With Geneva Watch Days over, the Watch Advice team reviews all the releases and, with great effort and much deliberation, selects their top pieces.
Geneva Watch Days 2024 has continued to solidify its position as an exciting watch fair exhibiting all the independent brands in the world of horology. Unlike Watches and Wonders, Geneva Watch Days has a more “decentralised” approach, allowing watch brands to showcase their novelties and latest creations for the year across a variety of luxury hotels, boutiques, and venues throughout Geneva. This year’s Geneva Watch Days was held from August 29th to September 2nd. It featured several independent brands and fostered a more intimate connection between the watchmakers and the attendees.
The watches on display were diverse, featuring refined complications and bold artistic designs, showcasing the brands’ creativity and craftmanship. The independent brands on display continued to innovate and make waves in the world of horology, further reinforcing that Geneva Watch Days is the ideal event for these brands to shine.
At Watch Advice, our staff was early anticipating the event to see what the brands would unveil and ultimately get a hands-on feel for the latest releases. If you had followed our social media, the Watch Advice staff would have given an up-close view of the brands on show and a more detailed view of their individual pieces.
Related Reading: Geneva Watch Days Watches
In this article, each team member at Watch Advice has chosen their top two picks from Geneva Watch Days 2024. These picks showcase not only the unique tastes of each team member but also the variety of designs and styles seen throughout this year’s exhibition. Narrowing it down to only two watches each was certainly hard, as there were countless brands that unveiled some incredible timepeices, showing the best of not only horology but also haute horology! Join us as we celebrate these creations from another memorable Geneva Watch Days 2024.
Chamath’s Picks
Perrelet Turbine Ice Blue
Perrelet has been making its iconic TURBINE watch since 2009, and it has become a global hit. The watch’s design takes inspiration from the world of aviation, particularly Jet Engine Turbines (hence the name TURBINE). The watch has a double rotor system, which allows the blades on the dial side to spin freely. This front rotor, however, doesn’t add to the watch’s power reserve.
My first pick for Geneva Watch Days is Perrelet’s latest version of their TURBINE timepiece. The model was presented in two variations: one in a 44mm carbon case and the second in a 41mm Black DLC Titanium case. While the two models share the same TURBINE DNA, they are two very different models. Personally, I liked the TURBINE carbon, as you can see more of the ICE blue on the dial hour track and underneath the turbine.
Perrelet has used polycarbonate and carbon fibre in the case construction, which ensures that the watch’s strength is greatly increased while its weight is also reduced. When I tried on the TURBINE Carbon Ice Blue, I could feel the difference in wearability and feel compared to its Black DLC Titanium counterpart.
Related Reading: GENEVA WATCH DAYS: Perrelet Unveils Two New Turbine Ice Blue Timepieces (Live Pics)
Mauron Musy Architect
One of my favourite picks from this year’s Geneva Watch Days is Mauron Musy’s latest project, the “Architect”. This timepiece is unique for quite a few reasons. Firstly, the unique case design, which has been done for a specific purpose, to allow for a no-gasket design. You heard that right! If you didn’t know, Mauron Musy has invented a gasket-free watch using their nO-Ring(TM) technology which is developed entirely in-house. To put it simply, the impressive case design is made of different parts interlocking together to achieve water resistance.
Another reason I liked this timepiece is the skeletonised dial. The skeleton design, which was created in collaboration with the talented Arturo Tedeschi, is quite unique and was developed using computer programs. The watchmakers then put this intricate design into production. I can see this being quite a nightmare, as there are so many different angles and shapes involved!
The timepiece comes with a 44mm case made from grade 5 titanium. The case also measures 13mm and features 36 components interlocked together to hold the watch’s water resistance in place!
Sam’s Picks
L’Epee 1839 X MB&F ALBATROSS
My favourite pick for Geneva Watch Days isn’t actually a watch. In fact, it’s a masterpiece in mechanical engineering. The ALBATROSS, a joint creation between the famed clockmaker L’Epee and iconic watchmaker MB&F, is a clock that is a marvel of mechanical clockmaking.
This is the 15tch creation between L’Epee and MB&F. The duo has created some incredible pieces in the past, but I think this trumps everything. The ALBATROSS measures 60cm x 60cm x 35cm wide and is made up of 1520 components. The beauty of this clock is that it isn’t there just to sit and look pretty. The ALBATROSS has two separate movements that engage every hour (or on command) to chime out the time and automate the propellers.
The movement towards the front end of the airship powers the chimes, which ring for the hour and half hour increments. The movement at the back end powers the automation, in which every single propellor on the ALBATROSS comes to life and starts spinning. This machine is the first of its kind in the world, whereby we get both these features happening at once every hour! This is by far the coolest thing I’ve seen at a watch fair to date!
Related Reading: L’Epee Joins With MB&F To Create ALBATROSS!
Breitling Premier B19 Datora 42 140th Anniversary Perpetual Calendar
My second pick for Geneva Watch Days 2024 has to be Breitling’s newest release, the Premier B19 Datora 42 140th Anniversary. This is the first time the brand is featuring a perpetual calendar complication in any of their watches. This Premier model was released alongside two other timepeices, the Navitimer Perpetual Calendar and the Super Chronomat Perpetual Calendar. All three releases are part of the Breitling’s 140th anniversary.
It was a hard pick between the Navitimer B19 Perpetual Calendar and this Premier B19 Perpetual Calendar, as the Navitimer is one of the favourite models, having already owned one in the past. However, the design, the proportions, and the dial aesthetics of the Premier B19 Datora 140th Anniversary are just too hard to pass up.
