Watchonista Staff Picks: Watches & Wonders 2023 Edition

In the six years I have been with Watchonista, I have learned many things: What a tourbillon is, what Swatch Group and Richemont are, and what it’s like to be a budding watch collector. Of course, those are not the only things I’ve learned over the years. However, I am also the first to admit that I am still learning (for instance, I am still incapable of pronouncing “Jaeger-LeCoultre” correctly).

Still, perhaps the most important lesson I’ve learned is the importance of trade shows. And with Watches & Wonders now reigning as the “big show,” dozens of brands, from heavy hitters like Patek Philippe to smaller independent outfits like HAUTLENCE, release a veritable avalanche of novelties in only five days.

The 2023 edition of Watches & Wonders in Geneva was no different, breaking attendance records and seeing nearly 50 watch brands release hundreds of novelties. However, this year marked the first time that I, someone who works almost exclusively behind the scenes, got to see the novelties in the metal as I wandered around Palexpo. And it was a massive change in perspective, especially when it came to choosing my favorite piece from this year’s show.

Had this year mimicked years past, and I only experienced the novelties via press releases and the superb images taken by our Senior Photographers Liam O’Donnell and Pierre Vogel, my choice would have been Chopard’s Alpine Eagle Cadence 8HF featuring a 41mm titanium case and an exquisitely textured black dial with orange highlights.
 

From the first moment I opened the brand’s press kit, I wanted a closer look at it. Then, when Liam posted his macro shots of the watch’s dial to the company Dropbox, I was in love.
 

However, after visiting the Hermès booth and seeing the Arceau Petite Lune in the metal, I found my pick for “Best in Show.” And while there are many things to love about the Arceau Petite Lune (i.e., its 38mm case designed by Henri d’Origny and made from white gold, the H1837 Manufacture self-winding movement, or its gorgeous navy-blue leather strap), what entranced me most was the piece’s only feature that did not (could not) come across in a press release: the dial.
 

Meant to evoke the iridescent beauty of the Northern Lights, the Arceau Petite Lune’s dial looks like it’s straight aventurine. But in actuality, the dial features an impossibly thin layer of aventurine glass set atop mother-of-pearl so that, depending on the angle you view it, the dial will resemble a night sky replete with stars or suffused with the haunting grandeur of the Northern Lights.

Throughout 2023, TAG Heuer is celebrating the 60th anniversary of its iconic Carrera timepiece. But among the slew of Carreras already released this year, only the new Carrera Chronograph Tourbillon “Glassbox” released during Watches & Wonders pays tribute to Jack Heuer’s design philosophy for the original model in a wholly unexpected way: combining a supple blue dial and a surprise tourbillon at 6 o’clock to create a tool watch that is almost empyrean in its beauty.
 

In truth, I never thought adding a tourbillon complication to a chronograph tool watch would do anything but overcomplicate the design and crowd the dial. But once I saw the harmony of the new Carrera Chronograph Tourbillon “Glassbox,” I must have gone into some kind of “industrial design shock” because I had trouble wrapping my brain around the new reality that I suddenly found myself inhabiting.
 

Every detail of the Carrera Chronograph Tourbillon “Glassbox” works perfectly, especially how the tourbillon cage takes on the size and countenance of the “missing counter” and creates a faux tri-compax dial that is, nevertheless, extremely well-balanced.

There is no doubt in my mind: The new Carrera Chronograph Tourbillon “Glassbox” is a masterpiece of design – coherent and balanced – and proof that there is no reward without risk.
 

I discovered the Ulysse Nardin Freak several years ago, and ever since, I’ve been intrigued and charmed by its “No dial. No hands. No crown” concept. So, when I found out that Ulysse Nardin planned to use the new Freak ONE to revisit its original design concept for the Freak, I was thrilled.
 

Lucky for me, I had the opportunity to discover and photograph the Ulysse Nardin Freak ONE with my good friend and Watchonista Senior Photographer Pierre Vogel at the brand’s manufacture in La Chaux-de-Fonds the week before Watches & Wonders, and it was an immense pleasure. Because even though the concept of the Freak was born more than two decades ago, this daring timepiece doesn’t cease to put a smile on my face and fascinate me.
 

The new Freak ONE, with its brutalist, minimalistic, geeky, quirky, and very mechanical vibes, embodies so many of the codes I find appealing. This watch is a true treat to wind, set, and read. Still, despite all its playful qualities, the Freak ONE’s mechanics, put proudly on display in its 44mm black DLC-coated titanium case, are as serious as it gets.
 

I hope Ulysse Nardin builds on the Freak ONE and continues making quirky (but no less amazing) Freak models for years to come.

As someone who has owned various OG IWC Ingenieur models over the years, I was super excited to hear that the Ingenieur Automatic 40 models introduced at Watches & Wonders 2023 would pay tribute to the SL Jumbo 1832 Ingenieur from 1976. However, before I saw any photos of it, my concern was that IWC would stray too far away from the design elements that made (what I believe to be) Gérald Genta’s most underrated creation so great.

Simply put, IWC nailed it.
 

While IWC is offering the new Ingenieur Automatic 40 in either titanium or stainless steel, proportions-wise, the case is perfect at 40mm in diameter by 10.5mm thick (extremely close to the OG SL Jumbo). Meanwhile, the biggest change to its design is the addition of crown guards, which, despite being controversial to purists, I don’t mind at all.
 

The new integrated bracelet is true to the OG in appearance. But it has the technology (like a butterfly clasp rather than a deployant one) that you’d expect in a modern watch, which I think is an improvement. Finally, available in four different colorways, the new dials, like the rest of the Ingenieur Automatic 40, stay mostly true to the original, bringing back one of the most distinctive elements of the SL Jumbo: the unique checkerboard “Grid” pattern.
 

Golf clap for this one, IWC!