The Watches and Wonders 2024 Day 1 Wrap-Up

Yesterday was the first day of Watches & Wonders, the industry’s largest trade show that brings an avalanche of new releases. I got to touch and feel plenty of them over my six appointments—including the Rolex novelties, a Cartier that tells time in reverse, and an IWC that will stay accurate for the next 45 million years. Here’s my full rundown of the day, including my favorite pieces from each maker and the best free souvenirs I got to bring home with me.

11:15 a.m. – Rolex

The booth: A full-blown Rolex boutique dropped into the fairgrounds. There was a massive Pepsi bezel insert arcing just below the first floor ceiling. All the folks working the booth were wearing denim outfits for some reason.

The main attraction: The new Rolex GMT with a black-and-gray dial (Nick Gould suggested to me on IG that it be dubbed the Spurs; apparently Victor Wembanyama has some fans in Switzerland). The biggest Rolex news of the day might have been about a watch they’re no longer making, though. The Palexpo was buzzing with news the Crown discontinued the Le Mans Daytona that debuted just last summer.

My favorite piece: The 1908 really won me over. The “rice-grain” guilloche dial looks like the vibrating sand in Dune right before a big worm appears. I also loved the mother-of-pearl dial on the Day-Date, even if its cloudy appearance is giving me Grand Seiko Snowflake vibes. Also the Daytona with the white mother-of-pearl dial is undeniable.

Swag report: A box of chocolates arranged like piano keys, running from milk to dark chocolate, along with a denim pouch that’s just the right size for an iPad mini. The real prize, though, might be the tote bag with colorful butterflies on it (which I’d like to see on a watch, to be honest!) that the chocolates and iPad pouch came in.

SEE THE FULL ROLEX COLLECTION HERE

1:30 p.m. – A. Lange & Söhne

The booth: Routinely one of the best at the event. Beyond the Godzilla-sized model of its new watch, there’s a bar where the German brand serves pretzels and beer.

The main attraction: The new glow-in-the-dark Datograph Perpetual Tourbillon Honeygold “Lumen.” The watch is so precious that we weren’t even allowed to hold it, but the guy showing it off intermittently blasted it with a UV light to make it glow like the Green Goblin.

My favorite piece: The Lumen, undoubtedly! But the Datograph Up/Down is classic Lange.

2:30 p.m. – TAG Heuer

The booth: Features a massive, floor-to-ceiling digital display that starts off disguised as a regular wall. But then the magic starts, and the wall slides away to reveal TAG’s new Monaco Split Seconds.

The main attraction: The aforementioned Monaco Split Seconds, named for its chronograph feature with multiple seconds hands. Think of it like a stopwatch’s “lap” function. In my tour of the TAG factory on Sunday, the brand’s heritage director Nicholas Biebuyck talked about the immense time and effort that went into conceptualizing this watch. The team there listed out virtually every conceivable complication and worked out how they are connected to TAG. The split seconds, or rattrapante, makes a huge amount of sense for a brand with such deep ties in racing. This historic connection is the only connection to the past. The sharp-edged square Monaco already seems like a thing of the future, and the skeletonized dial only enforces the idea you’ll need a time machine—and about $15,000,000!—to get your hands on one.

For what it’s worth, I was in my meeting with legendary TAG Heuer collector Jeff Stein, who runs a website dedicated to the brand called On the Dash, and he was very enthusiastic.

My favorite piece: While the new Monaco delivers all the flash, I really loved the new Carrera SN—signaling the silver and noir (black) dial—with speedy red accents. A chronograph with red detailing is a classic combination for a reason. It just works.

SEE THE FULL TAG HEUER COLLECTION HERE

3:30 p.m. – IWC

The booth: Elaborate as always. This year, the butt of the moon jutted out of the ceiling and rotated over a pool of water in which the premier watches floated. Gisele Bündchen was also in attendance doing interviews, which is funny when you remember that at one time both her and Tom Brady were IWC ambassadors. I joked that IWC kept Gisele in the divorce.

The main attraction: Well, making a watch and saying that its moonphase is going to be accurate for the next 45 million years is certainly one way to make headlines. “To make something that is completely unnecessary but gives us joy satisfies a very important human need,” IWC’s CEO Christoph Grainger-Herr told my colleague Mike Christensen. “Because if we just made the functional, the bland and the useful, the world would be a hell of a boring place.” I like that thinking, even if the claim is so bananas that there’s no way to verify it. The watch features one gear that will only turn once every 400 years. If I were around then, I would create a special event around it, the way everybody on the East Coast stopped what they were doing to watch the eclipse earlier this week.

My favorite piece: The new Portugieser Perpetual Calendar, with a black dial covered in 15 layers of lacquer, was a stunner. It wasn’t the piece I expected to love going in, but it won me over immediately.

READ MORE ABOUT THE NEW ETERNAL CALENDAR HERE

4:30 p.m. – Tudor

The booth: Themed around the brand’s partnership with the Alinghi Red Bull sailing team. One side of a replica boat crashed through the wall and could be seen from outside Tudor’s base. Inside, the boat allowed adventurous attendees to wear a VR set and take the vessel out for a virtual spin. I didn’t get a chance to do that, but I did come in last at an arcade game recreating a regatta. So!

The main attraction: Hard to say, honestly. Tudor put out a small-but-mighty collection of three men’s pieces. The one that made the biggest splash is probably the new Black Bay 58 GMT with a “Coke” dial. I really appreciated the GMT hand, with its unique snowflake shape, and the bronze accents that give the watch a vintage vibe.

My favorite piece: Honestly, it’s the GMT, but the all-gold Black Bay with a mossy green dial is a big step up for Tudor. I think they nailed the landing there.

Swag report: A hat and a belt both featuring the Alinghi Red Bull sailing team logo.

SEE THE FULL TUDOR COLLECTION HERE

5:15 p.m. – Cartier

The booth: Like the nicest Fifth Avenue jewelry store you’ve ever been inside. The moon was a big theme this year. On a digital screen at the back of the booth was a clip of the moon glimmering over a body of water.

The main attraction: Cartier really delivered this year with a massive amount of novelties. The new Baignoire Bangles and mini versions of the Americaine and Tank Louis are sure to be massive crowd pleasers. But if I have to pick just one, it’s probably the Santos-Dumont Rewind. Cartier literally reversed the movement and flipped all the numerals on the watch so it tells time backwards. The Cartier representatives in the booth said that there’s no historical precedent for it, but it’s meant to be a statement about the fluidity of time. They did mention one special order of an automaton that also went backwards but said it hardly functioned in the same way.

Favorite piece: Wooooo! The new burgundy Cartier Tortue had me doing math in my head: How many decades of Affirm payments would I need to make to buy this $35,600 watch? It might actually be worth it. The original Tortue came out over a century ago, in 1912, and the Parisian brand last reissued it in the 2000s. Now, thanks to Cartier’s Privé collection—which revives a beloved vintage model every year—the Tortue is back in limited numbers. The burgundy carries an opaline dial that gives it a beautiful aged effect. I felt like Louis Cartier himself had preserved this watch for over 100 years just so I could wear it on my wrist for a brief moment today.

Swag report: Enclosed in a box and bag in Cartier’s signature burgundy were two small hard-cover notebooks.

READ MORE ABOUT THE NEW SANTOS HERE

Originally Appeared on GQ