– By Logan Baker
It's been a little over one week since the conclusion of the luxury watch industry's largest annual exhibiton: Watches & Wonders Geneva. I was fortunate to attend the show for nearly every one of its seven days to meet with the brands and handle their latest releases.
I've spent the past week or so contemplating what I learned during the show. What were the dominant trends and themes taking place inside Geneva’s cavernous Palexpo convention center? I tried to nail it down to 10 bullet points that take all of Watches & Wonders into consideration, in addition to the many other events taking place throughout the city.
Here’s what you should know or be thinking about when reviewing all the latest releases and novelties from what is our wonderful industry's busiest time of the year.
1.) 'Transitional' Is The Word Of The Year
There's a lot of uncertainty in our lives these days – and the watch market is no exception to that.
We don't know what the world will look like a year from now, and though so-called "Doom Spending" is said to be on the rise among the Gen-Z cohort, there are plenty of watch buyers that prefer to stash their money underneath their mattress for a rainy day rather than drop thousands of dollars on a luxury timepiece.
Watch brands aren't immune to these forces. Underneath the glitter and shine of Watches & Wonders you could feel a current of anxiety coursing through the show. Many brand representatives I spoke with honed in on the word "transitional" to describe their new releases. The word clearly means different things to different brands, but it's easy to see when reviewing the new releases en masse: New dial colors and case metal updates were the focus rather than tangible upgrades to movements or experimental new designs.
There might be good news on the horizon, though. Numerous brand representatives told me they expect this intermediate period to only last through the end of 2024.
2.) Brands Are Focused On Higher Price Points
A consequence of the current "transitional" phase is that brands are relying more and more on their wealthiest clients.
One of the big introductions from Rolex was a heavy-duty Deep-Sea dive watch in 18k yellow gold priced at over $50,000. The second iteration of its 1908 dress watch, first released last year, came in the stately sheen of platinum rather than something more utilitarian. Patek Philippe dressed the Aquanaut Luce in as many gemstones as we've ever seen (and dropped the dated ladies' nomenclature for the model as well).
Tudor outfitted the Black Bay 58 in 18k yellow gold with a matching bracelet. Parmigiani's asking price for its gorgeous, new time-only Toric starts at over $50,000. A. Lange & Söhne is asking $620,000 for its anniversary Datograph Perpetual Lumen in proprietary Honeygold. Panerai's hero piece was a skeletonized tourbillon gmt tied into its sponsorship of the Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli sailing team.
It was even reflective outside the Palexpo grounds; F.P. Journe came out with a new rainbow élégante. However, the use of gradient ceramic sapphire stones rather than actual gems meant the price of the high-tech quartz watch was only CHF 40,000 rather than an above six-figure sum.
3.) New Collections Were Few And Far Between
Although rumors abound of Patek Philippe's plans to release a new casual-luxury line of watches later this year, the actual number of new collections unveiled during Watches & Wonders was few and far between. In fact, out of the dozens of brands I met with during the show, the only new collection I handled came courtesy Czapek & Cie., with the Promenade collection that is both attractive and interesting.
Although I didn't meet with them personally during Watches & Wonders, discussion swirled about Bremont's controversial new direction. Under the leadership of new CEO and industry veteran (of Tudor and Montblanc) Davide Cerrato, and with new sources of funding from investor Bill Ackman, Bremont revealed a new brand vision consisting of an updated logo and new-look collections that will seemingly replace the brand's older designs.
The reaction at the fair among press and retailers was muted, with many individuals I spoke with seemingly unhappy with the new leadership's decision to abandon certain signature aspects of the brand's previous watchmaking, such as the hardened stainless steel alloys and the Trip-Tick case construction. Even more disappointingly, the brand has signaled that they'll be moving away from the made-in-Britain caliber ENG300 that was unveiled less than three years ago, at the end of 2021, in favor of sourcing tried-and-true Swiss-made ébauche movements.
On the other end of the spectrum, Parmigiani's overhaul of the Toric collection deserves a positive mention for its attractiveness and subtlety.
4.) However, Some Small Changes (Like Dial Color!) Can Make A Big Difference
Dial color changes are often derided by collectors and press as a lazy way of creating a new SKU for a brand's catalog, but in the hands of a talented designer and product director, a pantone swap can really create the feeling of an entirely new watch.
Ferdinand Berthoud embraced the power of color with a new customization tool that allows potential customers to experiment with different dial and bridge colors and various finishes on its FB RES line of watches without abandoning the company's antiquarian design philosophy.
NOMOS released 31 different limited-edition variations of its manual-wind Tangente 38 Date, all colorful and attractive in different ways. IWC impressed with a range of new "Dune" and "Horizon Blue" dial options throughout the Portugieser series, slightly overshadowing the reveal of a new Portugieser case profile.
