We’re still not quite over the rush of Watches and Wonders 2024; of a week filled with meetings and presentations, discovering new launches, catching up with people you see only once or twice a year, being delighted and surprised by the sheer ingenuity and energy of this industry. Even beyond the halls of Palexpo, the convention centre on the outskirts of Geneva where Watches and Wonders is held, the city buzzed with horological activity. The hotels by the lake saw their fair share of visitors charging through their lobbies, on their way to fulfil private appointments and product viewings by the dozen. Located in between Watches and Wonders and the brands exhibiting downtown, Time to Watches was the place to go if you wanted to discover up-and-coming brands — today’s start-ups that could turn into tomorrow’s smash hits. And before heading out to the various dinners and community meet-ups that kept Geneva’s best restaurants and bars running way past their usual operating hours, an essential stop was the IceBergues, the duplex gallery space where the always-exciting AHCI (the association of independent artisanal watchmakers) welcomed visitors for an exhilarating six days.
With an event this intense, is it even possible to remember everything you come across? The answer is — as it is with everything — yes and no. It certainly helps if you have an amazing team at your side. Six brains are better than one, and with occasional support from our two GMT Magazine colleagues, the four core members of WorldTempus editorial powered through the week. Also, you should be prepared to make some concessions and allocate mental resources accordingly. You might be able to recall all the watches you’ve seen, but don’t expect to remember everyone you spoke to (not even if the conversation took place just minutes ago). And, of course, there are some watches you don’t even have to try to remember, because you wouldn’t be able to forget them if you tried.
This won’t be the first list you see of watch highlights from the past week, and it certainly won’t be the last. At least for me, though, it’s the most memorable. Here are the top five most technically impressive launches we saw in Geneva from 8–15 April 2024.
Vacheron Constantin Les Cabinotiers Berkley Grand Complication
I have a special affinity with the predecessor of this watch, the ref. 57260 ultra-complicated pocket watch that Vacheron Constantin made in 2015. The first time I ever received flowers for one of my articles was when I wrote about this watch. Unlike hundreds of other articles out there about this watch that listed and explained its 57 complications, I encouraged readers to really think about what the ref. 57260 meant for mechanical watchmaking, and how it made them feel. I’m taking the same approach with the Berkley, because I think we’re all familiar by now with its various impressive micromechanical feats. What we still haven’t completely realised is how important it is as a reinvigorating force in our community. Vacheron Constantin did a new thing in the watch world in 2024. That’s something to remember for all time.
IWC Portugieser Eternal Calendar
Speaking of things to remember for all time, the Schaffhausen manufacture is here with a timely reminder that watchmaking also exists outside of the French-speaking parts of Switzerland. Other secular calendar wristwatches have been made before, but none with such clarity of expression and simplicity of form, something that I can only attribute to the Germanic propensity towards direct, functional design. The “Eternal” in the name of the watch might not be an exact reference to its secular calendar function (the next level of calendrical precision after the perpetual calendar), since it might still require adjustment in the year 4000. The moonphase display, however, will accumulate only one day of error after 45 million years. We might not even have a moon by then, but at least the IWC Portugieser Eternal Calendar will still be accurate.
Jaeger-LeCoultre Duomètre Heliotourbillon Perpetual
I already wrote an article about this watch early last week, but it would be foolish of anyone to assume that there is an end to the encomia I can pen about this watch. I made it a top priority to see this watch on the first day of Watches and Wonders 2024, and I count that as one of the best decisions I made all year. You might query the name of the watch, as I did at first. Because surely it must be a reference to the cylindrical hairspring, which is shaped like a helix. In which case, the correct prefix should have been Helico- (related to a helix) rather than Helio- (related to the sun). But it’s nothing to do with the hairspring at all. Heliotourbillon is the perfect name for a watch with such a spectacular centre — that multi-axis tourbillon that dictates all the rhythms of this watch and generates such gravitational pull that you risk being drawn into it with a single glance. Resistance is futile with this one.
Hermès Arceau Duc Attelé
The thing I love best about watches like the Hermès Arceau Duc Attelé is not the fact that they are complicated. The complication is the reason why it’s on this list, but that’s not the best thing about it, at least I don’t think it is anyway. The best thing about this watch is how it makes people look at Hermès in a way they didn’t before. Two weeks ago, if you had conducted a survey asking which brand would launch a high-frequency triple-axis central tourbillon combined with a minute repeater featuring gongs of unconventional form, I doubt you would get many responses naming Hermès. It’s a pity, because we all know that Hermès creates timepieces of unique personality, and we have certainly seen no lack of tourbillons and minute repeaters in their past releases. You could even argue that creating this innovative and mechanically stupendous watch is pretty straightforward, compared to the work of changing the way the (notoriously hidebound) watch community perceives Hermès. The Arceau Duc Attelé did both at once. How about that?
Bovet Récital 28 Prowess 1
I grew up pretty much on the equator. I’ve never really understood daylight savings time, because we never needed it over there. I mean, I understand what it is and what it entails. But the justification of it — that it was related to animal husbandry and agriculture, so that farmers could benefit from aligning their workday with the hours of daylight — that never sounded quite right to me. I’m also the kind of person who resents unnecessary disruption to daily routines in service of systems that don’t particularly make sense, so the pragmatism of the Bovet Récital 28 Prowess 1 immediately appealed to me. Here is a watch that takes the irregular and inconsistent implementation of DST worldwide, takes the pain out of adjusting a worldtime watch in full adherence to these varying DST standards, and does so in a mechanically intuitive and beautiful way. Finally, a worldtime watch with DST display that actually makes the effort to be precise and clear in its indications. It’s kind of a superpower.
