Our continuing series on the best new watches launched this year. Take your pick. 

Blancpain Villeret Quantième Annuel Gmt Steel

The 40 mm case of thiselegant GMT watch is, for the first time, available in steel. The dial has been specially designed for easy reading of the annual calendar. The day, date and month are read off one after the other. The selfwinding movement requires only one date adjustment per year, between February and March. For the rest of the year, the watch automatically moves from the 30th or the 31st to the first day of the following month. A small 24- hour counter appearing at 8 o’clock on the dial serves as the reference time. The GMT display local time is provided by the central hours hand, to which the date is linked. The power reserve is 72 hours.

Breguet Classique 7147

A self-winding watch in a 40 mm case in 18K rose gold (and white gold), it features an engine-turned silvered gold dial with `clou de Paris’ hobnailing. The offset small seconds sub-dial at 5 o’clock is enhanced by a cross weave pattern. Hours and minutes are read off by blued steel Breguet hands sweeping over a chapter ring bearing Roman numerals. It comes with a sapphire crystal caseback and has 45 hours of power reserve.

Jaquet-Droz Grande Seconde Dual Time

This classic style watch in a 43 mm case comes in three variations: with an ivory Grand Feu enamelled dial in a red gold case and two steel case versions with an opaline dial and an onyx dial respectively. The dial features two overlapping off-centre dials that recreate the brand’s tutelary number 8. The upper dial indicates local time, while the second dial displays the date along with a 24-hour second time zone indication. It is a selfwinding movement with a power reserve of 65 hours.

Ulysse Nardin Marine Chronograph Annual Calendar

The brand describes this chronograph as “halfway between a perpetual calendar, which doesn’t need correcting before the year 2100, and a simple calendar that requires five manual adjustments a year. It is mechanically programmed for one year i.e. it recognises months composed of 30 and 31 days, but not February and hence has to be corrected once a year. It comes in a 43 mm steel case and is driven by a self-winding movement with a power reserve of 52 hours.

Bulgari Octo Finissimo Minute Repeater

With a 40 mm sandblasted titanium case that is just 6.85 mm thick, this limited edition watch is the thinnest striking watch ever created. The hand-wound movement is just 3.12 mm thick. The pusher to activate the minute repeater is located at 9 o’clock on the outside. The platinum dial features a cut-out design exposing the movement, as does the seconds counter at 6 o’clock. The power reserve is 42 hours.

Chopard L.U.C Perpetual Chrono

This limited edition watch combines a hand-wound chronograph with a finely crafted perpetual calendar. The 45 mm case comes in two series of 20 pieces each, in `Fairmined’ 18K white gold and rose gold respectively. The Ruthenium-toned sunburst satin-brushed and hand-guilloché gold dial features a calendar with twin-aperture date display and a day/night indication with an orbital moon-phase display which deviates only for one day in 122 years. Since the configuration of the calendar uses the same areas as the chronograph, the architecture of the perpetual calendar has been adjusted to offset the day/night indicator by a few millimetres. The power reserve is 60 hours.

Zenith Heritage Pilot Café Racer

Inspired by the singleseat stripped down motorcycles of the 1920s, popular among early enthusiasts in the UK who used to race from café to café on the motorways, this automatic chronograph in a 45 mm steel case features a vintage style dial with large oversized numerals. It comes with an oily nubuck rubber-lined wristband, fitted with a titanium pin buckle. The power reserve is 50 hours.

Frederique Constant Slimline

This elegant watch, powered by a quartz movement with a 25 month battery life, comes in a 38.4 mm yellow gold plated stainless steel case. The guilloche pattern dial features hours, minutes and date.

Longines Heritage 1918

Inspired by the pocket watches of early 20th century, this automatic watch comes in steel cases of two sizes, 38.5 mm and 41 mm in diameter. The blued- steel and honey-coloured varnish imparts character to its hands, that stand out on a white-lacquered polished dial. The honey colour can also be found on the large numerals painted on the dial.

