If you are new here, you might ask yourself, what the hell is Watches & Wonders?!. Well, we always put it this way… imagine a fashion week but for watches: all the nerds (49000 to be precise), specialists and craftsmen packed in one place. It’s a horology blast in a few days and it’s that period of the year when most watch brands present their novelties.
It took me some time this year to be able to digest all the news presented and make a list of watches which stood out. We don’t need to read an article the size of a book with all the specific details and all the new watches listed, do we? We just need the good ones here…
Cartier Santos-Dumont
Following the successful release two years ago of the Santos-Dumont in a lacquered finish, Cartier presented three new models with colourful details – in olive green, peacock blue and taupe grey, with cases in platinum, rose gold and yellow gold respectively. Maintaining its design, this square-shaped sleek slim watch is the epitome of a dress watch. The translucent lacquer does an incredible job elevating the finish of these already elegant square-shaped pieces, and in my opinion, the green variation looks the best. It beats with a manual-winding movement and offers a relatively short power reserve of 38 hours. If only it were not limited to 200 pieces.
IWC The Portugieser Eternal Calendar
Here is the thing. If you want to flex and showcase horology at the highest level, this is it. Not only has this watch all those beautiful complications, but here actual eternity is within reach. What does that mean? IWC introduced their first secular perpetual calendar, which won’t need adjusting until 3999 (unlike a “classic” perpetual calendar that will need a correction in 2100), and a moon phase indicator that will remain accurate for 45 million years! That’s how accurate this watch is. Of course, to keep the watch beating while not on the wrist, it comes with a power reserve of 168 hours. And it’s a great looker too. For more, visit IWC.com.
Patek Philippe Golden Ellipse
Sport models from the luxury Swiss watchmaker might have taken most of the spotlight in the last couple of years, but as we are finally going back to smaller, dressier watches, it’s time for Golden Ellipse to shine again. This circle/rectangle rose gold watch with an attached chain bracelet is not something new – it has been around since the 80s – but this is the first “larger”-sized model, which measures 34.5 by 39.5mm. It’s only 5.9mm thick, which makes it the slimmest watch in Patek’s standard portfolio. It houses a self-winding movement with a power reserve of 48 hours. For more info, visit Patek’s webpage.
Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Ultra Thin Perpetual Calendar
For Watches & Wonders, the brand revisited their most popular complications, and while it might look similar on the surface to the previous versions, the model got a subtle design refresh and most importantly a mechanical update. Especially it boosted the power reserve of 70 hours: a great improvement over the previous 38 hours. And that’s what we need for such a watch with such features. With a case diameter of 39mm in a very slim profile, it makes it an elegant piece and while these types of watches are not primarily done for seaside activities, it’s good to know that it has a water resistance of 50m. It comes in three variations of two pink gold and one steel version. For more, visit JLC’s website.
Tudor Black Bay 58 in yellow gold
Tudor knows well how popular their Black Bay line is and so keeps expanding it. That’s something we welcome a lot. The 18k yellow gold case appears more with a satin finished, rather than being a “bling-bling” shiny one, giving it an almost bronze like appearance that beautifully compliments the green bezel. The vintage aesthetic is something Tudor nails perfectly. With a case diameter of 39mm, 200m of water resistance and the solid gold bracelet featuring a 3-link design and the very comfortable Tudor T-Fit clasp (with 8mm of micro-adjustment), this is not only a piece of jewellery, but a proper tool watch. And of course, it’s “weekend proof” – meaning with a power reserve of 70 hours, it can be taken off for the weekend and picked up again on Monday without any issue. For more, jump onto Tudor’s website.
Piaget Altiplano Ultimate Concept Tourbillon 150th Anniversary
Now imagine a watch, which is only 2mm thick. To help you out, it’s the size of a coin. This year, the Maison Piaget celebrates their 150th anniversary since Georges-Edouard Piaget opened up his first workshop in La Côte-aux-Fées in 1874. While there were watches about the same thickness introduced in the past, to celebrate this sesquicentennial anniversary, Piaget introduced another dark blue version of its 2mm-thin Altiplano. But this time pushing again the watchmaking possibilities and including a Tourbillon in it. Frankly, the design is not that much to our liking, but we admire the impressive example of micro engineering. It’s beyond our imagination how all the components can fit in such a slim profile. For more, visit Piaget.com.
Becoming a watch nerd?
- Novelties – new products released by a brand
- Cartier Santos-Dumont – a watch named after Brazilian aviator Alberto Santos-Dumont, who requested that Louis Cartier create a timepiece that would let him check the time without taking his hands off the controls. It resulted in the men’s first wristwatch in 1904.
- Lacquered dial – is produced by spray-painting a few layers of lacquer (or enamel paint) on the base dial (normally made of brass).
- Manual-winding movement – the manual (or mechanical) watch movement is the oldest movement, that is completely driven by the mainspring, which is wound by hand.
- Mainspring – is a spiral torsion spring of usually metal ribbon used as a power source in mechanical watches. Winding the timepiece, by turning a knob, stores energy in the mainspring by twisting the spiral tighter.
- Complication – is any function on a watch that goes beyond telling the time (from calendars and alarms to tourbillons and time zones).
- Perpetual calendar – a watch uses a complex system of gears and levers to automatically adjust and display the correct date, accounting for different month lengths and leap years, making manual date adjustments unnecessary for many years.
- Self-winding movement – (or automatic) has a mechanism which winds the mainspring using the natural motions of the wearer’s body. The watch contains an oscillating weight that turns on a pivot.
- Tourbillon – is a French word for whirlwind, that describes the frenetic motion of the rotating cage oscillating balance wheel and balance spring while the movement is running. This cage, which rotates typically once per minute, aims to counteract the effects of gravity on the movement.
