The Greatest Hits of Watches and Wonders 2023

So many watches, so little time. That’s how you feel walking around the Palexpo Exhibition Centre in Geneva, home to this year’s Watches and Wonders fair. With so many of the world’s top brands using the fair as a platform to unveil their new pieces for the year, there was, as always, a head-spinning number of releases to process. But to help you cut through the horological clutter, we caught up with Kennedy’s Commercial Director, Patrick Stewart, and Head of Buying, Debbie Kok, amid their whirlwind of appointments in order to select their highlights from the Fair.

Cartier Tank Louis Cartier

“In 2021, Cartier released the same watch with steel cases in blue, red and green,” Patrick says. “That was a great release, but it was quartz only. Now they’ve re-introducing this watch in the same size but with an automatic movement. It’s definitely one of my favourites.”

The beauty of this specific design is that, when one thinks of the Tank, you immediately think of the linear angularity of those Roman numerals and the chemin-de-fer minutes track. These dials, on the hand, are coolly minimalist, refocusing the attention on Cartier’s true calling card: the brand’s mastery of uniquely shaped watch cases.

Tudor Black Bay 54

Tudor’s recent momentum continued this year with another well-considered collection. Much of the attention centred on the Black Bay 54, that downsizes the popular diving watch into a more compact form. “It’s the perfect size and 37mm was the size of Tudor’s first dive watch from 1954,” Debbie says.  “So it brings to life that diving legacy for Tudor as well as delivering real quality due to its in-house MT5400 movement too.”

Commercially, the release looks like a very shrewd move. Not only does it tie into the broader trend for smaller cased watches, but it turns the Black Bay into a genuinely unisex diving watch that’s also accessibly priced. “The Black Bay 54 is hitting that spot in the market that’s kind of been overlooked in the past,” Debbie adds.

Piaget Polo Perpetual Calendar in green

“OK, I know this was released a few weeks ago, so it’s not a novelty per se, but this is the first time, I’ve seen it in person and it’s possibly my favourite watch of the fair,” Patrick says.  Piaget has long been renowned for its expertise at creating ultra-thin watches and their sense of style and immaculate finishing. What they’re less known, however, for is their technical clout. “That’s why this is just a great achievement for Piaget,” Patrick explains. “They’ve presented a perpetual calendar, but the case is only 8mm thick and the movement only 4mm, so we’re seeing Piaget really step into this realm of complicated watchmaking.” The rose-gold version of the watch is likely to have particular appeal to the Australian market, too. “I mean it’s green and gold so it’s a fair dinkum choice,” Patrick says.

Zenith Pilot Automatic

Zenith is the only watch brand allowed to have the word “pilot” on their dial, Patrick reveals. Their founder George Favre-Jacot registered the Pilot trademark in 1888 (in French) and in 1904 (in English), while in 1909 when Louis Blériot became the first man to fly across the English Channel, he did so with a Zenith on his wrist. The brand has serious aviation cred in other words.

Yet rather than keep mining that legacy by re-hashing pieces from their dusty archives, Zenith unveiled a bolder, more contemporary take on the pilot’s watch this year – a 40mm, stealth bomber of a watch in black ceramic. “It’s a great move for them,” Patrick says. “Zenith’s CEO Julien Tornare has done a fantastic job and really re-energized the brand.”

IWC Ingenieur

Right now, integrated-bracelet steel sports watches are all the rage, while those designed by a certain Gerald Genta like the Nautilus and the Royal Oak are wildly in demand. Now IWC have revived their very own. Why did it take so long? Well, the brand’s creative director Christian Knopf told me, that IWC were determined to nail every single detail, a process that took more than five years. “Perfection takes time,” Debbie shrugs.

“The IWC Ingenieur is very nice,” Patrick concedes. “It’s faithful to the Gerald Genta version from 1976, but when you hold this new one, the bezel is more refined and the screws are both functional and aesthetic. I own an Ingenieur from 2013, but the new one wears better and feels slimmer despite having the same diameter.” While there’s a titanium one, too, the steel version is available in three dial versions: black, white and aqua. “The aqua is the talk of the fair,” says Patrick, “But I think the black is exceptional.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cartier Baignoire

“My Cartier favourite is definitely the Baignoire on the bangle,” says Debbie. First released to the public in 1957, this oval watch was so named because of its distinctive form. “It’s shaped like a bathtub,” she explains.

Intriguingly, while you might assume it’s a women’s timepiece on account of its dainty size, my Cartier presentation at Watches and Wonders was presided over by a man wearing the Baignoire on his hairy wrist. “We’re now seeing men wearing women’s watches and women wearing men’s watches,” Patrick agrees. “There’s really no boundaries any more. Who’s making watches for who and what appeals to who has become so intertwined. And I think that’s great.”

Article written by our content contributor Luke Benedictus.

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