The world’s largest luxury wristwatch event of the year has just wrapped up in Geneva, Switzerland, as Watches and Wonders closed its doors on the 2023 edition after a record-setting experience with more visitors than ever before.
No less than 48 world-renowned Maisons took part in Watches and Wonders Geneva 2023, exhibiting all the latest and finest watches and highlighting the upcoming trends of the year ahead.
Just about the entire city played along to the show program with activities happening all over Geneva with some stunning innovations and world premieres taking place during the week-long event.
With a gathering of iconic brands such as Cartier, Chanel, Montblanc, Hublot, Piaget, Chopard, and Hermès, the fair was a huge hit with visitor numbers nearly doubling over the previous year. Here are the Kurator’s top 10 major highlights and innovations from Watches and Wonders 2023.
1. Cartier
The stunning La Panthère de Cartier is the latest jewellery watch from the Maison with bewildering craftsmanship and one of three jewellery timepiece models introduced by Cartier, along with an rare limited-edition numbered Tank Normale and the innovative Santos-Dumont introducing a specially developed new automatic skeleton calibre.
2. Rolex
Playful and brightly coloured bubbles decorate the vivid new Rolex Oyster Perpetual named ‘Celebration’ with candy tones of pink, coral, and turquoise. Rolex also surprised show goers in Geneva with a new 39mm Oyster Perpetual Day-Date 36 featuring an exquisite champlevé enamel puzzle motif dial.
3. Patek Philippe
Three new white gold versions of the Patek Philippe Reference 6007 were introduced in Geneva available with accenting in red, yellow, or blue, featuring modern black dials and three available types of finishing.
4. Chopard
Chopard stayed entirely faithful to the design and dimensions of the original when relaunching this new L.U.C 1860 steel watch embellished with gold and a leather strap to complete the heritage inspired look - with a 3.3mm thin movement the watch nevertheless boats a 65-hour reserve and a timeless aesthetic.
5. Van Cleef & Arpels
The iconic Parisian jeweller unveiled a host of stunning jewellery timepieces at Watches and Wonders this year, but Van Cleef & Arpels really took the breath away with the Éveil du Cyclamen automaton that opens its flower petals to reveal a butterfly made of jewels with delicate wings of enamel really, as well as the mesmerising Planétarium automaton featuring a complex mechanical movement to animate the heavenly bodies in the sky visible from the Earth.
6. Chanel
Undoubtedly some of the standout pieces in Geneva at the fair came from Chanel and the new Mademoiselle Privé Pique-Aiguilles series featuring five watches that resemble the intricate motifs of embroidery and fabrics, with themes of pearls, quilting, tweed, and lace - snow-set diamonds in the embroidery inspired creation make for a stunning highlight in the series.
7. Hermès
Hermès added four new interpretations of the H08 line to the portfolio of its sporty watches, in luminous colours and a rubber strap as well as an innovative new composite materials made of compressed aluminised glass fibres woven together for the lightweight case.
8. Montblanc
Watches and Wonders 2023 was an opportunity for Montblanc to roll out a bevy of fresh timepieces including the new Zero Oxygen pieces commemorating the daring alpinists who conquer the world’s highest mountain peaks - living up to its name the Zero Oxygen watches feature automatic movements housed in a complete vacuum inside the case. One of the highlights of the line is a limited edition of 290 pieces worldwide in a 44mm titanium case.
9. Piaget
With a respectful not to its storied heritage, Piaget showcased new timepieces that reflect a classic and timeless design ethos as well as some high jewellery watches such as these cuff watches featuring painstakingly hand-engraved detailing for an exquisite finish that makes each piece a unique work of art.
10. Hublot
Hublot announced a range of watches in Geneva with the most intriguing amongst several exceptional debuts being the all-new MP-13 which fuses a tourbillon with a retrograde display to create a unique movement.
