2024 in Watches: A Year In Review

A lot has gone down — horologically speaking — over the last 12 months. From controversial new releases to genuine pop culture moments, we thought the end of the year was the perfect time to mark the passing of time and look back at some of the major (and more minor) watch moments of 2024.

January

It's hard to believe that five years ago the industry was convinced that large scale watch events were a thing of the past. These days, it seems like in-person watch shows are thriving more than ever, and the LVMH group of brands has claimed the first spot with LVMH Watch Week. The 2024 show was held in sunny Miami. The highlight was the debut of revived Daniel Roth and Gerald Genta brands, who joined familiar faces TAG Heuer, Hublot, Zenith and Bulgari.

February

Traditionally February is something of a slow month for watch releases, as the big brands are all holding their sauce until Watches & Wonders. Someone forgot to tell Taylor Swift. When she was spotted wearing a watch-as-necklace to the Grammys, all segments of the watch world collectively lost their beans as their niche and obscure pastime suddenly meant something real.

March

Everyone's favourite watch-loving musician made it official with Audemars Piguet, dropping an intensely covetable Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar limited edition (you just know Mayer watched it tick over to the 29th), with a fancy new 'Crystal Sky' dial, a new motif, stamped, but with a strikingly organic motif. To top it all off, Mayer is now an official 'Creative Conduit' for Audemars Piguet, perhaps the most amorphous job title we've ever heard — we'd love to see where it sits on the AP org chart.

April

Watches & Wonders. All eyes were on Geneva for the biggest watch show of the year, an event that is part spectacle, part trade show and part party. From a news perspective, everyone was talking about the latest and greatest from Rolex and Patek Philippe (as per usual), but also headline-grabbing releases from IWC (super accurate moonphase!), Piaget (super thin!), and plenty of others.

May

Realistically, for most people following watches, May is the month when you recover from Watches & Wonders and take some more time to go beyond the headline releases and find the more hidden gems from the big show. It's in May that people begin to realise just how good watches like the Cartier Panthere on a full gold bracelet, or the incredible value proposition of the Chopard L.U.C XPS in Forest Green.

June 

The overflow from Watches & Wonders continued into June, but we started seeing exciting new launches too, like the debut from Anoma, the A1, and on a slightly larger scale, the refreshed Escale from Louis Vuitton. This latter continued to show just how serious Louis Vuitton is about getting into the high-end watch space.

July

Fun fact: July through to mid-August is a period traditionally known as the 'Watchmaker's Holiday', a time when many manufacture's shut up shop and bleary-eyed watchmakers wander into the Swiss summer to enjoy cowbells, edelweiss and other such quaint wonders, instead of toiling away on tiny lathes. For the rest of the world working in watches, they can look forward to plenty of 'out of office' emails. But don't worry, we ended the month in sports chic style with the Olympics.

August

Sports fever only intensified in August, with the Paris games giving us breakout stars in sports that typically don't get the coverage they deserve. Turkish shooter Yusef Dikeç won hearts and minds with his low-fuss approach to elite pistol sports, while his Korean counterpart Kim Ye-ji showed us just what Olympic-level drip looks like. Of course, watch fans aren't like normal sports fans — our eyes were firmly glued to the wrists of the athletes, and of course, there was plenty of Omega to be spotted, with the most prominent model being the very cool (and not very weighty) Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra 'Ultra Light', a sleek three-hander that clocks in at a cool 55 grams.

September

The argument that the physical watch show is alive and kicking is well and truly proved in September, thanks to Geneva Watch Days. Now in its fourth year, the show is gradually morphing into an exploration of watch culture, rather than *just* new releases. The exhibitors were an eclectic mix of major players, top tier independents and assorted industry oddballs and mavericks. It's a much smaller show than Watches & Wonders, but it's certainly fun.

October

The fun continued into October, with the tenth instalment of Horology Forum (better known as HF.10) kicking off in Hong Kong on the 22nd of October. For three days, guests were treated to an impressive schedule of talks, debates and masterclass activities that brought Dubai Watch Week's famously chill take on watch culture to one of the most important watch hubs in the world. Plus, we got some solid lore drops about Dubai Watch Week 2025, which has a brand new home and looks set to be bigger than ever. Oh, and as if that wasn't enough, Patek Philippe launched their brand new Cubitus collection, and Hodinkee was acquired by Watches of Switzerland. October was a big month.

November

The big news for November was, without doubt, the Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève — a celebration of 2024's best and brightest new releases. As with all industry awards, there are plenty of politicking and 'safe' selections, but the 2024 instalment of the show seems to have been well-regarded all around, with IWC's Portugieser Eternal Calendar winning the big prize, the Aiguille d'Or, with other notable prizes being Berneron for the Audacity prize, Rémy Cools for the Revelation, and the Piaget Polo 79 winning the Iconic prize, reserved for designs that have stayed the test of time.

December

Of course, the year isn't yet over, and its a busy time for watches, with subtle hints about desired gifts and eager solicitations from sales associates the world over doing their bit to boost the global watch market. All that aside, plenty in the industry are catching their breath and getting ready for 2025.