Rado Hyperchrome 1616

A reinterpretation of Rado’s vintage Cape Horn collection, this oversized hyper-masculine watch pays tribute to the 400-year anniversary of the discovery of this South American headland. Its angular case measures 46 mm, and it is available in two colours – black or metallic – each with an extra-wide leather strap. The case is made from the brand’s signature high-tech ceramic, or titanium with an exclusive hardening treatment. The automatic movement has a power reserve of 80 hours.

Omega Globemaster 41mm AC

The inspiration for the Globemaster Annual Calendar movement comes from the 12 facets of the watch’s pie pan shaped dial. A central varnished blue hand indicates the current month through an instantaneous jump. It comes in a 41 mm steel case with a bezel made from tungsten carbide and is driven by the new Omega Co-Axial Master Chronometer Calibre 8922, with a power reserve of 55 hours.

Hublot Big Bang Unico Italia Independent

The second watch produced by the collaboration between Hublot and Italia Independent, this model comes in a 45 mm case made from a combination of carbon fibre and Texalium. The latter is a glass fabric with an aluminum coating on its surface that enables use of metallic style colours and designs on the case and bezel. The limited edition chronograph comes in blue, green and black. It is driven by a HUB 1242 movement, with an automatic fly back chronograph, and has a power reserve of 72 hours. It comes with two straps, one with chino fabric and the other with an ultra-high performance `armoured’ fabric which is strong yet flexible and light.

Rolex Oyster Perpetual Air-King

This new Air-King epitomizes Rolex’s collaboration with the world of aviation during its golden age in the 1930s. Its distinctive black dial, which features a combination of large 3, 6 and 9 numerals marking the hours and a prominent minutes scale for navigational time readings, bears the same lettering as the model from the 1950s . It comes in a 40 mm steel case and is powered by the self-winding calibre 3131 movement, with its famous patented blue Parachrom hairspring. The power reserve is 48 hours.

Casio Edifice EQB-600D

This new edition to the Casio Edifice series features the 3D Globe Dial, a dome-shaped multidimensional inset dial at 8 o’clock with an Earth motif that works in conjunction with world time and gradually rotates once every 24 hours, mimicking the earth. Its curved hand indicates the time zone for the world time city. When the inset dial hand is in the upper half of the 3D Global Dial, it indicates nighttime (between 6:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m.) in that time zone, and when in the lower half, it indicates daytime (between 6:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m.).

Victorinox I.N.O.X. Paracord

This automatic watch in a 43 mm steel case, with a beveled bezel and monobloc dial, stands out for its unique strap made from paracord, the material used in the making of parachute suspension lines. Comprising the outer sheath and seven strands, it has an impressive breaking point of 250 kg. The watch also comes with a transparent, removable bumper, which protects it from scratches.

Tissot Heritage 1936

This is a reinterpretation of a 1936 Tissot, a period when companies were welding arches onto the two sides of pocket watches, attaching straps, and offering them as wrist watches. It comes in a 45 mm steel case and is powered by a hand-wound mechanical movement.

Seiko Presage

This watch, in a 42 mm steel case, is part of a collection of two limited edition automatic chronographs that draw inspiration from Seiko’s century old heritage. Their design echoes the 1913 Laurel, Japan’s first wrist watch. The dials have been created using traditional Japanese artistry, one in enamel and the other with lacquer. Both use the 8R48 caliber with its vertical clutch and column wheel systems that incorporate Seiko’s unique threepointed hammer to ensure the perfect synchronization of the hands’ fly-back. Both are offered in editions of 1,000 in celebration of Seiko’s 60 years of automatic watch making.

Calvin Klein Even

This unisex timepiece draws inspiration from the enigmatic textures in natural landscapes and comes with a silver, black, cool grey or green dial that is enhanced with a polished stainless steel and polished pink gold PVD case.