More than three dozen watchmakers participated in Watches & Wonders Geneva 2021, the world’s leading trade show for luxury watches and the successor to SIHH, held last month in a digital format out of Geneva, and a physical watch salon in Shanghai.  We look at some of the best new watches that were launched at the show

Chopard L.U.C. Perpetual Chrono

The L.U.C Perpetual Chrono famously combined a hand-wound chronograph with a perpetual calendar. It has now been launched in a 45mm lightweight titanium case. The elegant black rhodium-toned and hand-guilloché solid gold dial features a wide, twin-aperture instantaneous date display at 12 o’clock, with indications for the days of the week, month, position in the leap year cycle and day/night display with a prominent orbital moon-phase at 6 o’clock, accurate to just a day’s deviation every 122 years. The manual winding mechanical movement has a power reserve of 60 hours. Limited edition of 20 pieces.

Bvlgari Octo Finissimo Perpetual Calendar

After setting world records in ultra-miniaturisation in the areas of automatic movement, minute repeater, chronograph, and tourbillon, Bulgari has now developed the slimmest perpetual calendar ever. The 40 mm Octo case of this watch is just 5.8mm thick, but packs in 408 components, including the mechanical automatic movement with a thickness of  2.75mm. The dial, which is 0.3mm thick, displays the perpetual calendar with a retrograde-display date, day, month, and retrograde-display leap years. The calendar is adjusted by means of three correctors: one for the date at 2 pm, for the month at 4 pm,  and a third for the day between 8 and 9 o’clock. Available in both titanium and platinum. 60-hour power reserve.

IWC Big Pilot’s Watch Perpetual Calendar 

The legendary complication marks its return to the brand’s classic collection with this watch. It comes in a 46.2mm stainless steel case with a blue dial and rhodium-plated hands. The date and power reserve are located at 3 o’clock, the month at 6 o’clock. The weekday display and the small seconds share the sub-dial at 9 o’clock. The double moon phase at 12 o’clock depicts the moon phase for the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, and only needs to be adjusted by one day after 577.5 years. The mechanical movement has a power reserve of seven days.

Lange & Söhne Triple Split

Introduced in 2018, this watch is the world’s only mechanical split-seconds chronograph that allows the measurement of intermediate and reference times for durations of up to 12 hours. As against the original in white gold with a grey dial, the 43.2 mm case of this watch is in pink gold with a blue dial, and Rhodie coloured subsidiary dials. To initiate a chronographic measurement, the three rhodium-coated rattrapante hands are first superposed on the respective chronograph hands. When the chronograph pusher at 2 o’clock is pressed into action, the pairs of hands run synchronously until they are separated by pressing the rattrapante pusher at 10 o’clock to perform a lap-time measurement. The three rhodium-coated hands will then stop to display the lap time. All the while, the previously concealed chronograph hands in gold-plated steel or pink gold, continue the time measurement. As soon as the rattrapante pusher is pressed again, the rattrapante hands catch up with the chronograph hands and run together with them again. The chronograph is reset to zero by pressing the pusher at 4 o’clock again. Limited to 100 pieces. The manually wound mechanical movement has a power reserve of 55 hours.

Montblanc Star Legacy Metamorphosis Limited Edition 8 

This sparkling blue timepiece literally transforms itself by revealing two different faces. The mechanism is activated by a sliding lever on the side of the case (similar to that of a minute repeater mechanism) connected to the dial. It comprises a fixed part and moveable shutters, which can be opened and closed depending on the desired face. When the shutters are closed, the watch’s face displays a world time function at six o’clock in the form of a turning, domed Northern-Hemisphere globe surrounded by a 24-hour scale and a day/night indication. At 12 o’clock is a  rhodium-coated balance wheel with blued hairspring and 18 screws. When its shutters are opened, the dial reveals one-minute Exo Tourbillon, held in place by a sapphire crystal bridge at 12 o’clock representing the sun, and a jumping date disc around it. At six o’clock is a  three-dimensional moon, its position corresponding to the one in the sky as viewed from Earth. It turns constantly around the globe in a gyroscopic way, exactly as it would make its journey around the Earth. The moon is presented against a backdrop of aventurine that shimmers like a starry night sky. The astronomical moon-phase complication is highly precise and only needs to be adjusted by one day every 122 years.   The hours, minutes, seconds, world time and moon phases remain active independent of the watch face.  Comes in a 44.8 white gold case with a sapphire crystal case back. The manually wound movement has a power reserve of around 50 hours. 

