Until last year, the Watches and Wonders Geneva watch fair was closed to the public.
Brands, retailers, media and some V.V.I.P. s were granted entry, but regular watch buyers? Would-be watch enthusiasts? It seemed like Switzerland’s reputation for behind-closed-doors dealings was dictating watch show policy, too.
But that all changed last year when a new organizing committee decided to sell tickets to the public for the event’s weekend days, an arrangement that was extended to three days this year.
Today is the last of those — and the show’s final day — but it may not be the quietest. Even at 70 Swiss francs ($77) for the most expensive adult day pass, organizers had been expecting to sell out, and there was talk of welcoming local school groups.
Here is what some of the 54 exhibiting brands have been showing.
Moon Shots
At its heart, Watches and Wonders Geneva is devoted to high-end watchmaking, which typically means high-end prices, too. But as exhibitor numbers have climbed, the price spectrum has widened, even when brands have been tackling some of watchmaking’s most niche complications. The mechanical half-dozen below all feature moon phases, a display showing the waxing and waning of the moon, which arguably is the most poetic (read: unnecessary) of watchmaking functions. Yet the prices aren’t all sky-high.
Patek Philippe 5236P-010 In-Line Perpetual Calendar
Collectors of Patek Philippe reference numbers will recognize that 5236P is not new to the family-owned company’s lexicon. In fact, it was introduced three years ago, when Patek first exhibited what it calls its In-Line Perpetual Calendar. Then, as now, the watch showed the day, date and month on one line, seen through a single dial aperture. That sounds straightforward enough, but Patek had never done that before and, the brand said, it required an additional 118 components. The new model being a perpetual calendar, it will track the date and phases of the moon through leap years without the need for fiddly adjustments (assuming the timepiece is kept wound). Novel this year is the material mix: the 5236P’s platinum case is now joined by an opaline rose-gilt dial with charcoal gray white gold hands and hour markers.
