Watchonista Staff Picks: Our Favorite Watches of 2024
Before we celebrate the start of 2025, we wanted to highlight our staff’s favorite watches of 2024.
By Watchonista
By Rhonda Riche
Editor-At-Large
Choosing my favorite releases of the year is usually a fun thought exercise, but 2024 has proven more challenging than in the past. There are two reasons for this: there were too many watches (seriously, let’s cool it with all the limited editions) and there were too many good watches (case in point, honorable mention must go to each of NOMOS Glashütte’s 31 variations of the Tangente 38 Date – 175 Years Watchmaking Glashütte series).
For me, the watch that stood out for its looks, grace, and overall exuberance is the IWC Schaffhausen for the Portugieser Eternal Calendar.
In fact, from the moment Lorenz Brunner, the man responsible for IWC’s Research and Innovation department, walked me through its development and functions at Watches and Wonders 2024, I was smitten.
Its mechanism is so advanced that it can adjust for leap years for over 400 years, AND its moonphase display will only deviate by one day after 45 million years. No wonder this rare secular calendar complication won the “Aiguille d’Or” at the 2024 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève.
By Mike Espindle
Executive Editor
Ok, I’m probably going to hear something on this one. But, since these staff selections are strictly personal, let me share some of my personal thoughts on Patek Philippe: I tend to like the brand best when Patek goes a little “rogue” and brand purists begin to grumble.
The Ref. 723G-001 Calatrava Pilot Travel Time from 2020? Loved it. The Ref. 5212A-001 Calatrava Weekly Calendar with the “hand-written” dial font from the year before? One of my favorites.
That is why the new square shape of the Cubitus not only doesn’t bother me, I like it. And in this multi-complicated platinum execution – the Ref. 5822P Instantaneous Grand Date, Day, and Moon Phases ($88,380) – the deviations (if you can even call them that) from so-called “normal” Patek proportions and dial placement just make it more interesting looking to me.
I even appreciate the “stealth wealth” hit with the single baguette diamond hidden on the case side at 6 o’clock.
Thierry Stern, if you release this in steel someday, give me a call.
By Sebastien Aeberli
Design & Content Manager
My favorite watch of 2024 is the Laureato 42 mm Pink Gold Ultramarine Blue timepiece from Girard-Perregaux. The narrative of the Laureato commenced in 1975, a date that also marks the beginning of my own chronicle. Consequently, 2025 will serve as a milestone year for us both.
This Laureato is encased in a 42mm pink gold case, which maintains the Laureato tradition of contrasting shapes and finishes. In this instance, the eponymous noble metal is paired with a dial with an enthralling ultramarine blue hue that appears to subtly shift colors when observed from different angles.
This latest iteration is driven by the GP01800 self-winding mechanical calibre, which has been designed, produced, and assembled in-house. The timepiece is then meticulously finished with traditional decorations, as evidenced by the see-through caseback that reveals the gold oscillating weight decorated with Côtes de Genève.
By Cait Bazemore
Contributor
When you work in the industry, everyone wants to know how you got interested in watches.
For me, it happened during the summer of 2000, when my older, cooler cousin wore this big, pink, super girly yet sporty G-SHOCK Baby G to our family vacation home in Bay View, Michigan. With that desperate longing only tweens can understand, I remember thinking I couldn’t live without that watch, that it would complete me.
Fast forward to Watches and Wonders this past spring. I walk into my appointment with Hublot and see the Big Bang Unico Pink Sapphire 42mm. I was immediately transported back to the summer of 2000. Indeed, there is little doubt in my mind that this Hublot model is the grown-up Baby G for nostalgic millennial watch nerds like me.
It has that same perfect blend of bold sportiness and fully pinked-out femininity. However, Hublot elevates the model both inside and out, swapping the quartz movement and plastic construction of the G-SHOCK with its signature tinted sapphire case, a rubber strap, and its UNICO 2 manufacture self-winding chronograph flyback movement. It also gets a grown-up price tag of $121,000.
By Ash Longet
PR & Business Development
The Royal Oak Selfwinding Flying Tourbillon Openworked in Sand Gold from Audemars Piguet is, hands down, one of the most exciting releases of 2024.
First, its Calibre 2972 movement is a marvel of semi-symmetrical engineering, purpose-built to be skeletonized and showing off just the right amount of mechanical muscle.
Draped in a seductive sand gold finish (AP’s latest proprietary material), it’s bold, edgy, and effortlessly chic. In short, the Royal Oak Selfwinding Flying Tourbillon Openworked in Sand Gold is a watch that oozes cool and proves Audemars Piguet is still on top.
By Laurie Kahle
Contributor
Not only was 2024 the 30th anniversary of A. Lange & Söhne’s transformative Lange 1, this year also marked the 25th anniversary of the groundbreaking Datograph chronograph, an occasion commemorated with the launch of the limited edition Datograph Handwerkskunst. Fun Fact: Only a select few special editions are endowed with the Handwerkskunst label, signifying next-level artistic decoration.
The black rhodium-treated dial is paired with light gray, rhodium-treated sub-dials for contrast. Meanwhile, both the dial and sub-dials were painstakingly decorated using a engraving technique known as tremblage that imparts a “trembling” effect.
Additionally, elements – such as the brand’s emblem, tachymeter scale, and minute and second markers – are crisply relief-engraved, while faceted, satin-finished yellow gold Roman numeral and hour indices are applied.
The manually winding manufacture caliber L951.8 is finished with black polish on the chronograph levers, and the balance cock is distinguished by a relief-engraved vine pattern rather than the usual floral motif.
Limited to 25 pieces, the 41mm yellow gold Datograph Handwerkskunst (price upon request) is a tour de force of engraving prowess, best appreciated through a loupe.
By Henri Lee
Contributor
I missed the debut of my 2024 pick amid the avalanche of new watch releases at Watches and Wonders. However, at the end of a hectic year, I longed for calm, serenity, and lasting beauty – qualities perfectly embodied in the Classic Moon Silver (CHF 80,000) from Laurent Ferrier.
An annual calendar with a mesmerizing moonphase indicator featuring an aventurine disc engraved with enamel and miniature painting, the dial showcases Laurent Ferrier’s elegant simplicity, with vintage-style fonts for the date that I find especially charming. The pebble-inspired 40mm case, in red gold, conveys timeless and natural beauty.
On the reverse, the watch reveals a beautifully decorated movement with Côtes de Genève and nicely beveled edges and interior angles. Plus, that is where the power reserve indicator (which happens to be a favorite complication for me) can be found, a useful feature for a manual wind watch.
By Elena Fichtel
Deputy Managing Editor
Picking my favorite watch release of 2024 has, at times, felt like a Sisyphean task. There were too many options. Fortunately, I was eventually able to whittle it down to two finalists: the Biver Automatique Atelier Series Obsidian and the Chopard L.U.C Quattro Spirit 25.
And as much as I am drawn to the Biver’s unusual sanded obsidian dial, platinum case, mottled gray colorway, breathtaking movement, and its exquisite white gold railroad track, hands, and hour markers, a black-dialed Chopard is singing its Siren’s song, and I am powerless to resist.
The 40mm L.U.C Quattro Spirit 25, like many of the watches on this list, was released during Watches & Wonders this past April (I even chose it as my grail release from the show). Well, in the intervening months, my obsession with this one-handed piece has only grown, particularly its jump-hour complication and black Grand Feu enamel dial.
Sadly, this watch will remain out of my grasp until I am willing to pony up $50,200, which means this watch will remain out of my grasp indefinitely.