The Top Trends We Loved at Watches & Wonders 2023

All the latest models and trends from Watches & Wonders 2023, the annual watch show that takes place in Geneva, Switzerland and launches the latest and most exciting releases from the world of fine watchmaking. 

Watches & Wonders 2023: Top Trends

Pop Art

Why so serious? A sense of colour and fun flowed through the suites of Watches & Wonders this year thanks to several Pop Art-inspired models on display.

Rolex Jigsaw Day-Date 36mm

The watch that horophiles were waiting for – Rolex’s contemporary creative twist on its beloved Day-Date model. Available in 18 ct yellow, white or Everose gold, the dial features champlevé enamelling in a jigsaw pattern, with the aperture at 12 o’clock displaying an inspirational keyword – ‘Happy’, ‘Eternity’, ‘Gratitude’, ‘Peace’, ‘Faith’, ‘Love’ and ‘Hope’. The window at three o’clock reveals daily one of 31 emojis in place of the date. £POA, rolex.com

Oris Pro Pilot Kermit

Oris has teamed up with everyone’s favourite green frog to create this unforgettable take on its Pro Pilot model. Reimagined in Kermit’s signature vibrant green hue, the Pro Pilot also features an emoji of the frog in the date window on the first of every month – hereby known as ‘Kermit Day’. £3,700, oris.ch

Hermès Arceau Wow

Ugo Bienvenu is the name of the comic book artist behind these eye-catching new looks for Hermès’s Arceau model. Available in two limited edition designs, they both feature double-sided mother-of-pearl dial with a miniature painting of a horse riding heroine jumping into action. Also with white gold cases set with 82 diamonds. €72,000, hermes.com

Chronoswiss Open Gear Resec Candy Shop

On a black DLC-coated, hand-guillochéd dial, here the different colours of each part of the openwork movement pop in metallic CVD coating that glows not just under ultra-violet light. Like a very upmarket version of a ‘how to make it’ movement model, and darkness replaces the light show with multi-coloured Superluminova dots and hands. €15,000, chronoswiss.com

Crazy Colour

Bright, bold and beautiful, many of the watches shown for 2023 packed a punch of zingy colour.

TAG Heuer Carrera Date in hot pink

To celebrate the 60th anniversary of its Carrera Date model, TAG Heuer has reimagined it with a newly streamlined silhouette in its original 36mm diameter, a mechanical upgrade – and a seriously bold colour palette. Our favourite is the hot pink – did anyone say Barbiecore? £2,750, tagheuer.com

Gucci Grip in brick red jasper

Gucci’s range of statement ‘Grip’ jumping hour watches first launched in 2019, and is inspired by 1970s skateboarding culture. This year, the brand has added two new vibrant hardstone dials to the collection, one in brick red jasper and the other in apple-green chrysoprase. £POA, gucci.com

Doxa Sub 200 C-Graph II in bright turquoise

Doxa’s signature is its diving watches, and this turquoise model is a refresh of its steel chronograph, with a more contemporary 42mm diameter case and a new, subtly luminous dial with a sunray finish. The dial is designed for legibility while under the water, and features a central chronograph hand that rotates once around the dial every 60 seconds, a 30-minute chronograph counter positioned at 3 o’clock, and a 12-hour chronograph counter positioned at 6 o’clock. £2,750, doxawatches.com

Chopard Happy Sport

Chopard’s Happy Sport has been reimagined this year with a vibrant blue and purple chameleon dial with guilloché decoration, plus the ‘floating’ diamonds the model is known for. £15,400, chopard.com

Patek Philippe Calatrava 4997/200R-001

Even that most timeless of brands, Patek Philippe, is not immune to the current tide of colourful watches. This long-term favourite model now comes in all-over imperial magenta, its richness achieved with fifty layers of transparent lacquer over an exquisitely guillochéd dial. A refined showstopper, as crazy as Patek gets. £30,960, patek.com

Celestial

Many brands took inspiration from the night sky for this year’s watch designs, with beautiful designs evoking the astral world in a variety of innovative ways.

Hermès Arceau Petite Lune

A truly beautiful piece from Hermes, this elegant watch features a dreamy night sky crafted from aventurine, mother-of-pearl, aragonite and opal, framed by a halo of diamonds. It’s surrounded by 70 white diamonds, and its moonphase module tracks the movement of the moon over the course of every month. £POA, hermes.com

Chopard Impériale Night & Day

The design of this limited-edition fine jewellery watch is inspired by lotus flowers, and it features an ethical 18-carat rose gold case, sapphires, diamonds and engraved lotus petals. These are set against a backdrop of sky, which evolves with the passing hours thanks to a rotating mechanism that distinguishes between day and night. £82,600, chopard.com

Chanel J12 Cosmic

A quirky interpretation of Chanel’s popular J12 watch, this white ceramic Cosmic model from the maison’s new Interstellar collection features a dial scattered with fun cosmic symbols, plus 12 white diamonds. It also includes Super-LumiNova with blue luminescence, for a contrasting appearance after dark. £6,750, chanel.com

Vacheron Constantin Overseas Moon Phase Retrograde Date

For the first time this venerable brand adds a romantic moon phase and its popular retrograde date function to the best-selling Overseas line. A little bit sporty, a little bit dressy and quite a bit poetic, with its subdial telling you exactly where you are in the moon’s twenty nine and a half days’ cycle. If that sounds like a compromise it’s a very successful one. £POA, vacheron-constantin.com

Tiny Squares

Square, right-angled and checkerboard designs made an appearance on several dials at Watches & Wonders – many of which took inspiration from the 1970s. The motif is a style signature of the era.

Cartier Tank Louis Cartier

A real work of art and artisanal craftsmanship. This new interpretation of Cartier’s Tank Louis Cartier model features a three-colour mosaic of tiny squares in yellow gold, rose gold and white gold, in homage to the Tank Must dials of the 1970s. Choose from yellow or rose gold, and all are  quipped with the 1917 MC movement with manual winding. £POA, cartier.com

IWC Ingénieur Automatic 40

IWC also returned to the 197os for the inspiration for this new limited-edition Ingénieur, a reinterpretation of Gérald Genta’s renowned Ingénieur SL design. The original design from 1976 has been brought up to date with a polished stainless steel case, bezel and bracelet,  IWC-manufactured 32111 calibre, and four new dial colours – we like this subtle aqua hue. £10,500, iwc.com

Patek Philippe Calatrava 6007/G-001

Melding high-tech with traditional craft, this surprisingly sporty model is a typically Patek blend of ancient and modern. It takes the sheeny black and checkerboard effect of forged carbon as seen in spacecraft, cars and watches but executes it in hand-embossing on a black dial housed in a white gold case and on the calf leather strap, with classic “dashboard” details in yellow, red or blue. £30,480, patek.com 

Czapek Antarctique S Carte des Nuages

The latest exploration of austral themes from this small, originally crowd-funded, brand is a ‘cloud map’ of glowing, shifting mother-of-pearl expertly cut with a fine, cartographic grid and icy diamond shards as main indexes. Slim and elegant with an air of mystery, a pavé case is optional. Order now for 2025 delivery. From CHF26,000, czapek.com

Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso One Precious Colours

As much high jewellery as timepiece, this Art Deco-inspired watch features an Escher-like, 3D illusion design of miniature painted rectangles and rhomboids in grand feu enamel and diamonds that wraps around the curved case and takes eighty hours to achieve. The dial is mother-of-pearl with a diamond-set case and the alligator strap matches the blue or green-based colours. £POA, jaeger-lecoultre.com