The Best Watches of 2024 (So Far)

This is an edition of the newsletter Box + Papers, Cam Wolf’s weekly deep dive into the world of watches. Sign up here.

Update 9/6/24

From show-stopping indie models to big-name icons, these are GQ’s favorite new timepiece releases.

There has been an overwhelming amount of excellent new watches over the past few weeks. So many in fact that I’ve been inspired to drop a (much anticipated, surely) update to my list of the favorite watches of 2024 (so far). While the household names of the Swiss watch industry—Cartier, Omega, Tudor, Piaget, Zenith—dominated the first half of the year, the remaining months belong mostly to the upstarts. In fact, this whole exercise might just be an excuse for me to gush about the first piece on the list.

Best in Show: Berneron Mirage

The new watch from Berneron will be hard to top as my absolute favorite watch of the year. Founder Sylvian Berneron’s brand is just a year old. It debuted a version of the Mirage last year that immediately floored me—it tricks the eye and appears like a watch in motion. If the Cartier Crash is meant to look like a watch that survived an accident, the Mirage looks like a watch that suggests you should see the other guy. The centrifuge of a minute track looks like it’s rebelling against smooth edges. Woo!

So onto the new versions. Last weekend, Berneron, the person, was at the Geneva Watch Days tradeshow showing off a version of the watch that’s even better than the original. The new Mirage is slimmed down to 34 millimeters, which required Berneron to build and implement a new movement. The most show-stopping new feature, however, is the stone dials. There are two variations of the updated Mirage: white gold with lapis lazuli and yellow gold with tiger eye. Somehow Berneron combines a hypefecta—the Crash’s shapeshifting design, Piaget’s stone dials, and shrunken-down vintage proportions—into a watch that transcends the flavor of the moment. Even Kevin O’Dell, one of the most anti-hype dealers in the business (I should know—I’ve taken the brunt of his famous Instagram Rants™ before!), couldn’t contain his admiration for Berneron’s new releases. “I think his watch is amazing,” O’Dell told me last week. “The guy has a clear vision, and he's not letting anything get in his way no matter what.”

The Mark Cho Fan Club Selection: Unimatic x The Armoury Modello Cinque U5S-TA ‘Blu Notte’

GQ Watches feels a bit like a fan club for Mark Cho this week—after I wrote about his principles of watch collecting on Tuesday—so let’s keep the party going. The Armoury, the menswear purveyor that Cho founded, collaborated with minimalist Italian watchmaker Unimatic. The watch might be my favorite Unimatic…ever? The Amoury’s take on the watch is far from dull, but it also doesn’t push things too far like some of the watchmaker’s other recent collabs. The dial’s concentric, pulsing circles mimic ripples on the water, giving Unimatic’s minimalist aesthetic a welcome spritz of Grand Seiko’s nature-obsessed designs. Just as important is the size. Cho is a longtime advocate of smaller watches, and the new Blu Notte comes in at a perfect 36 millimeters.

Most Deliciously Wacky: Studio Underd0g X H. Moser & Cie. Endeavour Perpetual Calendar Passion Fruit

Yes, yes, yes! I want more watches that use this slurpable shade of deep purple. I want more brands to craft watches with the express intention of making them fun as hell. I even want the passion fruit cocktail that Moser CEO Edouard Meylan made on Instagram. Moser, already the Swiss watch industry’s biggest prankster, was susceptible to Studio Underd0g’s exact type of corruption. Since its inception in 2022, few brands have been as brazen with color as SU. Now the brand spiked the passion fruit cocktail to make a watch that combines SU’s cheeky design with Moser’s super fine watchmaking.

The Cheeseburger Award: Rolex Le Mans Cosmograph Daytona in yellow gold

The cat is out of the bag on this watch, thanks to Roger Federer. Technically a debut from Watches & Wonders, this secret release Daytona is total fan service. I mean that as a compliment: Rolex hardly ever does the obvious thing. So when the Crown gives us a special-edition Daytona with vintage signatures that are reminiscent of “Paul Newman”-style Daytonas, it lands like a perfectly made cheeseburger. It’s not going to win any awards for innovation, but it sure does hit the spot.

The Space Movie With a Happy Ending: MB&F M.A.D.1S

There’s a reason nearly 9,000 people put their credit card information down for a chance to win one of these watches. I’ve always admired what MB&F does with its MAD Editions, a diffusion line of lower-priced watches that make founder Max Büsser’s wild creations more accessible to a wide audience. I admire it even more when the watch is this much fun. The MAD Editions were already a huge hit, but MB&F has continued to iterate on them. The 1S is the best version yet: a slimmed-down spin on the watch that is less Death Star thick and more flying saucer slick.

Most Architectural: Audemars Piguet [RE]Master02

Audemars Piguet is always searching for a way to introduce clients both new and old to something other than its ageless Royal Oak. I think they hit gold with the [Re]Master. The watch’s distinctive sloped shape takes cues from Brutalist architecture (an unexpected horological trend in 2024). The more direct inspiration for this piece comes from an archival 1960s model that AP only made in an edition of seven. Those vintage pieces are teeny and cute, while this one might have tipped the scales a little too far the other way. (The vintage piece measures 27.5mm; this new one clocks in at 41mm.) Either way, I’m glad to see AP reaching into its archives and pulling out something so strange and different.

