Best Ladies’ Watches of Watches & Wonders 2020

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Best Ladies’ Watches of Watches & Wonders 2020 - Ladies
4 minutes read
Striking in colours, gemstones and most importantly bold in in design, Watches & Wonders unveiled fearless watches for fearless women this year.

2020 has, to say the least, been a whirlwind so far. Watches & Wonders acclimated to the evolving times, becoming the first official watch fair to be held online and unveiling a multitude of brand novelties on their online platform. Now that we’ve had time to sit back and digest the all the new watches presented through the online platform, we at WorldTempus wanted to recap our favourites. Having kept an eye out for the latest women’s watches—a segment in the watch industry that continues to grow every year—2020 looks to be a promising year for women looking to set themselves apart with their watches, no matter what style you gravitate towards.

Jaeger-LeCoultre – Reverso One: For the woman who wants to feel emboldened with a classic.

The Reverso is Jaeger-LeCoultre’s bestselling collection—it’s a staple for a reason, with its elongated rectangular case that you can flip to reveal caseback and at Art Deco design that has remained timeless for decades. While past Reverso models have veered towards elegance in subtlety, they’ve become bolder in colour with the new Reverso One this year. In a 40mm stainless steel case set with 27 diamonds, this new model features a red wine lacquered guilloché sunburst dial and a matching red wine leather strap. The caseback remains solid so that the customer can customise it as they wish with an engraving or a bespoke design. While still holding up the standard of iconic elegance that we’ve come to know of the Reverso, the bold red paired with diamonds is adds a breath of fresh air to the collection—for the chic working woman looking to switch it up. 

Best Ladies’ Watches of Watches & Wonders 2020

Cartier – Maillon de Cartier: For the woman who wants her watch to be in synch with her jewellery. 

You can hardly have an article summarising ladies’ novelties without mentioning Cartier, the queen of stylish watches for fearless women. In a true power move, instead of expanding the Panthère de Cartier or Ballon Bleu collections (arguably the brand’s bestselling watches for women), Cartier launched a new one: Maillon de Cartier. Named for its metal bracelet with rectangular links that twist, the Maillon de Cartier features a 16 x 17mm hexagonal dial with faceted edges so that the lines follow seamlessly into the links of the bracelet, which entwine themselves along the bracelet. While relatively small in size, the Maillon is loud in personality—it’s a watch clearly designed by a reigning jewellery maison, who approached the watch thinking “Bracelet first, watch second.” Geometric and contemporary, the Maillon oozes Parisian style.

Best Ladies’ Watches of Watches & Wonders 2020

Piaget – Limelight Gala High Jewellery Black Opal: For the woman already gearing up for next year’s high-profile events.


We already wrote about Piaget’s Altiplano and Limelight novelties earlier this year, but we would be remiss not to focus on the maison’s high-jewellery creations. Initially created in the 70’s, the Limelight Collection has been a constant for Piaget, embodying an Art Deco aesthetic with its curved case that continues onto the bracelet or strap, while fully embracing colour—no Limelight model goes unnoticed. This year, along with a panoply of new Limelight pieces in limited editions (and some unlimited), Piaget also unveiled a pièce unique, the Limelight Gala High Jewellery Black Opal. A showcase of the maison’s expertise in gemsetting, the watch looks like a phoenix rising in a blaze of fire from the ashes, set with 86 brilliant-cut blue sapphires, marquise-cut sapphires and rubies, all arranged in gradient of yellow, orange and finally pink. The dial is carved out of Australian black opal, an increasingly rare stone that flaunts blue, purple and red hues. Appropriately named, this unique piece will only be at home on display in a museum gallery or the Met Gala.

Best Ladies’ Watches of Watches & Wonders 2020

Hermès – Cape Cod Martelée: For the woman who appreciates fine craftsmanship.

Continuing in the spirit of uniquely shaped watch cases, Hermès has, since the early 90’s, been widely known for the Cape Cod, a watch designed by Henry d’Origny who reinterpreted the traditional square watch by placing the square dial inside a “rectangular” case with two chaîne d’ancre half links. This year, the Cape Cod showed off a new look with a “hammered” effect—a complex skill, the steel case and dial is hammered so that the metal has small grooves, then covered in a thin layer of lacquer in graded shades of anthracite to black. This gives the refined case a certain roughness, complimented by black calf leather strap in a single or double strap—an edgy watch backed by fine traditional craftmanship.

Best Ladies’ Watches of Watches & Wonders 2020

Parmigiani Fleurier – Tonda 1950 Double Rainbow Flying Tourbillon: For the woman who wants her mechanical complications to be fully decked out.

Initially introduced last year, the Tonda 1950 Rainbow showed Parmigiani’s full embrace of the coloured gemstones trend in watches. Reinforcing the collection this year is the Tonda 1950 Double Rainbow Flying Tourbillon, featuring an ultra-thin PF517 calibre with a flying tourbillon. This watch is hardly meant for the wallflower—the 18K rose gold case is set with 40 sapphires in a rainbow gradient, housing a starry aventurine dial. At 40mm, it is slightly larger than other women’s watches we’ve seen at Watches & Wonders this year, but the ultra-thin movement was reworked so that the calibre was integrated into the watch’s mainplate, making it thinner and more wearable. The automatic tourbillon, beating at 21,600 A/h (or 3 Hz), is at centre stage on this dial, even while slightly off to the side at 7 o’clock, a nod to Michel Parmigiani’s birth hour, 7:08am on the 2nd of December, 1950—a fun fact to interject whenever someone asks to see this watch on your wrist (which they undoubtedly will).

Best Ladies’ Watches of Watches & Wonders 2020

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