Rolex, Chopard, Patek Philippe, and Grand Seiko also primarily focused on aesthetic updates in their Watches & Wonders releases.
5.) Cartier Is Still The Talk Of Geneva
The brand that seemed to dominate conversation throughout the fair halls was once again Cartier. It felt like I couldn't go out to dinner or speak with industry friends without a discussion of Cartier's new releases. More so than Rolex or Patek Philippe, Cartier seems to have a stranglehold on the imaginations of collectors and press.
The most-discussed Cartier releases were, naturally, a reintroduction of the beloved Tortue, offered as part of the exclusive Privè collection, in both the Tortue's traditional time-only form as well as a pair of monopusher chronographs that revive the beloved original Tortue Monopusher Chronograph from the 1990s. Notably, the latter uses the manual-wind caliber 1928 MC, a brand-new in-house shaped chronograph movement by Cartier that borrows some architectural elements from existing Cartier movements but incorporates a chronograph mechanism developed for Cartier by Le Cercle des Horlogers.
Other crowd favorites from the Cartier booth this year include a new Santos Dumont that tells the time backward (yes, really), a Santos de Cartier Dual Time, and a teeny-tiny Tank Mini LC that measures just 24mm x 16.5mm and utilizes a quartz movement.
Cartier continues to give the people exactly what they want!
6.) Zenith Makes A Dive Watch
One of the most personally exciting developments of this year's show came over at Zenith. For one of the first times in the 21st century – if not the very first time this century – Zenith has released a dive watch with an external rotating bezel!
And they did it in picture-perfect style, too, by releasing the incredibly funky Defy Revival Diver A3648 (ref. 03.A3648.670/21.M3648), which is an immaculate recreation of the very first Defy dive watch, the A3648, which was released in 1969 and offered an incredible-for-the-era water-resistance rating of up to 600 meters.
Of course, the new Revival Diver offers the same level of waterproofness – and they also recreated the original 37mm dimensions in stainless steel, as well as an identical five-link bracelet, the same pressure-fitted bezel construction (which utilizes a sapphire crystal insert rather than what I presume was Bakelite on the original watch), and the same exact shade of safety orange throughout the dial and bezel. Inside is Zenith's automatic Elite 670 movement. It's an early contender for one of my favorite watches of the year.
But the Revival wasn't all the only dive watch Zenith announced during the show – they introduced an entirely new model, still in the Defy family, but part of the Defy Extreme sub-collection. The Defy Extreme line is exactly what it sounds like – a brawnier, more contemporary take on the Defy formula. And the Defy Extreme Diver doesn't shy away from that description. At launch, the Defy Extreme Diver in offered in two variations, both cased in an angular 42.5mm brushed titanium case, with your choice of a black or blue dial.
The A3648's younger sibling has a much edgier look but retains the same water resistance rating of 600 meters. One key difference, however, is the movement inside: the Defy Extreme Diver runs off the time-and-date, high-beat El Primero 3620 SC movement that debuted a few years back.
The Defy Extreme Diver is, well, extreme – and the Defy Revival Diver isn't much more conventional looking. Some people will gravitate toward the design choices (I love the extra-wide, shovel-like handset), others won't. But it's just exciting to be able to say Zenith has a complete range of dive watches for the first time in literal decades.
7.) Thin Is Still In
It's been over a decade now since Bulgari released the first version of its Octo Finissimo timepiece, and with it, ushering in an era of watchmakers embracing the challenge of crafting a wearable mechanical wristwatch that pushes the absolute limits of thinness.
Bulgari and thin-watchmaking stalwart Piaget seemed to be locked into a ping-pong match of who could outdo each other with a new release every year.
And then, on a random early July weekday in 2022, an unexpected contender revealed what looked to be an unbeatable achievement in ultra-thin watchmaking. Richard Mille released the RM UP-01 Ferrari, in collaboration with the Italian automaker, which measured an unbelievable 1.75mm in height when cased, topping Bulgari's previous record for a time-only watch's thinness by exactly. 0.05mm.
The week of Watches & Wonders Geneva 2024 brought out new ultra-thin challengers. Inside the Palexpo, Piaget unveiled its Altiplano Concept Tourbillon, which measures just 2mm in height, setting a new record for the world's thinnest wristwatch with tourbillon. Bulgari doesn't officially take part in Watches & Wonders, but the brand's watchmaking division did set up shop inside the Ritz-Carlton in town to officially reveal the latest iteration of its Octo Finissimo Ultra platform. The new version of the watch measures just 1.7mm in thickness, beating Richard Mille's record by – once again – exactly 0.5mm.
It's amazing how the smallest of margins – literal tenths of a millimeter – continues to spur on the watch world's hottest product development rivalry. We'll have to wait and see if Richard Mille, or Piaget, have something up their sleeves in the next few months or years.
