The best horological novelties from Watches & Wonders 2024

Watches & Wonders, the largest horology trade show in the watch business, has returned for yet another show stopping year on the shores of Lake Geneva in Switzerland. 

Every year, the world’s biggest and most prestigious watchmakers and brands convene here to showcase their brand new horological creations for the luxury world. From Cartier and Panerai to Tag Heuer and Piaget, Watches & Wonders is the luxury watch convention to look out for.

Below, we round up some of the best and most exciting horological novelties from Watches & Wonders 2024.TAG HEUER | Monaco Split-Seconds Chronograph

Luxury Swiss watch brand Tag Heuer has introduced another addition to their Carrera collection with the Tag Heuer Monaco Split-Seconds Chronograph. Made to be a tribute of the original 1969 model, this watch features a very sophisticated rattrapante (split-seconds) chronograph complication encased in a modern reinterpretation of the square design synonymous with this collection.

This complication, which can measure two separate time intervals concurrently, is made entirely out of titanium and is one of the lightest chronograph movements created by the brand. 

The watch comes in two different colours — red and blue — and features a caseback and dial made out of sapphire crystal, designed to give the impression of a floating oscillating weight and offers an unobstructed view of the TH81-00 calibre within. The watch is also accompanied by a hand-stitched calfskin strap with a fabric pattern.DIOR | La D de Dior Étoile des Vents

Dior has brought yet another fine jewellery horological marvel to Watches & Wonders 2024 with La D de Étoile des Vents, which serves as another addition to their Rose des Vents collection. An ode to Dior’s storied history as a high fashion maison, the dream-like watch features an homage to Christian Dior’s lucky star with an eight-pointed variation. 

The watch has a pink gold case and features an 18K pink gold bezel and crown with 64 and 10 brilliant-cut diamonds respectively. A white mother of pearl dial is adorned with 18K pink gold stars set with 48 brilliant-cut diamonds. To finish, there is a sleek, black satin strap with a pink gold buckle. This new horological novelty is yet another wonderful addition to Dior’s dreamy high jewellery collection.ULYSSE NARDIN | Freak S Nomad

Ulysse Nardin has been at the forefront of being the rule breakers in the world of haute horology with their Freak collection. I mean, what is a watch without its hands, dial and crown? A Freak, that’s what. And their new addition to the collection, the sand-coloured Freak S Nomad, is proof that this unconventional watchmaking brand is nowhere close to losing its steam.

This limited edition watch features a unique movement, which at first looks like a spaceship. This is thanks to the Freak S’s Calibre UN-251 Manufacture movement — a flying carousel that rotates around its own axis. There are two oscillators with silicon balance wheels (that look like launch pads) and escapements that are linked by a vertical differential system mounted on ball bearings.

The true marvel, however, is the hour disk that sits behind the spaceship movement. It  features a diamond guilloché pattern finished in sand-coloured CVD as a nod to waving sand dunes. Produced one piece at a time by a skilled artisan, the painstaking method involves a rare 18th century rose engine, turned entirely by hand, with no electronics and no laser guidance — all done over a period of three hours in one continuous movement with no breaks in between.

A Freak in more ways than one — a true unconventional brand of horology only Ulysse Nardin can muster.A. LANGE & SÖHNE | Datograph Perpetual Tourbillon Honeygold “Lumen”

25 years after the launch of the Datograph, A. Lange & Söhne are back at Watches & Wonders 2024 with the Datograph Perpetual Tourbillon Honeygold “Lumen”. This timepiece features a honey-gold case and combines a flyback chronograph with a precise jumping minute counter, a perpetual calendar and a tourbillon with a stop-seconds mechanism.

Limited to just 50 pieces, the mechanisms of this watch can also be viewed in the dark thanks to the semi-transparent dial and the luminous coating that make the displays and functions glow. The hour and minute hands are inlaid with a luminous compound, while the chrono seconds hand is completely coated. CARTIER | Reflection de Cartier

The pinnacle of high jewellery, Cartier brings yet another beautiful addition to the world of watches with Reflection de Cartier. This one-of-a-kind horological novelty combines savoir-faire from Cartier watchmakers and jewellers alike and features an open bracelet in polished reflective gold.

The dial at one end is reflected onto the other end of the bracelet, where it gives the illusion of time moving backwards. The gem-like bevelled glass on the dial marks the piece’s double identity and is an incredible fusion of fine jewellery and haute horology. 

Reflection de Cartier is available in several versions: yellow gold, rose gold, diamond-set white gold and white gold paved with coloured stones — a skeletonised chain-link that must be ‘broken’ to discover time. This is what watchmaking is all about.IWC SCHAFFHAUSEN | Portugieser Hand-Wound Tourbillon Day & Night

Swiss luxury watch brand IWC Schaffhausen are back at Watches & Wonders 2024 with the Portugieser Hand-Wound Tourbillon Day & Night. The watch features an 18 carat armor gold case with an obsidian lacquered dial, gold-plated hands, gold appliques and a sapphire glass case-back.

The watch’s standout feature, however, is a day and night display, which shows the eternal cycle of day and night with the help of a small sphere rotating around its axis. The globe-shaped day and night indicator is visible both from the dial and the movement side.PIAGET | Altiplano Ultimate Concept Tourbillon

Piaget are celebrating their 150th anniversary in style as they introduce the Altiplano Ultimate Concept Tourbillon at Watches & Wonders 2024. This watch features Piaget’s signature ultra-thin calibre, coming in at just 2 mm in thickness with a diameter of 41.5 mm.

The watch possesses all the features of an everyday watch, with a flying tourbillon hidden underneath. There is a signature engraved on the back next to a sapphire crystal placed under the tourbillon, which reads “Always do better than necessary” — a motto the Maison seems to stand by in everything they create. How else would we get such a horological masterpiece?JAEGER-LECOULTRE | Duometre Heliotourbillon Perpetual

Jaeger-LeCoultre has brought what is their most innovative creation yet to this year’s Watches & Wonders with the Duometre Heliotourbillon Perpertual. In a first for the luxury brand, the watch features an entirely new tourbillon construction: one that spins on three axes to create a spinning top effect.

As a complement to this highly complicated tourbillon, Jaeger-LeCoultre have also integrated a perpetual calendar into the watch with a grande date display. With a pink gold case and a silver opaline front dial all held together in a brown alligator leather strap, this Jaeger-LeCoultre watch is a sight to behold.ROGER DUBUIS | Orbis in Machina

Roger Dubuis have pushed the boundaries of horological advancement time and time again, and their new Orbis in Machina watch might be their most daring attempt yet. The watch features a new addition to the impressive line of tourbillon movements invented by the Maison: the manual-winding Calibre RD115 flying tourbillon, which sits neatly at the centre of the watch.

Starting in the middle, the watch’s designers have worked outwards by creating contrasting concentric circles in pink gold and grey that indicate the seconds, minutes, and hours, which are all set at different heights. It’s an overall reinterpretation of the skeleton style, with the tourbillon at the centre. Yet another incredible display of haute horology at Watches & Wonders.HUBLOT | Big Bang Unico Orange Ceramic

Hublot is one luxury watch brand that is never afraid to explore unconventional shades, and their new Big Bang Unico Orange Ceramic watch is the latest example of this. The latest addition to their Big bang collection is a limited edition vibrant orange watch with a Unico chronograph manufacture calibre.

The watch features a polished orange case with a one-click system, along with a micro blasted black ceramic and sapphire crystal caseback. The vibrant orange colour of the watch also bleeds into its indices, counters on the dial and hands, and the integrated rubber strap.

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