Watch headlines this week will be dominated by news of the latest watches by Rolex, Cartier, Patek Philippe, Hermès, et al, but there is lots of life beyond the major brands, with Watches and Wonders 2024 organisers keen to open their platform to a more diverse array of makers. Add to that the 150 or so brands exhibiting outside the event’s Palexpo showcase, and there’s a wealth of creativity on offer in a bewildering array of styles and at prices ranging from the hundreds to the hundreds of thousands.
Watches and Wonders 2024: best independent watch brands
Nomos Glashütte
Nomos Glashütte makes its debut at Watches and Wonders with a series of watches that perfectly encapsulate the brand’s ethos and style – take a dash of 1980s-inflected post-modernism, some de Stijl and Bauhaus references and an almost messianic approach to quality and value and you have Tangente 38 Colours. The beautifully simple case and hand-wound movement will be familiar, but this year, the watches appear in 31 colour variations, each made in small runs of 175, using swatches that emphasise different elements of the dial design and give a new energy to the brand’s most classic design.
£1,925, nomos-glashuette.com
Urwerk
Urwerk’s reputation is based on wildly complex watches that feature planetary-geared hands and discs to show the time, futuristic materials and precision enhancements, all housed in retro-sci-fi cases, so the SpaceTime Blade is unexpected to say the least. A 1.7m high, 20kg glass and bronze blade that houses a stack of 8 ‘Nixie’ units, it’s designed to resemble a gnomon (the shadow blade on a sundial) and is set up to show time in terms of our planet’s velocity around the sun (it’ll do vanilla time as well if you want). Thirty-three will be made at CHF55,000 plus tax each.
Gerald Charles
Gerald Charles’ new Masterlink catches the eye both for its lines and the intent behind it. The brand was created by watchmaking’s most celebrated designer, Gerald Genta, and has kept closely to the legacy of his designs, until now. The Masterlink is Gerald Charles creative director Octavio Garcia’s development of an original Genta design, which may not sound so significant unless you’re familiar with the watch world’s almost manic reverence for the man. Keeping the asymmetry that the Maestro design is known for, Garcia has sharpened the lines and opened the dial to allow for an integrated bracelet.
Jacob & Co
Jacob & Co has made one of the stranger transformations over its 20-plus year history. Starting out as purveyor of maximum-ice timepieces to Manhattan’s HipHop glitterati, the brand has morphed into a high concept, haute horlogerie maker that’s more rue du Rhône than Washington Heights, as shown by the new Astronomia Régulateur. All floating discs, planetary gears and flying tourbillon, it’s still bright and brash enough to stay in touch with the brand’s roots.
