TheChek News Flow

From the best new shape and fresh takes on refreshed classics to the queen of complications and a jewel that tells time, WWD’s editors pinpoint their favorite new pieces from Watches and Wonders — and those that almost made the cut.

Best New Classic: Patek Philippe 5738 1R Golden Ellipse, $60,097

The Ellipse case, inspired by the golden ratio, is without doubt a timeless shape that became a byword for Patek Philippe in the 1970s and has continued to be successful. But what hit the bull’s-eye this year isn’t the ultra-thin self-winding 240 caliber or even the black sunburst dial that compliments the rose gold livery of the piece: it’s the 363 links mounted by hand of its bracelet. The fact that it can now be adjusted by the wearer without requiring a jeweler to cut it permanently to size had conversations going in Geneva.

Runner-up: The Cartier Tank Américaine Mini, with its tiny 24mm dimension.

Best Complication Combination: IWC Schaffhausen Portugieser Eternal Calendar, approx. $164,300

Watchmakers are always pushing the boundaries of what is possible and that’s what IWC Schaffhausen delivered with this 44mm model, which is the first secular perpetual calendar that will be accurate until 3999, adjusting for the skipped leap years at the start of every century until the leap year of 2400. What’s more: Its moonphase will be accurate for 45 million years. Yes, you read that right. And that’s a record that more than doubles the previous milestone, also held by IWC.

Runner-up: Vacheron Constantin with its one-of-a-kind Les Cabinotiers Berkley Grand Complication, which has a jaw-dropping 63 complications — including the first traditional Chinese perpetual calendar.

Best Technical Feat: Piaget Altiplano Ultimate Concept Tourbillon, est. 600,000 euros

By the end of the fair, there wasn’t much left to say about the Piaget AUC Tourbillon, which wowed with its coin-like thickness and its 1.49mm tourbillon movement wedged between a wafer of sapphire and cobalt alloy. All this in a wristwatch that no one could resist trying on, if social media is anything to go by.

Runner-up: Patek Philippe World Time 5330G-001, the first world-time caliber to have a local date.

Best New Shape: Hermès Cut, From $6,725

A circular dial within a pebble-like round with sharply cut sides, the Hermès Cut made for an interesting shape that balanced a geometric feel with a rounded sportiness. One of the biggest novelties for the French house for this year, this model is geared toward a female consumer looking for an easy yet elegant timekeeper. With a variety of options that range from steel on an integrated bracelet to steel-and-gold on rubber offered in eight colors for now, all with the same quick-release mechanism that allows for easy swapping, the Hermès Cut is meant to reiterate the performance of the H08 watch introduced in 2021 and bring new impetus to Hermès’ successful watchmaking division.

Runner-up: The Cartier Tortue, a classic brought back to life by the “watchmaker of shapes.”

Best Chronograph: Tag Heuer Monaco Split-seconds Chronograph, approx. $150,000

On paper this chronograph has the pedigree and the lineage. In person, it’s a fine watch that honors the split-seconds “queen of complications” movement, an entirely new one developed by Tag Heuer’s director of high-end watchmaking and movements strategy Carole Kasapi with Vaucher Manufacture Fleurier. A case lightened thanks to grade-5 titanium and sapphire on both sides allows every detail, right down to the gradient stripe on the oscillating mass, to shine. This Monaco iteration edged out its nearest competitor for its unique form factor.

Runner-up: A. Lange & Söhne Datograph Perpetuel Tourbillon Honeygold “Lumen,” three complications packed in one glow-in-the-dark package, which marks the 25th anniversary of the Datograph line and 30th anniversary of the brand.

Best Jewel That Gives Time: Reflection de Cartier, From $38,900

There are bracelet watches and then there’s this new bangle by Cartier. Sculptural and sizable, this bold design hits the spot for today’s jewelry consumer too. There’s the plain gold versions but it comes in more-is-more gem-set variants that culminate with the opal, tiger eye, amethyst and spessartite garnet model. And the watch face reflected in the polished side of the bangle feels like a nod to another Cartier move of the fair, the Santos Dumont Rewind.

