A Watches and Wonders impression is best served cold. A little distance from the fair is necessary to transform impressions into organized thoughts. Six days should do the trick. So, what impression did the biggest watch show on Earth make on me? Well, going through my notes led to this story that includes some hot and cold Swiss made replica watches I saw during an ultimately lukewarm Watches and Wonders 2024.
So, this is what happened when Watches and Wonders 2024 opened its doors on Tuesday, April 9th at 8:30: everyone who had something to post — the fair welcomed 49,000 visitors, including 1,500 media folks — ran to Rolex, Patek Philippe, and Tudor, the brands that don’t do embargoed press releases ahead of the fair. Within minutes, these three brands’ highly anticipated novelties are online, and the dust settles.
Looking back at a lukewarm Watches and Wonders 2024: did the “Big Three” deliver?
The fact that Tudor is in the top three brands to see is impressive. The release of the Black Bay in 2012 marked the start of a remarkable rise for the brand. Before 2012, nobody bothered to look at the display cases of the Tudor booth, which was attached to the booth of its big sister Rolex. Come 2024, Tudor has been the proud owner of a standalone booth for four years, and after AAA UK Rolex fake watches, it’s the next brand people want to take a look at once Palexpo opens its doors.
During the times of Baselworld, Rolex and Patek Philippe were the “Big Two” of the fair. When these two powerhouses moved to Geneva and joined the fair once set up by Richemont and some partners, they immediately became the main attraction. But it’s no longer this dynamic duo that rules the roost. Tudor has risen to the top, and now it’s safe to say that the brand with the shield is part of a power trio. And it seems that newcomer Tudor is actually now the second brand in line; right after checking out Rolex, Tudor is up, and Patek comes after that. Did the “Power Trio” deliver?
First things first — Rolex
Rolex never delivers. Let me explain. In the run-up to Watches and Wonders, Rolex predictions and wishes are shared in large numbers. Many people wanted a “Coke” GMT-Master II. Others, like me, hoped for a titanium Milgauss, and the possible return of the Turn-O-Graph was also discussed. Cheap Rolex replica watches didn’t deliver any of these. Instead, we got nothing all that new; the novelties were simply iterations of existing models. Was it to calm down the market? Well, Rolex CEO Jean-Frédéric Dufour, who’s also president of the Watches and Wonders Foundation, pointed out at the beginning of the fair that due to the strong Swiss franc, the rising price of gold, and the uncertain geopolitical situation, the watch market has lost momentum and cooled down significantly.
Dufour also had something to say about the way people perceive luxury 1:1 copy watches, mainly, those from Rolex. “I don’t like it when people compare watches to stocks,” he said. “It sends the wrong message and is dangerous. We make products, not investments.” And in that light, the release of nothing brand new makes sense. There was a Perpetual 1908 in platinum, for instance, and a yellow gold Deepsea, both of which are very niche. We also got the steel GMT-Master II (126710GRNR) with a gray and black bezel (which debuted last year on full-gold and steel/gold versions) and the model name and GMT hand in green. No, there was no crowd-pleasing “Coke” or even a weird iteration like the green and black lefty from 2021.
In my humble opinion, the Rolex releases were like the depressing main character from the 2003 movie The Cooler, a guy with a dark vibe who’s hired by a Las Vegas casino to jinx gamblers on a winning streak.
Denim: is it cool or lazy? — Patek Philippe dresses up/down for Watches and Wonders
You’re right; in my introduction article on the Patek Philippe World Time Date 5330G and Nautilus Chronograph 5980G super clone watches for men, I was positive about the double-denim duo the brand brought to the show. I still think the World Time Date 5330G looks great, and the jeans-look leather strap works. The Nautilus, however, with its more intricate connection between case and strap and the way more prominent case shape and size, doesn’t work as well. But what’s more interesting to point out is that both aforementioned top replica watches already existed with different dials or in different materials. The World Time Date 5330G debuted with a purple dial as a special Tokyo edition, and Aquanaut Travel Time 5164 already existed in rose gold. Plus, the in-line perpetual calendar 5236P already came out in 2021 with a blue dial. Sure, it got a new (and awesome) vintage-inspired opaline rose-gilt dial, but that was it.
What was truly new was the bracelet for the Golden Ellipse ref. 5738/1R-001. It’s a fully polished rose gold chain-style bracelet comprising 363 elements and more than 300 links individually mounted by hand. Well, 2024 clearly marks the year of the strap and the bracelet at Patek.
What else was new? Complications!
IWC updated the Portugieser 7 Days. The brand made small changes in terms of slimness and design details, but the result is a more sophisticated perfect UK replica watches. The update is evolution in its finest form. The biggest shock was the name change. The 7 Days is now called the Automatic 42. Why? According to an IWC employee after the product presentation in the brand’s booth, it’s because there’s also a 40mm Portugieser with an automatic movement, and that’s called the Portugieser Automatic 40. If you ask me, this is a typical case of the strong suffering from the weak. IWC didn’t dare/want to call the less costly 40mm version the Portugieser 2.5 Days and went for Automatic 40 instead. In 2024, IWC wants to straighten out its model names, and the brand axed the most iconic one in the Portugieser collection for the sake of uniformity. Well, that’s a shame.