8.) Complicated Watchmaking Had Its Moment In The Sun
This ties back into bullet point number two earlier. Brands are developing more expensive products to continue to attract the business of the wealthiest of clients in a transitional moment for all aspects of the watch world. And one of the easiest ways to increase the price of a luxury wristwatch (and also one of the most difficult ways, when you consider the pure watchmaking manpower required) is to add a complication – or 63 of them.
That's exactly what Vacheron Constantin did at Watches & Wonders. They revealed the Les Cabinotier Berkley Grand Complication, a one-of-a-kind 18k white gold pocket watch with 63 – sixty-three! – separate complications, 245 jewels, 2,877 components, and a fighting weight of over two pounds. The Berkley, as it's called, was commisioned by an American client (who is also the proverbial Mr., or Ms., Berkley), and took over a year of work by a team of Vacheron's most talented watchmakers to finish – which they did only two days before Watches & Wonders opened its doors.
The Berkley Grand Complication is now the world's most complicated watch of any kind, surpassing its own record, set in 2015 with the 57260 Grand Complicaton pocket watch. In addition to the Berkley, Vacheron also released a number of fairly incremental updates to the Overseas, Traditionelle, and Patrimony lines at the fair – a trend we can also at its sister Richemont watch brand, IWC.
In addition to the very compelling dial and case profile updates seen in the Portugieser collection that I mentioned under bullet point #4, IWC came out with what it calls the Eternal Calendar. Also a part of the Portugieser family, the new Eternal Calendar has a secular perpetual calendar that is capable of displaying the correct date every day until at least February 28, 4000, as well as what is now the world's most accurate moon-phase display on a wristwatch, surpassing Andreas Strehler's previous record, with a single day of variation every 45 million years.
Other brands that came to Geneva with the intent to impress include De Bethune, which took its meetings at the Beau-Rivage Hotel, with the release of the DB Kind of Grande Complication. This new, dual-sided wristwatch features De Bethune's signature space-age aesthetics and a total of eight of De Bethune's "technical innovations," as well as a tourbillon, that the brand has pioneered or become known for in its 22 years of existence.
Over at La Réserve, Bovet was available for appointments, where it showed off the Récital 28, a new type of world-time wristwatch that takes daylight savings into account for all the world's time-zones by using a unique roller system that is really quite captivating. It's believed to be the first travel-time wristwatch to completely adapt to the limitations of daylight savings time and other international timekeeping oddities.
9.) We're All Hoping For A Big Anniversary Year From A. Lange & Söhne
A. Lange & Söhne only released one watch last year during Watches & Wonders Geneva 2023. They did better this year – they had two new wristwatches to show off to press, retailers, and curious clients. Both watches were from the Datograph family, and were, expectedly, as brilliant as they were attractive. There's a more traditional limited-edition Datograph with a blue dial and that's cased in 18k white gold, making it the first Datograph ever offered in the metal. And then there's the incredible Datograph Perpetual Tourbillon Honeygold “Lumen,” that – yes – is exactly as it sounds: the Datograph chronograph, paired with a perpetual calendar and a tourbillon, inside case made from the brand's proprietary Honeygold alloy and features the coveted, and extremely rare, "Lumen" aesthetic orientation. You could call it the "ultimate" A. Lange & Söhne wristwatch for collectors – I wouldn't argue with you.
These two Datograph models were announced to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Datograph's legacy-defining 1999 introduction. That's wonderful – however, 2024 happens to mark a large number of other important anniversaries for the brand as well. It's officially 30 years since A. Lange & Söhne was successfully reborn under the leadership of Günter Blümlein and descendent Walter Lange, which also means this year is also the 30th birthday for the brand's founding four collections: the Lange 1, the Saxonia, the Arkade, and the Tourbillon Pour Le Mérite. The Arkade has long since been discontinued – but wouldn't it be incredible to see a limited-edition revival of Lange's original shaped wristwatch? The Lange 1 and Saxonia have remained a critical part of A. Lange & Söhne's existence every year since its rebirth – and the "Pour Le Mérite" nomenclature has been in active use, albeit far more limited than the Lange 1 and Saxonia, ever since 1994 as well.
Oh, and this year also happens to mark the 15th anniversary for the Zeitwerk – another legacy-defining wristwatch for A. Lange & Söhne. It's clear our German watchmaking friends like to incorporate a base-five annum system for their big introductions, but it can quickly become overwhelming for clients – and watchmakers. Especially since it's common knowledge among A. Lange & Söhne's client base that they're struggled to deliver product ever since the pandemic reared its ugly head four years ago. My understanding is that the titanium version of the Odysseus, revealed at Watches & Wonders 2022, is just now being delivered to the first round of clients. That's two years of waiting for those lucky to receive their watch in the first batch.
