As a seasoned trade fair participant, the Geneva Watch Days 2024 is an easy favourite. Sure, the barrage of news and vast scope of wristwear at Watches and Wonders have it beaten for variety, but nothing more. I will easily admit that this might be a result of my love of Independents, but with big brands also participating, Geneva Watch Days has morphed into something else. Scurrying between the glamour of the Beau Rivage hotel suites, brand showrooms and the formality of the Fairmont, this year’s heat was literal and very much on-wrist. Narrowing down my top five wrist impressions from across my packed days was no easy job, believe you me.
In Geneva, you have to keep your wits about you and plan carefully. Slow down the pace and you run the risk of being charmingly accosted by non-participating brands lurking in the cool shadow of the trees outside the hotels. Attempting to strap on their odd-shaped novelties on your naked right wrist, even stacked as it is with bracelets to match my own carefully selected fair-watch, I’m a vain man after all. Even choosing which watch to wear is a minefield. I’m forever trying to balance making an impact on journalist colleagues and not offending any participating brands. My two choices were a vintage 1997 Constellation and the quirk-monster Otsuka Lotec No.7.5, which I didn’t think Max Büsser would return after fondling it. But my five favourites were all very different from my own choices, proving the variety is indeed the spicy of wrist-life.
Urwerk EMC SR-71
Lab coats on for my first choice, as the EMC is a tech tour de force that makes Grand Seiko’s Spring Drive seem easily engineered. Well, OK, not quite, but this tenth-anniversary tech-fest is your chance to wear some SR-71 Blackbird on your wrist. Winning no less than two GPHG awards in 2014, the EMC was a game changer, and this is the evolution. Consider it an instrument of time or an über-tool watch, this technical tour de force defies all categorization.
With a hulking black body of 47.55mm x 49.57, its 17.58mm thickness is a titanium and steel instrument with a crank handle made from a piece of SR-71 Blackbird legend. Crank it and it will power up a micro Maxon electrical generator. What does it do? Well it shows you the accuracy of the mechanical movement, letting you adjust it at your leisure. Unique, awe-inspiring and surprisingly comfortable with a literally massive presence, simply tool watch mastery on a different level.
More details at Urwerk.
Armin Strom Dual Time GMT Resonance First Edition
I promised the editor to pick wisely, and perhaps not watches already featured, but with the Armin Strom I must argue against this noble principle. I even wrote last week’s launch story myself, surprised by the on-paper new and much-improved size of the Dual Time. Why then am I repeating myself you may ask? I had the shortest of meetings in the Armin Strom suite, in the midst of being chucked out by strongman Wei Koh and his all-black suited camera crew.
But it was worth every one of my shortened minutes, as the white gold Dual Time GMT was a small yet big surprise. I know and appreciate Armin Strom as a brand, but have always had a too-large view of their watches, the Dual Time converted me. With its beguilingly oscillating dance at 12, the 39mm watch felt even smaller. I would even use the word dainty. I could not fathom how all 231 parts of the calibre ARF22 were wrangled into the case. And even at 39mm, it had a Pandora’s Box vibe of great depth. Within the open-worked dial, each tiny index on the small twin dials boasted a crisp twinkle in the sunlight, leaving me rather enamoured.
More details at Armin Strom.
L’Epée x MB&F ‘Albatross’
You’ll have to excuse me, as this is not a wristwatch, but hear me out. Nothing beats MB&F for flamboyant tech-tastic horlogerie, and I was ready to feel raffle-obligated by the new M.A.D.1S. in its slimmer guise. But this time, a table clock and automaton had me hypnotized. I had the honour of being the brand’s first appointment on the first day and arrived bang on time, making myself comfortable in the plush suite ten seconds to nine o’clock. Admiring the L’Epée x MB&F ‘Albatross’ on the table next to me, I heard a visible click from within the airship’s belly, and a spectacle ensued.
Accompanied by crisp chimes, each of the airship’s 32 propellers started spinning, and all wristwear was forgotten. The intense craftsmanship that goes into a creation like the ‘Albatross’ is easily understood when it is static, a steam punk-futurist sculpture on its merit. However, the fact that a hand-wound movement adds to a whopping 1,520 parts to power this machine is extraordinary. Each linkage and oversized geartrain is machined and polished to exact tolerances, and yes, I did think it might even take off from its stand.
More details at MB&F.
Czapek Antarctique Polar Sky
In two packed days of meetings and cocktail parties (poor journalists, eh?), there will always be a wrist beauty or two that gets away. Passing the Czapek suite, I had a five-second stolen glance at their Antarctique Polar Sky as it was being shot. But that was all it took. First, you’ll see a clean-cut, Aventurine-glittering version of the Antarctique. But look closely at those indices, and you might understand why I’m in love. The main image above is the sleek standard model, with the Polar Sky below.
The Polar Sky is available in a 40.5mm version and the perfect S with its 38.5mm. With its in-house SXH5 calibre panache and lustrous Aventurine dial, it is a tempting proposal, but for me, it’s about the indices. They are baguette-cut diamonds, but not only that. They are, in fact, of a trademark arrow shape, officially registered as the Czapek Cut. Each is shaped like the original but with an invisible fitting, rocking 24 cut facets of glimmer. Czapek just dropped a Swiss, glittering mic.
More details at Czapek.
Ulysse Nardin Freak X OPS
I will bookend the story with another stand-out moment for me. Although I might get in trouble again because it’s technically not a brand new release, debuting at the tail end of last year. Incredulously, I have never tried on a Ulysse Nardin Freak in peace. The brand was not officially part of the event, but I interviewed the brand’s new managing director, Matthieu Haverlan. In a personal and open conversation on the brand and its direction, I had the pleasure of wearing Matthieu’s personal 43mm Freak X OPS.
I’m not big (sorry) on 40mm+ watches anymore, but the OPS’s curvy, camo-patterned composite case was a real eye-opener. The nylon loop-style strap was soft, maybe the best I’ve tried on. Combined with the lightweight case, the watch feels way more casual than its complexities imply. It comes across as a mighty sharp entry ticket to Freak-dom and much more. With the might of the oscillating balance and spacecraft dial, my respect for the brand and its future-facing ethos has only increased.
More at Ulysse Nardin.
Embargoed Watches at Geneva Watch Days 2024
Some of the most interesting facets of the event are the tantalizing glimpses of embargoed goods. And for me two brands stood out. Greubel Forsey is the single brand, except for Laurent Ferrier, that I will never miss visiting, and neither disappointed. Greubel Forsey’s Double Balancier above had the same knock-out impression on me as last year, no surprise there. But a new and minimalist star shone brightly in the Greubel Forsey suite, busy enough to resemble a Red Bar GTG.
That will have to wait until October, but the biggest embargoed surprise for me might just have been Biver. I am covering the brand’s new and different release here later this week, so stay tuned. It is a new and enthralling foursome. I am back in the office today, daydreaming of these top 5 wrist impressions. Haute Horlogerie cold turkey is not working, but maybe some Greubel Forsey chocolates can offer a brief respite from already missing the Geneva Watch Days.