Carl F. Bucherer Patravi ScubaTec Maldives

This is the fourth watch in Carl F. Bucherer’s four-year-long partnership with the Manta Trust to help preserve the endangered manta rays, their ecosystems, and habitats around the world. Part of the sales of  the dive watch will go towards funding Manta Trust’s new floating research station project. It comes in a 44.6mm stainless steel case with a unidirectional rotating steel bezel with blue and white ceramic inlays. The bright blue dial with lacquered wave decoration and 60-minute scale with luminous markings makes it easy to calculate elapsed time underwater. The blue strap is made of natural rubber, while the fabric insert is made of 100 per cent recycled bottles recovered from the Mediterranean Sea. Water-resistant to 500 m. The automatic movement comes with a power reserve of 38 hours. 

Hublot Big Bang Sang Bleu II

This watch is part of a  trio of timepieces in blue, grey, and white, an extension of the all-black version Hublot launched last year in collaboration with the London-based tattoo studio Sang Bleu. The 45mm case is made from high-tech ceramic, and retains the original sculptural look with sharp angles. Powered by a self-winding chronograph movement with a flyback function and three-day power reserve. Each piece is equipped with its corresponding rubber strap, featuring the One-Click system, which enables it to be changed instantly with no need for any tools. Limited to 200 pieces.

Louis Vuitton Tambour Street Diver Skyline Blue

This sporty new Tambour comes in a two-tone case in blue-PVD and stainless steel, with a deep blue dial featuring a small-seconds at 6 o’clock. The diving scale itself has been placed below the sapphire crystal on the turning flange — the angled ring at the outer edge of the dial. The diving bezel is set via a colour-contrasting crown at 1.30, bearing a diver’s silhouette to distinguish it from the winding crown at 3 o’clock. Using the ‘Align the V’ concept, the letter V on the diving scale is rotated to align with the colour-matched V at the tip of the minute hand, the two forming an X that marks the beginning of a dive. The time spent underwater is then read on the internal bezel, the first 15 minutes highlighted by a vivid, colour-blocked scale. Powered by an automatic movement and comes with a navy blue rubber strap with a light blue logo, or a light blue strap with a navy logo.

Panerai Luminor Chrono Monopulsante GMT Blu Notte

This limited edition watch (200 pieces) stands out for its 44mm matte, black sandblasted ceramic case based on Zirconium Oxide powder. It features a single-button column-wheel chronograph, which combines the start/stop/reset functions in a single push-piece. It is also equipped with a  GMT function. The hand-wound mechanical movement has a power reserve of eight days. The primary strap is in deep blue calfskin with ecru stitching, and a trapezoidal pin buckle in titanium with black DLC coating. Water-resistant to 100 metres.

Roger Dubuis Excalibur Single Flying Tourbillon

This new interpretation of the skeleton tourbillon comes in a 42 mm white gold case, bezel, and crown. The dial, which reveals the single flying tourbillon at 7 o’clock, features a blue CVD coating with a double surface flange and engraved minute track and transferred texts. The single flying tourbillon movement has a power reserve of 72 hours, thanks to the tourbillon carriage made of titanium and an optimised spring barrel.

TAG Heuer Aquaracer 300 Calibre 5 Automatic

This watch is part of the new generation series of the famous watch with its signature 12 faceted bezel, and the scaphander diving suit motif on the caseback. It comes in a 43mm polished and fine-brushed steel case with a blue ceramic unidirectional rotating bezel with a 60-minute scale, screw-down crown at 3 o’clock, and a blue sunray-brushed dial. Powered by an automatic movement and water-resistant to 300 metres.

Ulysse Nardin Diver X Skeleton

This watch, which celebrates 175 years of Ulysse Nardin, is a combination of elements from the brand’s Diver X series and the Executive Skeleton. It fuses the sporty design of the former with the technical prowess of the latter. The 44 mm case is micro beaded on the sides with satin polished lugs, and coated in blue PVD. The hour markers are invisibly connected to the dial, so they appear to be floating. To achieve the sensation of depth, overlaid layers have been used to emphasise the tiered construction of the central ‘X’. The automatic movement has a power reserve of 96 hours. Water-resistant to 200 metres.

This watch is part of Zenith’s effort to translate the high oscillation frequencies of its 1/100th of a second chronograph into a visible light spectrum, which began with the DEFY 21 Ultraviolet in 2020 that featured the world’s first violet coloured chronograph movement. This new watch comes with the same striking effect, but in tones of deep indigo and electric blue. The partially open dial displays slightly overlapping closed chronograph counters, finished in a grey tone matching the deep grey of the 44 mm micro-blasted titanium case, with contrasting white markings for legibility. The vividly blue movement is accentuated by the open and angular bridges of the movement. A white-tipped central 1/100th of a second chronograph hand makes a complete revolution above the dial in one second. The automatic movement has a power reserve of 50 hours.