the technique for the sake of it.”
The idea that there can be a simultaneous paring back and elevation of product is something that Antoine Pin, managing director of watches at Bvlgari, says fits with modern life right now. This is reflected, too, in the continued desire for vintage-style watches, seen this year in the likes of Zenith returning to its 1969 classic dive watch, the Defy Extreme Diver, and at Patek Philippe, where a new rose gold chain bracelet was added to its Ellipse watch, a nod to its ’70s design prowess. So, too, the upswell, and increasing cache of independent, and interesting, watch brands. In 2024 seven independent brands made their Watches and Wonders debut.
Earlier this year, Bvlgari brought back its ’80s classic watch, the Bvlgari Bvlgari, in yellow gold. “We are living complex moments. On the one hand, we clearly see a return to classics, and traditional values, such as more regular watch dimensions. On the other hand, current trends indicate a shift towards more glamorous, visually striking watches as consumer tastes evolve to favour bold and expressive designs,” says Pin. “This evolution reflects a broader interest in standout pieces that combine luxury with unique and artisanal aesthetics. Probably with the impetus of today’s younger generations who want to stand out and assert their tastes in a more unique way.”
Michael Tay, group managing director at The Hour Glass, says that while the longer gestation period between the design and manufacturing phases of watches tends to make trends less prevalent, there have been definite shifts.
“The pendulum does swing as tastes and desires shift. For example, if you own a stainless-steel sports watch, you may next contemplate a dress watch in a precious metal to add more diversity to your collection. As enthusiasts continue to discover the storied histories of many of today’s most coveted brands, the allure of different eras becomes apparent. Manufacturers are increasingly embracing exotic forms, decorative precious metal cases and bracelets, many of which harken back to inspirations found in 1970s dress watches,” he says.
Other key trends? Small watch fervour isn’t going anywhere. In June, Audemars Piguet re-released its 23mm Mini Royal Oak, first created in 1997, in a slew of dazzling gold references, and TAG Heuer embraced its technicoloured 1980s by collaborating with fashion label Kith to revive its teeny cult classic Formula 1 watch. Hublot, better known for its big and brawny timepieces, added a 29mm version of its Classic Fusion watch. Oh, and Cartier shrank the Tank with a 24mm Mini Tank on a black alligator strap. Omega, meanwhile, added a host of new references to its 38mm Speedmaster line-up, including rose and yellow gold and diamond-set versions.
What women want remains a perpetual question, in life and in watches. And this year many brands set out to capture this burgeoning category. Hermès had particular cut-through with the launch of its new sportily chic 36mm Cut watch.
The Cut is not explicitly a “women’s watch” (and indeed in 2024, what is a women’s watch anyway?), but with its ease of wear and thoughtful design, it was designed with women in mind. It is also undeniably Hermès, with an elegantly off-kilter aesthetic and quirks such as the crown at 1.30 instead of the typical 3 o’clock.
Laurent Dordet, chief executive of Hermès Horloger, says the Cut was an important addition to the Hermès offering, especially following on from the launch of its male-focused sports watch, the Hermès H08, in 2021. “It is now time to round out our collections with a new line exclusively equipped with manufacture movements, primarily designed for women but with a universal style that men can also adopt,” Dordet says.
Many women also wear the H08 and Hermès hopes the Cut’s appeal will be similarly broad. “Our ambition was to create a contemporary watch with a simple, timeless shape that combines the house’s distinctive style with its watchmaking expertise ... At Hermès, we like to do things seriously without taking us too seriously,” he says.
Brands are seeing growth in the number of female clients but what those clients want has also changed. As IWC Schaffhausen chief executive Christoph Grainger-Herr notes, “I’m really excited by seeing how much the appreciation among women for mechanical watches has increased recently. It used to be a male dominated kind of industry”.
Face value
The impetus to impress was evident this year with brands such as Jaeger-LeCoultre, A. Lange & Söhne and Patek Philippe releasing highly complex watches. Cases in point? The Jaeger-Lecoultre Duometre Chronograph Moon and Patek Philippe’s World Time watch with a date display that synchronises with local time (and also, perhaps even more impressively, a leather strap that looks as though it is made from denim).
Meanwhile, Vacheron Constantin really swung for the fence with the release of The Berkley Grand Complication which, with its 63 complications broke the previous record, also held by the brand, for the world’s most complicated watch.
Golden hour
Yellow gold, favoured material of the properly glamorous, made a serious return, spied at Vacheron Constantin, Audemars Piguet, Cartier and of course, Rolex. To paraphrase Alec Baldwin’s character Blake in Glengarry Glen Ross, patron saint of the Rolex Day-Date watch, “always be closing”. Indeed.
Bling ring
From Cartier’s chunky, sculptural Reflection de Cartier cuff watches – one side is a mirror to reflect the dial and gem-set takes on the Cartier menagerie – to Piaget leaning into its golden era of design, glittering takes on time were a highlight of Watches and Wonders 2024. Piaget head of patrimony, Jean-Bernard Forot, says there’s an attraction to all things ’70s right now, with renewed appreciation for the glamorous releases Piaget created during that decade: twisted goldwork, coloured stone dials and sautoir timepieces. The appeal, says Forot, is that they immediately evoke the feeling of being somewhere fabulous, most likely yacht or cocktail adjacent.
Dressed to impress
The elegant simplicity of the dress watch ought never be overlooked. As Van Cleef & Arpels turned Richemont chief executive Nicolas Bos says, “sometimes to craft beautifully simple shapes, [it] requires a very complex technique”.
To wit, Cartier returned to the Tortue, first launched in 1912, for its always highly anticipated collector-focused Privé collection. IWC Schaffhausen experimented with new complications (and colours) for its Portugieser dress watch. And Jaeger-LeCoultre set aside its focus on its signature piece, the Reverso, for the Duometre, with the addition of a chronograph, moonphase, day-night indicator and a flying seconds complication at 6 o’clock, accurate to 1/6th of a second.
Matthieu Le Voyer, chief marketing officer at Jaeger-LeCoultre, says Reverso and Duometre both express something essential to the watchmaking house. “I think Jaeger-LeCoultre stands on two legs – style and technicality,” he says. “Reverso is more about style and [Duometre] is all about technicality.”
Sportif chic
The sports watch is not going anywhere, updated this year with new straps for the Polo at Piaget. Straps were also in focus at Hublot, where the integrated bracelets were a switch-up from its enduring penchant for rubber.
There were also innovative materials from brands such as Panerai, with its soon-to-be-patented Ti-Ceramitech for its new sailing-focused Submersible additions. Chopard, meanwhile, skeletonised the Chopard Alpine Eagle Skeleton 41 in a super lightweight titanium.
And talking shade? Blue and green remain colours of the season. Yellow gold’s return to this category, with solid gold dive watches from the likes of Rolex and Tudor, adds a deliciously glamorous and slightly subversive frisson, too.
This story is from the August issue of WISH.