Runner-up: A tie between Piaget’s latest Swinging Sautoir and Van Cleef & Arpels’ Lady Arpels Nuit Enchantée prototype watch, with its raw purple sapphires mimicking a geode cavern and cluster of façonné enamel flowers, a patented technique the house has recently developed.

Best Chunk of Gold: Rolex Deepsea, $52,100

Imagine this one as a third of a gold ingot you can wear on your wrist, with deep-sea credentials to boot. Clocking in at 320 grams, this is not just any divers’ watch. Coming in an unusual combination of 18-karat gold — already a first for the genre — paired with ceramic element and RLX titanium, it marks the emergence of the Deepsea as a pillar for the watchmaking behemoth.

Runner-up: Tudor’s 18-karat yellow gold Black Bay reference 79018V39-mm, with a matte green dial and a T-fit clasp on its yellow gold bracelet.

If the main hub for watchmaking during Geneva’s watch-centric week remained Palexpo, home to Watches and Wonders, there were no shortage of events reflecting the vibrancy of the industry.

The Haute Ecole d’Art et de Design (HEAD) hosted the “Time to Watches” group exhibition, which featured around 50 brands, while the Académie Horlogère des Créateurs Indépendants (or Watchmaking Academy of Independent Creators) showcased 20 signatures under the Masters of Horology banner including Philippe Dufour, Kari Voutilainen and Louis Vuitton Watch Prize inaugural winner Raúl Pagès.

Meanwhile, others opted to showcase in their factories, like F.P. Journe, or set up in the Beau-Rivage hotel, which has turned over the years into a hotbed of independent projects. Jewelers were showing off their horological creations, and those that did not also tapped into the moment to showcase selections of gems that could mesh with the precious direction also felt in timepieces.

Bulgari

The maze-like rooms at the top floor of Geneva’s Hotel President Wilson were bursting with excitement for Bulgari’s new record-breaking, 1.70mm-thick Octo Finissimo Ultra COSC, the thinnest mechanical watch resistant to shocks and magnetic fields, as well as the thinnest COSC-certified chronometer.

Yet amid some new configurations for its signature Octo Finissimo Tourbillon and Octo Roma collections, another range stole the spotlight.

In a first for the Roman jeweler and watchmaker, the Serpenti Tubogas collection got an artistic makeover by famed Japanese architect Tadao Ando, who had previously collaborated with the house in 2020 and 2021 for the Octo Finissimo range.

Conceived as an homage to the passing of seasons, four new limited-edition Serpenti watches were reimagined with colored marquetry dials of green aventurine, tiger’s eye, and white and pink mother-of-pearl. The snake head-shaped case is crowned by a row of diamonds on each side.

“I aim to integrate the various forces at play, to restore the unity of architecture with nature,” Ando said in a statement provided by Bulgari.

Each of the four pieces will be released timed with their respective season. Summer’s green aventurine version comes with a mixed media yellow gold and steel Tubogas bracelet, while autumn, with a tiger’s eye dial, features a rose gold bracelet and pink rubellite stone on the crown. The white mother-of-pearl’s wintry edition has a steel case and bracelet, while spring, dropping next year, mounts the pink mother-of-pearl dial on a steel and rose gold bracelet.

For diehard Serpenti Tubogas fans, Bulgari is also releasing 20 special boxes that include the four timepieces as an ensemble.

Damiani

In the year of its centenary and on the heels of unveiling an exhibition in Milan titled “Damiani 100 x 100 Italiani,” which runs through April 28, high jeweler Damiani is increasingly looking to enhance its reputation in the high watchmaking sphere.

Playing by the rulebook of a fine jewelry brand, the Italian company decamped to Geneva, harnessing its “Mimosa” lineup for new bejeweled quartz movement timepieces, which come in a range of colorways and are embellished with diamonds.

The house described the line’s design ethos as “apparent chaos” for the seemingly haphazard placement of gemstones. A new 32mm timepiece featuring a soleillé dial in green, blue, red, gray or brown, among other colors, boasts 3.44 carats of diamonds arranged in two rows around the bezel to create a blossom-like pattern, while a sister version adds a diamond pavé dial to the equation for a total of 4.03 carats.

