Watches and Wonders 2021 – Highlights

This past week, from 7^th – 13^th April 2021, has seen the watch world’s eyes collectively turned to the digital edition of Watches & Wonders, where 40 brands came together to present their novelties for 2021. This will be followed up with a physical event in Shanghai where 19 brands will exhibit in person from 14 – 18^th April.

You can find out more about Watches & Wonders here.

In this article I will take a look at the releases which stand out to me, and why. Be sure to get in touch and let me know your favourites – there are plenty of great looking novelties and I know I have definitely missed some remarkable watches from this overview!

Watches and Wonders 2021 Highlights

My personal highlights from Watches and Wonders 2021 are as follows; of course, I have not seen these watches in person, and I have deliberately tried to pick those pieces that are interesting not just from an aesthetic point of view, but where there is perhaps a little more than initially meets the eye. However, there is only one place I can start…

Jaeger-LeCoultre Hybris-Mechanica Reverso Calibre 185 Quadriptyque

This year marks the 90^th anniversary of the Reverso, and so it is fair to say that there was a fair amount of expectation that Jaeger-LeCoultre would do something special to mark it. And that, they absolutely did. When I saw this watch, my jaw dropped – indeed the word “watch” somewhat understates just what an absolute masterpiece this really is.

The “Hybris-Mechanica” designation is reserved for only the finest Jaeger-LeCoultre timepieces; the ultra-complicated, superlatively finished, artisanal timepieces produced in extremely limited quantities. This is not the first time that the Reverso has been a canvas for the Hybris-Mechanica treatment, following the Reverso Tribute calibre 179 Gyrotourbillon in 2016, Reverso Répétition Minutes in 2011, Reverso Gyrotourbillon 2 in 2008 and the Reverso grande complication triptyque in 2006.

However, this year’s calibre 185 release is the most complicated Reverso ever made, and the first watch with four (yes, 4) faces, with additional complications on both sides of the cradle, too. It features 11 complications in total, including a tourbillon, instantaneously changing perpetual calendar with grande date, day/night indication, a jumping hour time on the reverse side of the dial, a minute repeater, and then either side of the cradle are celestial complications showing various moon phase displays with a moon phase as seen from the Southern hemisphere on the back side of the cradle.

This incredible timepiece comprises 800 individual components and takes around 6 months to assemble. This is even more remarkable when you consider the size of the watch – at only 51.2mm x 31mm x 15.15mm in size, you could even wear this on wrist quite comfortably.

It even includes a presentation box which assists setting the watch, where the owner can enter the number of days since the watch has last been worn and the box will correct all the displays!

Unsurprisingly this watch comes with a price tag of 1.35m Euros, and it will be limited to only 10 pieces.

If this is how Jaeger-LeCoultre mark the 90^th anniversary, I can’t even begin to imagine what they will do for the 100^th anniversary in ten years. The engineering and skill that has gone into this piece utterly blew my mind, and for that reason it is my personal favourite novelty that has been released. Granted I will likely never even get to see one, but it really is an astonishing achievement.

OK, fantasies indulged, how about something a little more realistic…!

Hermès H08 Collection

For Watches and Wonders 2021, Hermès has introduced an entirely new collection built for every-day wear, the H08. For the launch, they have released 5 references with a variety of strap and bracelet options as well as materials, including brushed titanium with or without a matte black DLC coating. Each model is rated water resistant to 100m, as well.

There is also a graphene option, an ultra-light material derived from carbon that was first used in the Richard Mille RM 50-03, which weighed just 40 grams (including the strap!) following a collaborative effort between Richard Mille, the University of Manchester and McLaren Applied Technologies. You can read a little more about the research into this material here.

I think these watches look fantastic, and Hermès have carefully considered every facet of the design. The 39mm cushion case is that perfect sweet-spot for size and comfort, the darker dial and lighter hands ensure legibility, the font used for the numerals adds a contemporary touch to the design (looking specifically at the 3, 4, 6, 8 and 9).

There is a welcome pop of colour with the orange pointer on the second hand which just adds a little something extra. I am not entirely convinced by the date aperture between 4 and 5 o’clock, especially given that it half overlaps the minutes disc – personally I think it might have looked a little less obvious had it been confined to the minutes disc or not included at all. At least the font on the date wheel as well such that it is consistent with the hour numerals.

The automatic H1837 calibre offering 50 hours power reserve is visible through a sapphire caseback, which on the graphene model is also tinted to keep with the monochromatic colourway.

Priced at £4,440 for the brushed titanium, £4,620 for the titanium DLC, and £7,250 for the graphene models, I think the H08 collection offers a really interesting design as well as something well suited for everyday wear and tear all at a decent value proposition; it will be interesting to see how the H08 collection grows in the future.

Bulgari Octo Finissimo Perpetual Calendar

For the seventh time in seven consecutive years, Bulgari has presented yet another world record breaking watch. For Watches and Wonders 2021, they have introduced the world’s thinnest ever perpetual calendar measuring a total thickness (or lack thereof) of only 5.80mm, with the micro-rotor BVL 305 calibre itself measuring just 2.75mm thick. Oh, and there are an amazing 408 components squeezed into this space!

