Watches and Wonders 2023 - Our favourites - Watches and Wonders

For an entire week, Geneva lived and breathed watches, with the Watches and Wonders fair that ran for seven packed days, from March 27 to April 2.

Vintage vibes

Tudor continues to delight vintage watch fans with this great Black Bay 54, whose 37mm diameter taps into the ongoing trend for smaller sizes. This new release takes us back to a post-war era of functional, legible, elegant instruments. Definitely a collectible in the making.

Black Bay 54 in steel, aluminium bezel, 37mm diameter, domed dial, automatic movement, steel bracelet. CHF 3,650 © Tudor

Work of art

Not to be confused with Seiko, Grand Seiko occupies the upper echelons of watchmaking and produces timepieces that are veritable works of art. The case of this limited edition in platinum is meticulously hand-carved with a design inspired by the white birch forests at the foot of the Yatsugatake Mountains in Japan, close to the studio where all Grand Seiko watches are crafted.

White Birch in platinum, 38.5mm diameter, textured silver dial, manual-winding movement, alligator strap. 50-piece limited edition. CHF 80,000 © Grand Seiko

An affordable tourbillon

Visitors to Watches and Wonders 2023 were reminded of the excellent value propositions from Frederique Constant. Testament to this is a well executed tourbillon, cased in gold and produced as a limited edition at CHF 25,995. The cherry on the cake is the FC-980 movement, developed in-house and hand-assembled at the Frederique Constant workshops.

Classic Tourbillon Manufacture in pink gold, 39mm diameter, sunray dial, automatic tourbillon movement, alligator strap. 150-piece limited edition. CHF 25,995 © Frédérique Constant

Sport and chic

The Piaget Polo is one of the most eloquent examples of a sport-luxe watch available today. In this new rendition, its cushion shape, guilloché dial and pink gold case combine with a superlative in-house extra-thin automatic movement that offers the exceptional complication of a perpetual calendar with a moon-phase indication.

Polo Perpetual Calendar Ultra-Thin in pink gold, 42mm diameter, guilloché dial, extra-thin automatic movement with indications of day, month, date, leap year and moon phases, alligator strap. CHF 72,500 © Piaget

Cute!

Director of the Chanel Watchmaking Creation Studio, Arnaud Chastaingt explores themes of space, science fiction and circuit boards for Chanel’s newest watch collections. Raising a smile is the unmistakably Chanel Première Robot – a cute companion in gold, ceramic and diamonds.

Première Robot in yellow gold, ceramic, titanium and diamonds, 19.7 x 15.2mm, lacquer dial, quartz movement, rubber strap. CHF 24,450 © Chanel

A remarkable chronograph

There has never been a Reverso chronograph in the core collection… until now. Hours and minutes are shown on a time-only dial and again on the chronograph side, alongside chronograph seconds and a retrograde 30-minute counter. For the time to be shown on both displays, Jaeger-LeCoultre has developed a movement that drives the two sets of hands in opposite directions.

Reverso Tribute Chronograph in pink gold, 49.4 x 29.9mm, sunray dial (verso), sapphire dial (recto), manual-winding chronograph movement, chronograph seconds, retrograde 30-minute counter, alligator strap. CHF 42,000 © Jaeger-LeCoultre

Reverse panda

One of the standout pieces released for the Carrera’s 60th anniversary, this chronograph features a 39mm steel case with improved ergonomics. The sapphire crystal’s glassbox shape copies the look of a 1970s Carrera, its curve flowing over the tachymeter scale around the dial edge. As for the pushers, they benefit from a more practical shape and position. Note the reverse panda aesthetic, with white counters on black.