Bonus: Franck Muller x S.T Dupont Master Lighter

I’ve always had a thing for clocks hidden inside stuff. Tie bars, rings, pens, money clips, you name it—I wanna stuff a clock inside it. Back in the first half of the 20th century, when brands were still putting timekeeping devices inside just about anything, large table lighters were a frequent target. Now, Franck Muller is bringing back the practice with this lighter made in collaboration with Dupont. In addition to creating fire—still a pretty impressive feat on its own, TBH!—the lighter’s body features a clock with the watchmaker’s signature colorful “Crazy Hours” design. I’ve been rooting for FM, a beloved ’90s and ’00s brand, to make a comeback. Little did I know it might try to light the powder keg with a $76,000 lighter.

Original post 6/7/24

If you were playing Watch Industry Bingo this year, you’d already be pretty close to winning. A hotshot new brand entered the market with a watch that sold out instantaneously. A luxury brand enlisted a major celebrity for an epic collaboration. And more than one brand revived a well-loved archival model that was garnering present-day hype (a move I haven’t tired of yet, as you’ll see below).

I don’t say this as a dig at this year’s releases. Taken together, they feel like listening to a really good pop song: I’m familiar with all the melodies and hooks, even as they’re shaped into something new. These are my favorite watches of 2024 so far.

Best Debut: Toledano and Chan B/1

No doubt the most exciting debut of the year. The B/1 is inspired by Brutalist architecture—specifically a window on the Breuer building in New York City. And despite borrowing a few design cues from Rolex’s ’60s-era King Midas, the watch looks like nothing else on the market today. Co-founders Alfred Chan and Phil Toledano, a well-known collector, launched the piece in May and it sold out instantly. The watch retailed for $4,000, but it’s so hot right now that a pièce unique version made from carbon just sold at Sotheby’s for $24,000.

Best Turtle-Inspired Watch: Cartier Tortue (Time-Only)

I’m such a sucker for Cartier’s classic shapes. This year, the house brought the curvy Tortue back from its archives. The watch is Cartier at its best: an incredibly simple, very pretty watch molded into a slightly silly shape. If a timepiece inspired by a tank isn’t your thing, how about one that mimics the humble tortuga?

Best Retro Dive Watch: Zenith 1969 Defy Diver

There’s a lot I like from Zenith this year. The brand’s gem-set Chronomaster was a favorite from LVMH Watch Week, but this revival is the new release I can’t stop thinking about. Zenith decked out this sporty 1969 model with wacky orange accents, which just look right on a dive watch.

Best Modern Classic (Made Even More Classic): The Rexhep Rexhepi Chronomètre Contemporain II

Rexhepi may be a relative youngin in the watch industry, but he knows old-guard tricks. The watchmaker is in a constant pursuit of perfection. So how do you take one of the best and most desirable modern watches in the world and upgrade it? A few ruby indices certainly did the trick for this CCII, limited to just 10 pieces.

Best MoonSwatch Ever: Omega x Swatch Mission to the Moonphase “Snoopy”

It wasn’t just the hype talking. I stand by what I wrote in March: This is hands-down the best release of the entire MoonSwatch line. The all-white model would already be a winner, but the addition of a moonphase complication starring a snoozing Snoopy really elevates this piece to another tier entirely.

Best Splash of Color: Tudor Black Bay Chrono “Pink”

Tudor has done a masterful job of shock-dropping new releases timed to big events. The brand deployed this strategy recently for Inter Milan’s latest championship and the Miami Grand Prix, but used it most successfully to announce an official partnership with David Beckham’s MLS squad Inter Miami. To celebrate its new union, the brand adopted the club’s signature flamingo pink for a sexy version of its otherwise serious Black Bay Chronograph.

Best Minimalist Masterpiece: Parmigiani Fleurier PF Toric Petite Seconde

The best dress watch of the year so far comes from Parmigiani Fleurier. The brand’s new Toric is minimalism at its absolute best. This can be a hard trick to pull off when there’s nothing to hide behind. This works in the Toric’s favor, though, as it allows that hand-grained pistachio dial to take center stage.

Best Bracelet: Patek Philippe Golden Ellipse

Patek Philippe never took its egg-shaped Ellipse out of the catalog, but it’s been several years since the maker released it on a bracelet. The bracelet is like the leather jacket of the watch world—it just makes everything look cooler. It doesn’t hurt that this particular bracelet looks phenomenal: Patek made it in full rose gold and stacked the links in intricate rows that resemble a chain bracelet.

Best Revival: Piaget Polo 79

You might be noticing a pattern here: Watch brands are still hitting reliable home runs by dipping into their archives. This solid-gold version of the Polo was a no-brainer for Piaget to bring back, especially as vintage versions of the piece were catching fire on social media.

Best Value: Christopher Ward The Twelve X (Ti)

Christopher Ward continues to put out shockingly good watches at shockingly affordable prices. Last year’s C1 Bel Canto set a new low—in a good way— for a minute repeater. In April, the brand announced another take on a feature that we typically only see from the elite Swiss luxury brands. The Twelve X (Ti) is a skeletonized watch that looks like it costs ten times as much as its $4,865 price.

Best Collab: Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar “John Mayer”

Maybe I’m Piguet-pilled and Mayer-maxxing but I genuinely think this is a great watch—with or without the musician’s name attached to it. Any perpetual calendar Royal Oak already has my attention, but the grand complication steers the luxury-sport watch firmly into caviar category. I really like the Crystal Sky dial that Mayer and AP dreamt up, too. Its sparkle hypnotizes me whenever I see photos of the watch on folks like Mayer or Ed Sheeran.

Best Sleeper Hit: Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Control Chronograph Calendar

This JLC release has flown under the radar, but it’s a great sport watch from a brand that’s made its bones with highly-complicated, super-fine pieces. This Master Control bridges both those worlds, with luxury functions like the calendar and moonphase complications tucked inside of a stainless steel case.