2024 Watches & Wonders: Taking a Shine to Switzerland

Serious watch nerds obsess over the intricacies of the tiny machines they love, the mostly unseen interior architecture that gives them their essential functions. And at the annual Watches & Wonders exhibition in Geneva, they converge worldwide for a few days, ready to talk tourbillons, tachymeters, and trade notes on the record-breaking watchmaking feats that impressed them most. But don’t be fooled; this crew isn’t immune to the appeal of eye candy, especially where diamonds are involved.

Every year, some of the most lusted-after new launches are the ones that serve some serious carat weight along with technical innovation, whether on a high jewelry confection that would be just right at the Met Gala or a handsome diamond-set reference that Jay-Z might wear to a Lakers game. These are some of the new releases that will inspire wait lists, even before they drop. When it comes to diamond watches, it’s what’s inside and out that counts. 

Hidden Gems

Not all watches are jewelry, but some have a place in both worlds. There’s a new fashion for elegant jewelry pieces that is a throwback to when it was considered impolite to wear a watch at a black tie event. They conceal their time-telling function so well that it’s almost invisible to everyone except the person wearing it. Who doesn’t want to appear free from watching the clock at a festive, fancy night out? These pieces achieve that effect with pure, all-out glamour. No one would suspect Cartier’s luminous cuff conceals a watch in its contours or that Vacheron Constantin’s diamond-set jewel is a watch that can transform from a bracelet to a necklace, too. And while we all want to be in the moment, it can still be handy not to lose total track of time. Even Cinderella was supposed to be sure she made her exit by midnight. 

Chanel 

Vacheron Constantin

Cartier

Piaget 

Blinded by the Light

We’ve heard a lot about quiet luxury for a few years. That approach to fashion will always have its acolytes: lavishly inconspicuous dressers wafting through life in thousand-ply cashmere and watches so rare only experts will…clock how special they are. But let’s hear it for the peacocks, too; they eschew muted Roy family Succession wardrobes for something more eye-grabbing. We need the flamboyant souls that want you to see their swag from across a colosseum; they’re bold enough to wear just-released masterpieces flaunting diamonds racking up double-digit carat weights and far-out avant-garde designs. Fans of extroverted, edgy timepieces can take their pick from some standout releases that tested the abilities of top-notch talents in the craft of watchmaking and gem setting. They boast mechanical substance—skeletonized chronographs and artful day/night complications—to go along with all that shine. Each of these will get knowing nods of approval from serious watch snobs and jewelry fanatics, too. 

Chopard

Hublot

Grand Seiko 

Van Cleef & Arpels

Game Time

Among their many merits—ravishing beauty, timeless chic, sentimental attachments—diamonds are the hardest materials found in nature. It’s one of the reasons that they’re no-brainers for jewelry that’s worn all the time, like engagement rings, and a go-to for watches. Even the klutziest among us doesn’t need to worry much about dinging the diamonds that light up a dial, bracelet, or bezel. And it’s not just dainty dressy watches or styles designated for “ladies” getting the diamond-dusted treatment. This year, many new releases feature a healthy dose of diamonds, an unfussy sporty sensibility, and styling that defies stale boundaries along gender lines. If there’s anything we’ve learned from recent breakout watch choices across generations and style persuasions (see: Timothée Chalamet in a Cartier Crash, Jay-Z rocking a Patek Philippe annual calendar, or Michelle Yeoh in anything Richard Mille), getting decked out in diamonds is an equal opportunity obsession. 

Rolex

Hermès

Patek Philippe

Tudor