Watches and Wonders 2024: A Recap
We now have all of the beautiful new watches from brads like Tudor, Cartier and more..Then there's Rolex.
The second week in April always marks the advent of Watches and Wonders, the annual trade show in Geneva Switzerland where watch geeks like myself flock from around the world (either to Switzerland or in most cases, to Instagram) to catch a glimpse of all of the new watches from some of our favorite brands. Of course, Rolex is the big draw, but it’s the first time the world sees the newest pieces from brands like Cartier, Tudor, Grand Seiko, Vacheron Constantin, Patek Philippe, and many more. It’s one of my favorite sartorial weeks of the year, and I was locked into what was going on across the pond.
Let’s jump into the biggest brand in the world - Rolex. I want to get this out of the way now: Rolex’s releases were underwhelming. The coolest watches the brand announced this year were all Day-Dates - the rose gold with a black dial and the yellow gold with a lacquered white dial (above, second in from the left) being standouts. Other than that, all releases were tacky. A solid gold Deepsea with a blue face? A rose gold Skydweller? An iced-out mother-of-pearl Daytona? Bad, bad, and triple bad! The brand feels like it’s trying to capitalize on precious metals while its stock is still high, turning out higher margin items to drain its customer base of its skrilla before the bubble bursts. It’s out of touch, and frankly a little insulting. The thing is that Rolex knows that it is king. They’re the only brand in the world that knows people will come if they build it. It doesn’t matter to them. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again: vintage Rolex > modern Rolex. Vintage Rolexes are their own kind of elegant.
Tudor on the other hand came out with two powerhouse watches that seemed to win over audiences more than anything Rolex released. The first is the Black Bay 58 GMT - a smaller GMT watch measuring in at 39mm in diameter and 11.9mm thick, which is smaller and thinner than the original Black Bay GMT. With the recent push for watches to go smaller, many watch enthusiasts have been asking Tudor to release a more wearable GMT. The biggest trend in watches at the moment is to wear smaller, more vintage-inspired pieces. It’s great seeing a major watch brand listen to its customers. Tudor also released the Black Bay in black and white. At first glance, there’s nothing too special about the watch, but I think it’ll be known as one of the most wearable watches from this year’s Watches and Wonders. It’s a remake of the original black bay with more refined design features and a slimmer profile. Last year, Tudor released the inaugural watch in this new Black Bay lineup with the Black Bay Burgundy (which my king Brock Purdy wore on his wedding day). This year’s takes its queues from a vintage Rolex Submariner and will be the perfect go-anywhere, do-anything for people with all wrist sizes.
Other highlights include Cartier, who released a handful of new watches, the star of which being the Santos Dumont in grey with an 18K gold trim. Vacheron Constantin released a beautiful assortment of new green and gold Overseas models that will probably be remembered as the best watches of the show when it’s all said and done.
My favorite watch from the event has to go to the new Nomos Tangente 38 celebrating 175 years of watchmaking. This was Nomos’ first year as a part of Watches & Wonders and they exceeded expectations with this series of 31 colorful, vibrant watches. Each watch is limited to 175 pieces for the 175 years of Nomos watchmaking. These Bauhaus design pieces feel “big-brained" - smart and casual with options to dress up and down with the change of a strap.
I loved several colorways and had them sitting in my cart on Hodinkee for a couple of days as I pondered whether or not to hit the “purchase” button. I ultimately decided not to buy one because I don’t suffer from bottomless bag syndrome and I need to be more strategic. Also, I’m in the process of downsizing the collection.
This year felt a bit underwhelming overall. There were beautiful watches unveiled by other brands like Patek Philippe (the Aquanaut Travel Time being my favorite - pictured above) and Lange, but I felt there was much to be desired by the end of the week. As a person with a regular job and no shortage of fiscal responsibilities, I dream of being able to cop my next luxury piece, but I don’t have the liquidity to just drop in at the AD and spend an insulting amount of money on a Vacheron Constantin, no matter how tempting it may be.
Watches and Wonders is great to enjoy from afar. I’m a voyeur in this world of luxury watches where I feel very fortunate to own a couple but know it’s not a game I can participate in liberally. I wish more affordable brands would have a booth at the show. I know the point is that the event is for luxury watches, which then inform the remainder of the watch market, but let’s get some Seikos in there. Would you love for them to unveil a new collection of Seiko Turtles? Maybe throw in a GMT function. Announce an expansion of Christopher Ward’s Twelve line. Give us a Tissot PRX in Purple, damnit! Imagine if Casio is releasing 31 new colors of G-Shock CasiOaks while Rolex is next door dropping their worst watches…maybe ever. The boy can dream.
Peace and Love