In Best of the Best, we honour the brands and people behind the most covetable products. Here’s a list of the best watches for your wrist from 2024
Best Multi-complication: A. Lange & Söhne Datograph Perpetual Tourbillon Honeygold Lumen
The Datograph Perpetual Tourbillon Honeygold Lumen combines the creme de la creme of A. Lange & Söhne’s achievements, rolling some of the watchmaker’s fan-favourite elements into one piece. When the Datograph was launched in 1999, A. Lange & Söhne’s current director of product development, Anthony de Haas, was working for renowned movement maker Renaud et Papi, and he still remembers being struck by the original. “At that time, during the ’90s, the watch industry was gently recovering (from the quartz crisis of the 1970s), so no risks were taken,” he tells Robb Report. To celebrate the model’s 25th anniversary, de Haas and his team conceived a new model to set tongues wagging again. The company encased it in Honeygold (A. Lange & Söhne’s proprietary alloy, known for its soft, elegant hue) and accentuated it with a heavy dose of green luminous coating that lights up the displays and functions. Visible through the smoky sapphire crystal is the hand-finished L952.4 movement, which combines a perpetual calendar, a flyback chronograph with a jumping minute counter, and a tourbillon with a stop-seconds mechanism.
Few brands can rival the beauty of an A. Lange & Söhne movement, and this one is exceptional. In discreet German fashion, it can only be seen by taking the watch off your wrist for a close inspection of its masterful engineering.
Best Bracelet: Patek Philippe Ellipse Ref. 5738 1R
Handcrafted from 363 individual elements, the gold bracelet on Patek Philippe’s new Ellipse is not only a feat of craftsmanship but also a first for this model in the modern era. Making a woven bracelet of this calibre is a far more challenging exercise than it appears. Jewellery obsessives will know that even the simplest-looking chains can be extraordinarily difficult to produce. As a result, very few of the Ref. 5738 1R—which is equipped with an ebony-black sunburst dial—will be made. Furthermore, the company says the Ellipse is becoming increasingly sought-after by younger collectors, so competition for this piece may be just as high as the climb for a new Nautilus.
Best Ultra-thin Watch: Bvlgari Octo Finissimo Ultra COSC
Bvlgari’s Octo Finissimo timepieces continue to get so impossibly slim, it’s a wonder there’s anything inside them at all. The Italian house just set its ninth world record with the Octo Finissimo Ultra COSC. With a titanium case measuring just 1.70mm thick, it feels like second skin. It beats out the company’s previous world record of the slimmest mechanical watch at 1.80mm and Richard Mille’s at 1.75mm. Packed into a space about as thick as a credit card is a carbide main plate, hour and minute regulator display counters, a second wheel, winding and time-setting wheels, and a ratchet engraved with a geometric design. How was it achieved? To shave off 0.10mm, engineers meticulously thinned the sapphire crystal. If these watchmakers try to go any smaller, this watch might just disappear—but don’t think they won’t set a 10th world record before they’re done.
Best Engraving: Vacheron Constantin Les Cabinotiers Minute Repeater Tourbillon-Tribute to Arabesque
Every year, Vacheron Constantin turns out a small group of unique timepieces for its Les Cabinotiers collection and bespoke orders. The most recent offering, unveiled in Dubai last November, was inspired by architectural marvels in locations central to the maison’s history. The most extraordinary, the 44mm by 13.5mm 18k-white-gold Minute Repeater Tourbillon-Tribute to Arabesque, was a celebration of historic Arabic architecture. Its over-the-top case engraving and bas-relief techniques mimic the intricate patterns on the 82 domed minarets at Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, the largest in the United Arab Emirates. The open- worked and engraved 18k-white-gold dial cover takes some of its cues from mashrabiyas—cantilevered windows covered by latticed wooden screens. Engraving just one component of a watch at this level is a feat, but decorating the entire case, dial and flange with this specialised handiwork is monumental.
Best Three-hand Watch: IWC Schaffhausen Portugieser Automatic 40
Yves Saint Laurent famously opined that “fashion fades, but style is eternal”. In the horological context, the humble three-hand dress watch has resisted the ebb and flow of trends from enormous case sizes to outlandish material experimentation to symbolise the north star of watchmaking purity.
That is not to say that the three-hand dress watch hasn’t evolved. While its parameters for change are narrow, there is always room to create a version that speaks to the times. IWC’s Portugieser Automatic 40 is a stellar example. Its 40mm case is loaded with presence, yet it is particularly elegant, boasting a slenderer profile than its predecessors. There is nostalgic allure, too, by way of box-glass sapphire crystals that recall the look of vintage timepieces. The dial, while clean and open dial with just the hour hand and markers, and a small seconds at 6 o’clock, is lavished in a choice of Horizon Blue or Obsidian Black. The hues appear exceptionally rich, thanks to the painstaking application of 15 layers of transparent lacquer set against sunray finishing. The blue and black dials are paired with a steel and red gold case, respectively, offering collectors a choice between subtle and regal looks. Either way, you get a daily workwear companion driven by a workhorse automatic movement with seven-day power reserve.
Best Sports Watch: TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph Skipper
A sleeper hit among TAG Heuer’s 2024 releases, the Carrera Chronograph Skipper is equal parts retro and refined, exemplifying the brand’s sportive ethos with mechanical robustness and dressy sophistication. Nicknamed ‘Skipper’ for its seafaring inspiration—it is billed as a chronograph repurposed for timing regattas—the watch is a moneyed follow-up to an earlier model from 2023. Driven by a top-drawer in-house automatic chronograph movement with 80-hour power reserve, the watch is clad in 18K rose gold, a step-up from its predecessor that was housed in a stainless steel case. Here, the warm glint of precious metal is beautifully paired with the royal blue dial, accentuated with touches of teal, green and red on the chronograph counters. The evocative resort-style colours are heightened by the watch’s smooth curves on the domed sapphire crystal and minute track, a modern take on TAG Heuer’s nostalgic ‘Glassbox’ design from the 1970s.