A. Lange & Söhne has followed a fairly conventional release schedule the past few years. They release something noteworthy during Watches & Wonders, followed by a late summer introduction that's typically an incremental update focused on aesthetics or mechanical upgrades, with a final tentpole release in late October, to celebrate the official date that brand relaunched in 1994 (October 24).
Is there enough space on the calendar for A. Lange & Söhne to support all these different models with commemorative releases? And how will they manage client expectations over the delivery of existing orders with the production of potentially a large number of special-edition products?
Unfortunately, I have no answers as of right now – as always, we'll just have to wait and see what happens in the coming months.
10.) The Show Needs To Embrace More Brands
Watches & Wonders Geneva 2024 expanded significantly this year, opening up an entirely new hall in the Palexpo to welcone an assortment of new brands, including fan-favorites, value-driven watchmakers, such as Nomos Glashütte, Norqain, Frederique Constant, Alpina, Eberhard & Co., and Bremont.
The fair organizers were rewarded for this effort. They welcomed more than 49,000 individual attendees, including international retailers, press, high-profile clients, and street-level collectors (who were allowed to purchase a ticket to attend the show during its final three days). That's nearly a quarter of Geneva's residential population! It's a massive boon to the organizers, the city, and the participating brands.
Watches & Wonders is still a young show. This is only the third post-pandemic show it's held in Geneva as the industry's leading luxury watch syow – prior Watches & Wonders exhibitions took place occasionally throughout the 2010s in far-flung locales such as Miami and Hong Kong. The show is effectively a larger version of what was previously the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie (SIHH), which was founded in the early 1990s as a competitor to Baselworld by the Vendôme Group (now known as Richemont). SIHH and Baselworld remained competitors from 1991 until 2019. Baselworld was a (largely self-induced, unfortunately) pandemic casualty, which forced a significant number of Baselworld's top brands (Rolex, Patek Philippe, Chopard, Chanel, Tudor, Grand Seiko) plus a few other popular Swiss-based makers such as Oris, Bell & Ross, etc.
But despite its growth, the Watches & Wonders Geneva exhibition is still unfortunately still living a significant number of deserving brands out. I spoke with a number of midsize watch brands with decades of history, strong turnover, and very productive businesses that have been repeatedly turned down a spot inside the Palexpo. Other shows, such as Time To Watches and the AHCI exhibition have popped up to accept these brands in Geneva during the same time period as Watches & Wonders, allowing these worthwhile brands to still meet with the huge convergence of journalists, retailers, and collectors that descend on the city.
But I'm looking forward to the future, where I hope an even larger version of Watches & Wonders is able to accept a few dozen more brands that deserve a position alongside our industry's biggest names.
Five Favorites
- Parmigiani Toric Rattrapante
- Zenith Defy Revival Diver A3648
- Hajime Asaoka Tsunami 'As Time Goes By'
- A. Lange & Söhne Datograph Perpetual 'Lumen' in Honeygold
- Jaeger-LeCoultre Duometre Quantieme Lunaire
Honorable Mention: Anton Suhanov Chronotope, Behrens Master Kung Fu, Bernhard Lederer Central Impulse Chronometer 39mm, De Bethune DB28 XS Purple Rain, Grand Seiko Evolution 9 Collection Manual-Wind Mechanical Hi-Beat 36000 80 Hours SLGW003, Hautlence Retrovision '47, IWC Portugieser Perpetual Calendar 44 'Dune' IW503704, IWC Portugieser Automatic 40 Black IW358401, Laurent Ferrier Galet Annual Calendar Classic Moon Blue, Marathon Jeep Rubicon SAR Automatic, Patek Philippe Perpetual Calendar 5236P, Rolex Perpetual 1908 Platinum, Sinn 103 St Ty Hd, Trilobe Heure Exquise, Vianney Halter Art Deco Metropolis
About Phillips In Association With Bacs & Russo
The team of specialists at PHILLIPS Watches is dedicated to an uncompromised approach to quality, transparency, and client service. Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo holds the world record for the most successful watch auction, with its Geneva Watch Auction: XIV having realized $74.5 million in 2021. Over the course of 2021 and 2022, the company sold 100% of the watches offered, a first in the industry, resulting in the highest annual total in history across all the auction houses at $227 million.
About Logan Baker
Logan has spent the past decade reporting on every aspect of the watch business. He joined Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo at the start of 2023 as the department's Senior Editorial Manager. He splits his time between New York and Geneva.
Recommended Reading
Specialists' Picks: Watches & Wonders Geneva 2024
10 Thoughts And Observations On Watches & Wonders 2023
The Fine Print: Fifteen Years Of The A. Lange & Söhne Zeitwerk