Who Won Watches and Wonders?

(The Watches and Wonders New Watch Recap)

It’s a very American-capitalism question, as if the "fashion week for watches" was the Olympics or a Super Bowl. But we gotta admit; it’s a good question. And there’s an answer. Tudor won Watches and Wonders, and it wasn’t even close.

Let’s present the case:

Tudor dropped three new watches that will be classics. The Black Bay 58 in gold, with a green dial. The O.G. Black Bay, in a black + white monochrome colorway. And finally a BB 58 GMT, in a vintage-styled red + black colorway that really hints at old Rolex GMTs from the 50s and 60s.

Did any other company release three watches of this quality? No.

(Well, maybe Patek did, but it’s Patek. Releasing quality watches is what they do, and its not like any of us are ever going to ever wear them, or even try 'em on. So they don’t count for the purposes of this column.)

Back to Tudor:

What’s funny about Tudor’s wins is that they all seem so rational, so easy to execute. People wanted a BB58 GMT since forever! (Or at least since the original introduction of the watch a few years back.) There’s a certain segment of the enthusiast population that hates "faux-vintage", so releasing a watch that looks like a modern Submariner (instead of something with faux-gilt or fauxtina on the lume) made a lot of sense.

Tudor also gets to play the foil of its rich, snobbish, rude older brother Rolex.

You can’t buy Rollies at retail. Tudor’s got ya. You can’t find a Rolex dive watch under 40-something millimeters, and they’re all shiny, thick, modern hockey pucks. Tudor has all kinds of sizes and colors for ya. Rolex is all bling, all shine, the watch of influencer bros and finance bros alike. Tudor flies under the radar.

That’s why even Tudor’s most garish piece, the 18k 58, has a matte finish and even kinda-sorta looks like bronze. Chris Rovzar of Bloomberg said it best, "I did wonder if someone’s going to want to spend $32,100 on a timepiece that tries to hide the fact that it’s gold."

We say that’s exactly who Tudor is. Who Tudor wants to be.

Of course, Tudor weren’t the only ones releasing cool stuff; the return of the Patek Ellipse on bracelet was a great move. The vintage/small-watch/Cartier hype train shows no signs of slowing down, and now Patek have a modern option that’s as cool as a vintage piece.

Overpay by 2x, or buy a fake. Your choice!

Rolex defied expectations and didn’t release a "Coke" or "Blueberry" bezel for their GMT. Instead they went half-black, half-silver. It looks good! I’m sure I’ll see it (or the Shenzhen version) in a shisha bar or nightclub soon, and it will be my cue to leave the premises.

Rollie also did a Deepsea in yellow gold - a monstrous beast of a diver that will certainly only be purchased by people I’d like to make fun of, but can’t. It just doesn’t make sense to turn those kinds of folks into enemies.

Something’s happening in Germany.

Between the Lange Datograph Lumen and all the new colors at NOMOS, the German watch companies could somehow be construed as fun-loving, cool people. I mean, they recently legalized cannabis...can this explosion of color be a coincidence? Hopefully this playfulness continues.

What else? Cartier is still killing it. Most watch bros still scoff at 'em, but they are laughing all the way to the bank. And the red watch they just released that runs backwards is pretty rad.

The coolest TAG at the show, which is kind of like being the coolest guy at the company Christmas party.

TAG Heuer still makes upscale mall watches, with the occasional very-beautiful re-release.

The Prada-not-Prada collab? The Diet Prada?

Panerai still exists.

(And they will be back! Just like how all the 90s and Y2K fashion gear is back with Gen Z, at some point Panerai will be cool again. We say plus/minus 10 years.)

A delicacy! And a wonderful one at that.

Zenith re-released the "Miura" Defy watch from the 70s, and in a quite wild orange-bezel combination. Yep, we didn’t expect it either...but we love it. Honestly, it might be the coolest new release of the show.

Most of the other stuff released at the fair was either too big, too thick, or too ugly. Some were even able to be all three at once! Not naming names.

Of course, all of these opinions come from a watch enthusiast’s perspective; someone who reads Hodinkee regularly and owns more than five watches. A small and insignificant part of the market, tbh.

Thanks as always for being a fan of Curated Classics, your source of unfiltered watch news from the viewpoint of a vintage and design nerd.