After being sold on a quiet year for watch releases, I call the bluff of the Watch Industry, surely created to keep us on our toes. Sure, we’ve seen some trumpeted yet insignificant tweaks from some brands (you know who you are). But 2024 has equally been a year of strong shapes, distilled monochrome and creative Independents. 2024 started quietly in Miami for the LVMH Watch Week with some delightful small-cased gold and green sapphire case magic. But, instead of saving it all for Watches and Wonders, the brands showed their creativity in drips throughout the year, directing the conversation. Here are some of the most influential watch brands this year and their underlined trends.
Another Big Year for Cartier
Cartier Santos-Dumont
Nothing can stop the gleaming ascent of Cartier, repeatedly being voted the strongest brand of the year. One could even argue that the Berneron, the hottest drop of the year, was inspired by the auction legend of the Cartier Crash. But that’s a different story, for me two releases stood out at opposite ends of the charm spectrum. The shape-shifting Santos-Dumont is a remarkably strong design, made stronger with coloured translucent lacquer, transforming the case and bezel of this year’s olive green, peacock blue, and taupe grey. The new personalities included surprising Arabic numerals and the rich tonality made the dressiest Santos family member scorching hot wrist property.
Another ace casually thrown onto the table was the expansion of the Santos de Cartier range with a chocolate gradient dial and a travel complication. Revealed this spring in a monochrome grey, the broad-shouldered look of the Santos de Cartier Dual Time debuted a GMT complication, making it a well-rounded adversary to a few GMT strongmen like the GMT-Master we could name. In reserved Cartier style, the second time zone inhabits a silver sub-dial at six o’clock, with a small day/night indicator close to the central hand stack.
Berneron Bring Stone Dials Back
Berneron Mirage 34
Dial colours seem to have moved away from the last couple of years’ love of seasonal tones like blues or greens, instead focusing on one material. Natural stone. We’re not sure where the trend started, but it has exploded. We’ll be returning to the trend of watches with shapes other than circles or rectangles, but the stone dial trend goes hand in hand with this growing taste shift. Former creative director of Breitling Sylvain Berneron is perhaps the most on-point new brand of the year, finding success with a watch that is small, with a stone dial and aforementioned crash-adjacent shape. I don’t say ‘modern icon’ lightly but that should indicate why I think this is one of the most influential watch brands of 2024.
This has led to the Mirage being sold out and fully booked in production for many years. However, polished and even matte stone is nothing new. Rolex released some stunners last year, but 2024 was the year when everyone wanted in on the game. Probably to the chagrin of some dial manufacturers, as the number of discarded dials is vast compared to all other materials, but when done right, it is as alluring as it is unique. And whether you go for a £50k+ Omega Seamaster with a deep green malachite or the budget-winning sub £1k Dennison, each dial and pattern is unique to your watch, and that’s a pretty strong USP.
Biver and the Strong Indie Scene
Biver Automatique
All eyes were on JC Biver and his young son Pierre at the Geneva Watch Days this year for the release of the crucial “second album”. For me, the 39mm Automatique was perhaps the strongest three-hand watch design I have seen and tried on all year, bar none. Last year, we were all aware of the family’s intense focus on top-tier craftsmanship with the uber-complex Carillon Tourbillon. But August’s follow-up was a pared-back time-only release with a more palatable below-£100k price tag and an intense monochrome beauty.
The latest Biver is an indication of how strong the Independent Watchmaking scene has become. This was even more noticeable this year, as the big players stayed relatively quiet giving others their time in the sun. The creative flair of the limited production cycles of the Indies will always be more imaginative than stock-shifting crowd pleasers, as they are not dependent on scale or design committees. And this year’s market pessimism didn’t seem to fly with brands like Czapek, Armin Strom or Laurent Ferrier with some fabulous timepieces all around. Quirk-tastic brands like Urwerk and genius collabs like Louis Erard x Vianney Halter showed us resilience and increased growth.
Piaget’s Return and the Growing Shape-Trend
Piaget Polo 79
Arguably, one of the biggest drops of the year came perfectly placed between the LVMH season opener in Miami and the ever-growing Watches and Wonders. Piaget dropped their Polo ’79, which, together with the 38mm Bulgari Bulgari, marked a heady return to the bling-tastic eighties. The retro-revival movement alone would be enough to make Piaget one of the most influential watch brands of 2024. Together with the Berneron releases, one could easily argue that the quite hefty-for-its-size ’79 was the solid gold hit of the year, and it has such a strong presence.
Patek Philippe Golden Ellipse Ref 5738 1R
With the Polo ’79 came a different take on integrated bracelet charm, like the brutalist Toledano and Chan, not to mention the hype-tastic success of the plucky British brand Anoma. Oval, angular-edgy and frankly odd-shaped watches are perhaps the biggest single trend, and it was perhaps underlined when Patek Philippe refreshed the cult of the Ellipse with maybe the best hand-weaved mesh bracelet we’ve ever seen in solid gold. The Warhol was a surprising release from Piaget, ticking the shape and stone dial boxes with this dramatic revival.
The F1 Connection and Tag Heuer
Tag Heuer Monaco Chronograph Pink Skeleton
But don’t be fooled by the small-cased golden wonders. This year has also seen some pretty strong sports watches and markedly an even stronger embrace of F1 with its speed-fuelled allure. A notable and colour-popping release was the Tag Heuer Monaco Chronograph Pink Skeleton, this time hot-dropped to coincide with the Las Vegas Grand Prix. With a family of over ten references, the Monaco range is diverse in style, but not much can beat the impact of hot pink deets on a black skeletonised dial. Not to mention the news the Tag Heuer is set to take over as the main F1 sponsor from next year, an announcement that made them one of the most influential watch brands of 2024 and for my money, probably 2025 too.
Tudor Black Bay Ceramic Blue
Brands like Tudor also jumped on the F1 train with a similar concept, transforming the Black Bay ceramic with an intense blue dial. This was made to mark the brand’s return to F1, sponsoring the not-quite melodic sounding Visa Cash App RB Formula One Team. But it made for a hot drop, as the vibrant blue dial looks rather sharp with the white applied details in the sombre black case. IWC played a more reserved game this year, with the IYKYK turquoise details of the AMG Petronas team playing an understated role in their 41mm Pilot’s Watch Performance Chronograph.
Nice watches. Cartier and Polo are my favs. But I agree with Dezza – all for super rich.
I suppose the title gave the game away, but being influencial doesn’t always have to be about the price or being over the top in terms of stepping well outside of your normal (and expected) arena. Cartier has always been synomonous with style and dare I say class, and understated elegance, why move into the over-the-top colour genre with the bold green dial and translucent lacquer, bold colour is at best, brave on their part.
As for some of the other offerings from high end watch brands, they appear to me to have stepped back to the 1970’s and aiming at Arthur Daley types.
Anyone that reads my comments will see that my personal preference is for 1950’s understated style, so, the only watch that is listed that fits this bill is the Biver Automatique. It has the understated grace that befits that period, and wouldn’t have looked out of place on the wrist of Cary Grant, but, having visited their website, even nicer versions of the Automatique grace the page, the only problem is the cost, as indicated, this range has a starting price of CHF 75,000, so a cool £66,300, I guess that you would need to be a film star of the golden era to be placing an order at that price point, but, I may be surprised.
Bottom line, lovely watch.