The past 12 months were a great year for watches, with a slew of both independent and bigger brands taking risks across design and manufacture. As a result, new watch releases pushed back against the traditional, encompassing everything from the avant-garde to the rethought classic, the maximalist to the minimalist. Here are some of our favourite trends of the year to take you into 2025.
Top ten watch trends
Minimalism
When it comes to watchmaking, some brands out-dazzle each other with gems and otherworldly designs when all we want is wrist zen. Minimalist watches with a pared-down essence of style are a strong trend. And to paraphrase Mies van der Rohe, God is in the minimal details.
READ: Minimalist watches to invest in now
Odd-shaped watch cases
In an embrace of the refreshingly quirky looks of modernity and retro, watch brands are being seduced by new and avant-garde watch shapes. From mirage-like references to a 1950s disco, here are the new dial silhouettes to look out for.
READ: The rise of odd-shaped watches
Jewelled watches
When watch houses reinvent their iconic designs in jewelled form, the results can be sublime, joyous, and downright outrageous. We single out five classic watch designs that have been given a precious new spin.
READ: Jewelled watches: five iconic designs get a glittering makeover
Bold colours
Colourful watches showcasing a rainbow of bright hues are among the past year's most eye-catching new releases, with shades from sorbet to psychedelic illustrated in bright straps and unexpected materials. From the blue tones of IWC and Audemars Piguet, to the pretty-in-pink Hublot, wine-coloured Montblanc, via the bright Richard Mille , Tag Heuer and Patek Philippe and more understated Omega and Jaeger-LeCoultre – discover the exquisite new watches.
READ: Striking watches look on the bright side this season with an injection of colour
Skeletonised
The hand-assembled cogs and gears in watchmaking offer a mechanical poetry when polished to perfection, and are close to a satellite link when it comes to accuracy. What better way to appreciate this living wrist machine than through the art of skeletonisation, which makes the movement come to life without a dial?
READ: Skeletonised watches are making a dazzling return
Brutalism
Watch design is necessarily conservative – apart from the obvious restrictions of form and function, there are brand codes and commercial realities in play. So, when a new idea does break out of the less constrained independent sector, commercial brands go all in (as with the last decade’s obsession with all things Gerald Genta).
READ: Why are watch designers so drawn to brutalism?
Gold
Gold watches were a key trend at Watches and Wonders 2024, and the return of weighty glimmer resonated with us. Here are our some of our favourites, ranging from divers’ watches to Cartier chic, platinum to rose gold.
READ: All that glitters: five gold watches
Dark colours
A host of new dark watches are embracing inky black hues. High-profile watch brands turning to the dark side include Bulgari, with its gleaming Serpenti Seduttori, which offsets a monochromatic palette with diamond-speckled rose gold; and Tag Heuer, whose use of retro shading and darker tones lend elegance across the board.
READ: Dark watches show it’s time to embrace an inky palette
Futurism
At Watches and Wonders 2024, alongside classic designs from a multitude of major and independent watch brands, there is a leaning towards the thoroughly modern. Occasionally wildly outré wristwatches that don’t look like mid-1960s talismans are back with a vengeance – and we’re here for it.
READ: Futurism is back at Watches and Wonders 2024
Small watches
This selection of small watches – all between 35mm and 37.3mm, and by brands spanning from Chopard to Christopher Ward – are mighty fine in the style stakes.
