Watches inform us concerning the current or the previous; the longer term is usually out of attain, besides at a good just like the just lately concluded Watches and Wonders Geneva. You may need caught a few of our favourites and highlights during the last week, and possibly caught up on all of the information wherever you get your horological repair. So, what does all of it say concerning the yr of watchmaking that’s to return? In 2024, the reply is easy: high-value valuable steel fashions.

Gold is king at Watches and Wonders Geneva 2024 and right here we are going to threat repeating ourselves as a result of Rolex and Patek Philippe distinguished themselves with a big majority of novelties within the valuable stuff. If one provides platinum into the combination, then valuable metals dominate. The dominant market power and probably the most distinguished status participant have however one new stainless-steel mannequin between them. We’d by no means have imagined typing that sentence earlier than the truthful began and it nonetheless feels unbelievable. And but it’s merely a reality. Make no mistake although, it’s nonetheless the period of sports activities class however maybe we are able to name this sports activities class elevated (SEE).

This isn’t solely concerning the crimson gold TAG Heuer Skipper, the total gold Tudor Black Bay 58 and the Bell & Ross BR 05 Chrono Gray Metal and Gold but in addition the all-gold Parmigiani Fleurier Toric the place dials and calibres are additionally in gold. We might go on and checklist extra, and we are going to. Each of the novelties at A. Lange & Sohne are in valuable metals and so is the only real Ulysse Nardin Freak S Nomad, clearly. At IWC, your complete new Portogieser Horizon Blue variant is simply in white gold whereas the brand new Duometre watches at Jaeger-LeCoultre are solely in gold, besides the stainless-steel Quatieme Lunaire. For sure, the Piaget Polo 79 is an enormous previous gold brick, whereas the vast majority of Cartier’s 66 novelties this yr are in valuable metals, and that goes as much as 100% at Van Cleef & Arpels.   

In case your first thought in listening to all that is that issues are going to get costly, you might be after all right. It’s not a response to rising wealth on the planet. You may need seen from current information stories on Swiss watchmaking exports that issues are hardly wanting up. Fairly the other. It might be although that demand for the costliest kinds of watches is extra resilient (as historical past demonstrates), so the enchantment for watchmakers is obvious. As well as, margins are higher within the valuable metals recreation (although not essentially in problems however that’s one other matter) and firms comparable to Rolex and Patek Philippe wish to reward their retail companions. Just a few that we spoke with agreed.

To make certain, that is one interpretation of the novelties of 2024 however we really feel assured that it’s a very apparent one. Additionally it is of apparent concern for collectors and fanatics, who’ve been primarily concerned about metal watches – it’s downright ominous for followers of bronze and different novelty supplies. Rolex didn’t even introduce extra fashions in titanium however possibly it’ll dedicate a whole yr for this, simply because it did with valuable metals in 2024.

For extra on the luxurious watch reads and the most recent in Watches and Wonders Geneva 2024, click on right here.