There are two models presented, the first all in titanium as has been customary for the Octo Finissimo collection, and the second in platinum with a blue dial and strap. The dial design is of course shared across both, and I find it really quite appealing; the mix of sub-dials for the day and month works well being framed above and below by a retrograde display for both the date and leap year. I particularly like that the layout is in keeping with the priority of displays – the largest display at the top is the retrograde date display which occupies the entire top half of the dial, which makes sense as it is probably the piece of information most required from the dial (after the time, of course!)

The next largest displays are the day and month indicators, both displayed on a cyclical sub-dial. Intuitively, these would be the next most required pieces of information from the dial, and it makes sense that they are sized accordingly. Finally, the leap year indication is displayed via a small retrograde display at the very bottom of the dial which again makes sense as it is not likely a piece of information you would regularly look to consult.

To have released seven world record watches in seven straight years is a truly remarkable achievement and is one of the reasons I continue to both admire and be excited by watchmaking at Bulgari. The Octo Finissimo perpetual calendar is priced at 57,000 CHF for the titanium and 86,000 CHF for the platinum.

Cartier Tank Must

There has been a raft of new Tank Must pieces added to the collection at Watches and Wonders, and my personal favourite three are monochromatic colour references which are inspired by inspired by the monochrome Must de Cartier watches from the 1980s.

These fun pieces are available in either a red, blue or green lacquered dial with matching leather strap, and the dial has been stripped of the usual Cartier decorations such as Roman numerals and the minute track, leaving the only decoration on the dial as the Cartier brand and a small ‘Swiss made’ at the bottom of the dial. Each of the three watches are in stainless steel and are driven by a quartz movement, designed to be both gender agnostic and accessible as a gateway into Cartier watches.

I love these and I can well imagine that they will go on to become incredibly popular!

Breitling Premier B15 Duograph and Datora

Yes, OK, so Breitling wasn’t technically an exhibitor at Watches and Wonders 2021, however it feels like I would be remiss to at least acknowledge the introduction of the Breitling Premier Duograph and Datora just one day before Watches and Wonders started! Each is available in both stainless steel and gold 42mm cases, and the stainless steel versions shown below must honestly represent some of the best bang-for-your-buck available.

Firstly, the Premier Duograph is a bi-compax (meaning it has two sub-dials), manual wind, split-second chronograph certified to COSC standards. The B15 calibre offers an impressive 70 hours of power reserve when fully wound. It is also water resistant to 100m. The design of the dial is stunning, and many will be happy to know there is no date display to interfere with the dial symmetry! All this for £7,700 in stainless steel (or £15,900 in a gold case with black dial) represents some serious horological complexity and, relatively speaking of course, superb value for money.

The Premier Datora is a different proposition, an automatic chronograph with complete calendar (which requires manual adjustment for every month less than 31 days) and moon phase display, all driven by the COSC certified B15 movement which offers 48 hours power reserve. The colourway with a salmon dial looks fantastic, and with all this available for £9,250 in stainless steel (or £17,950 in a gold case) is another example of tremendous relative value for money.

One final interesting observation which may (or may not!) be an indicator of things to come in future is a few examples of innovative use of materials being introduced. As brands look to continually further their offerings and invest in their own research and development, it is interesting to see some of the novelties with a focus on the materials they have used.

Hublot have introduced a watch made entirely of sapphire crystal – we have seen watches with sapphire cases before, however this includes a sapphire bracelet with a design focused on removing the screws where possible, and even incorporating sapphire bridges into the HUB6035 movement!

Panerai have clearly been working on improving the sustainability of their watchmaking and have introduced watches made from “e-Steel”, incorporating recycled materials into the steel. Not only this, but they have released a concept watch planned for release in 2022 as a limited-edition piece which is constructed of a titanium alloy comprising 80% recycled materials, 100% recycled Super Luminova, and a 100% recycled silicone escapement.

Historically, stainless steel has been preferred to silver owing to silver being notoriously difficult to keep clean, and a metal which easily tarnishes. So, it was interesting to see Tudor’s choice of a silver case to be introduced into the Black Bay Fifty-Eight line in a colourway which personally I think looks really quite cool. It also introduced a clear caseback for the first time which was dampened by a rather disappointingly under-decorated movement.

Anyway, with respect to the aforementioned tarnishing, one presumes that Tudor’s new proprietary alloy will have resolved this, however it will be interesting to see how these releases fare over time once they start arriving on people’s wrists!

Finally, check out this lume from Roger Dubuis on the new Excalibur Glow Me Up because, well, just look at it!

In Summary

Whilst the anticipation of new releases always tends to gravitate to certain brands, I think Watches and Wonders 2021 has seen some really great novelty releases, and I think that if you’re willing to look beyond the usual suspects into some of the other 40 brands on show (41 if you count my including Breitling…!) there are some very exciting advancements that are both here today and looking forwards are surely just beyond the horizon.

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