I love the black tachymeter scale, which is juxtaposed by the 18k red gold minute track and then the black dial. The interplay between the colours is what makes the watch stand out from some distance, but when you take a closer look, the details of the dial are even more impressive. I think Breitling has done an amazing job on this timepiece, and can see this model selling out quite quickly!
Matt’s Picks
Speake Marin Ripples Skeleton
So for my first pick, I’m going with the Speake Marin Ripples Skeleton. Pictures don’t do this watch justice at all, and once you get it on your wrist, it’s pure unadulterated joy! I don’t say that about many pieces, but Cristelle Rosnoblet and the team at Speake Marin have done a stellar job with the piece. they haven’t just taken their classic Ripples design with the Piccadilly case and skeletonised it, they completely re-designed the watch from scratch to execute the vision.
What I love is they slimmed the piece down by 30% – that’s right, 30% and when the watch to start with was only just over 9mm thick to start with, getting it down to a little over 6mm is crazy. Not only this, they’ve taken the key design elements of the Ripples – the small seconds at 1:30, the horizontal gadroon style lines and incorporated this into the skeletonised dial so well. The lines become the bridges, the small seconds is the only element not skeletonised to draw your eye to it, and then making the balance at 12 o’clock, barrel at 4:30, and micro-rotor at 9 o’clock key features of the dial and movement.
On the wrist, it also looks and wears great. At 40.3mm in size, and as mentioned, only 6.3mm thick and now made from 904L steel, this is a pure joy to wear and is an everyday piece. Added to this, Speake Marin has included a small micro-adjust on the butterfly clasp on each side, meaning you can adjust on the fly on those hotter or cooler days to get the size accurate on the wrist. It’s also 50m water-resistant with a screw-down crown, so yes, you can swim with it as well!
Related Reading: GENEVA WATCH DAYS: Speake Marin Introduces All New Ripples Skeleton (Live Pics)
De Bethune DB28 XS Steel Wheels
My next pick is the De Bethune DB28 XS Steel Wheels. De Bethune has got a bit of a cult following, and not all that common in Australia, but I feel that they will start to get more traction as the indie scene continues to grow. So being able to get my hands on the new pieces was a pleasure and for me, the first time I’ve been able to get hands on with the Steel Wheels. It did not disappoint!
The hinged lugs is the first thing that you notice and is completely unique to De Bethune. It allows the watch to sit on the wrist and hug it as the springs allow the lugs to pivot and contour to the wrist perfectly. On this version, the rubber strap is also pretty comfortable, and mould to the wrist nicely, so it’s a great wearing piece, and light too. Made from grade 5 Titanium, you barely feel it on, so it’s a perfect daily companion.
De Bethune has made the new DB28 XS Steel Wheels more compact, which adds to wearability. At just under 39mm and a mere 8mm thick, it’s the perfect size on the wrist, and with the unique design elements of the dial, it stands out from others on the market. I love an open-worked dial, and with the blue-fired hands on the Steel Wheels combined with the Star Trek-like insignia on the dial, it’s playful but in a serious horological way! Oh, and it’s manual winding with a massive 6 days’ worth of power, so you’re not constantly hailing to wind it every couple of days. Another tick for me!
Related Reading: GENEVA WATCH DAYS: De Bethune’s DB28 Goes XS x2 For Geneva Watch Days (Live Pics)
Mario’s Picks
Geneva Watch Days, as always, is an incredible celebration of watchmaking. In my opinion, many of the releases this year have been on par with – and in some instances, even better than – other, more mainstream watch fairs. For my best picks, I’m not too sure if anyone who has read my stuff will really be surprised since these two watches are exactly what you’d expect them to be: weird but brilliant!
Daniel Roth – Tourbillon Souscription
I mean, what else? If you read Matt’s article about my Ultimate Three-Watch Collection, you’d know that the Daniel Roth C187 is on my all-time favourite watch list. I’ve said on innumerable occasions that if I were to own one, that would be the end of my watchmaking journey.
While not a spitting image of the C187, the Tourbillon Souscription is a detailed and faithful remake of the original: The one-minute tourbillon with three hands; the unique stepped case in yellow gold; and a beautiful champagne dial to boot. Produced by La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton, I do not doubt that the reputable workshop can match the fine craftsmanship of the original Daniel Roth references. But of course, the only way to know for sure is to get my hands on one…
Konstantin Chaykin – ThinKing
Imagine this: You’re Bulgari in 2022, and you just made the thinnest watch in the world. But then, Richard Mille came out of nowhere in the same year and stole the world record. You worked hard for two years, debuting an all-new watch that smashes Richard Mille’s – good on you!
But then, it happens again. Your record is gone after just four months! Not from Richard Mille, but by way of an independent genius from Russia. While this is undoubtedly a series of unfortunate events for Bulgari, the grin on Konstantin Chaykin’s face right now must be as big as the smile on his latest invention, the ThinKing.
With a smiling face reminiscent of his WristMons collection, this prototype has seemingly sailed past the ambitions of multimillion-dollar brands to plant itself firmly as the world’s thinnest wristwatch. Yes, Bulgari’s Octo Finissimo Ultra is still the world’s thinnest Chronometer. Still, at the end of the day, it’s so awesome to see an independent watchmaker taking centre stage – seemingly out of nowhere!