ID Genève

“A watch as secure as a Swiss passport,” said cofounder and chief executive officer Nicolas Freudiger of the Elements collection he teased in private appointments. “In 2024, we are wondering how to lower our digital footprint.”

Using a patented nanoengraving technology usually used for bank notes and government-issued IDs resulted in unique holographic dials. But rather than just ensuring traceability and authenticity without CO2 emissions — no cloud-powered data storage here — the designs inspired by the four elements and humanity are a reminder of our place within a living ecosystem that needs to be preserved at all costs.

And that’s what ID Genève is all about. The four-year-old company, which has been working toward zero impact in its product and operations, has been using solar steel (with a carbon footprint 165 times smaller than regular steel), straps made from wine residue or tree waste from London parks and seaweed packaging that can dissolve in water within hours.

With an average price of 4,500 Swiss francs, the brand has been growing steadily since it was crowdfunded in late 2020, selling 600 watches last year and targeting 1,000 pieces in 2024.

The fledgling watchmaker was awarded B Corp status in October 2023 and raised a $2 million seed round that famously included Leonardo DiCaprio among its investors.

Philipp Plein

Upon his second effort, Philipp Plein sounded both more determined and more focused than a year ago when he took over a suite at the Fairmont Hotel to unveil his venture in the high watchmaking universe.

“Last year this was a small experiment, which played very well for us,” the designer and entrepreneur said. “We are really competing with other big brand names, which have a lot of history and tradition. And of course, we are [bursting into] this industry….Selling such a luxury item, you need to talk a lot, you need to explain a lot, you need to educate a lot, yourself and your people,” he said, adding that the new category has brought in customers unfamiliar with the brand’s fashion proposition.

Unveiling the new collection at a recently opened pop-up shop facing Lake Geneva, Plein pulled out the brand’s first tourbillon, dubbed Crypto King Flying Tourbillon, and mounting a bespoke manual winding, flying coaxial tourbillon Landeron caliber exposed via the skeletonized dial.

The case bearing a distinctive hexagonal pattern comes in four color combinations, including fiery red and clear white, black and white, black and orange, as well as in black carbon version accented with 18-karat rose gold screws, side cage and crown.

The loud and complication-rich design is complemented by the Crypto King Hexagon tonneau-shaped watch featuring the hexagon pattern throughout, including at the center of the dial framing the brand’s double P logo, and a Swiss-made automatic movement visible from the open caseback.

SpaceOne

For SpaceOne cofounders Guillaume Laidet and Théo Auffret, presenting their second subscription timepiece at the Beau-Rivage hotel in Geneva was something of a moonshot — and that’s not a play on its complication featuring the sun, earth and moon orbiting each other.

Just under a year earlier, the French horological start-up had raised $1 million on Kickstarter for their first watch, under the moniker “Argon SpaceOne,” when a trademark infringement complaint saw their initial launch abruptly aborted, with backers refunded and astronomical bills.

“It was quite the comedown,” said 37-year-old Laidet, who is also CEO and co-owner of independent watch brand Nivada Grenchen.

Long story short, after a frightening passage solved by changing the name to SpaceOne, their initial futuristic design took flight once more as they raised the funds a second time. A new French watchmaking label was born.

Fast-forward a few months and for the second one, “Guillaume arrived saying he wanted ‘planets, planets,’ and I had a model tellurium in the workshop,” recalled Paris-based watchmaker Auffret, who won the F.P. Journe young talent competition at 2018’s SIHH.

While the SpaceOne Tellurium owes its sleek outline to the work of Olivier Gamiette, who designs vehicles at Peugeot, and houses Auffret’s automatic “heliocentric tellurium” movement that sees the trio of celestial bodies move to indicate the date, the watch is priced at a mere 2,990 euros.

Although the preorder runs until May 5, more than two-thirds of the initial 300-strong run for the Tellurium have sold, with 100-plus pieces going before the watch was even revealed.