Rolex, Cartier, and Vacheron Constantin Dominate the Dialogue Around Watches & Wonders

In Geneva, Switzerland, the Watches & Wonders trade show presently acts as a stage for 60 luxury timepiece brands—from global heavyweights like Patek Philippe and Bulgari to independent maisons driven by design, including Nomos, Oris, Ressence, and Ulysse Nardin. Days before industry insiders arrived, watch world speculation reached a fever pitch over releases being teased by Rolex; articles and social media posts dissected every angle of the advanced visuals.

With the March 31 announcement of the Land-Dweller, an entirely new model, Rolex did not disappoint. The honeycomb dial or the fluted bezel may catch the casual observer’s attention; but the integrated flat jubilee bracelet (which seamlessly connects to the case) and the patented, proprietary high frequency mechanical movement (which powers the watch) set it apart. There’s a vintage Rolex aesthetic invoked, and yet the novelty (the term for newly released product) represents a series of technical advancements.

Coupled with all the chatter around Rolex’s Land-Dweller, both Cartier and Vacheron Constantin caused their own stir. The former revived their Cartier Privé Tank à Guichets, which first premiered in 1928. The collection features an archival reinterpretation—in yellow gold, rose gold, or platinum—as well as a limited edition model with a jumping hour window oriented vertically, and minutes at a 45-degree angle. Of note, they weren’t the only maison with a jumping hour; British watchmaking brand Bremont heralded in two of their own, including the geometric Terra Nova Jumping Hour Bronze.

Counter to this minimal introduction, Vacheron Constantin unveiled the world’s “most complicated wristwatch.” A complication, in horology, is any function in addition to time-telling. Vacheron Constantin incorporates a record-breaking 41 complications into the Les Cabinotiers Solaria Ultra Grand Complication. Features range from the astronomical (like tracking the sun’s position, trajectory, and its angle relative to Earth’s equator) to the musical, with a chime from four miniature gongs.

More than a timepiece trade show, Watches & Wonders is a platform for storytelling and material discovery. With their new 1858 Geosphere 0 Oxygen Mount Vinson, Montblanc championed the former. The wristwatch is a tribute to mountaineer Reinhold Messner’s ascent of Antarctica’s Mount Vinson, the final peak he ascended on his Seven Summits Challenge. Montblanc’s global managing director of watches, Laurent Lecamp, also happened to run a marathon in Antarctica (with a  Geosphere 0 Oxygen on his wrist). And amidst diamonds and precious metals, gemstones, future-forward carbons and ceramics, no materials captured as much attention as the iron eye (a composite stone that emulates the properties of jasper, tiger’s eye, and hematite) and petrified palm tree of Van Cleef & Arpels’s Naissance de l’Amour automaton—a wonder, as opposed to a watch.