Novelties with great potential. Editor's pick at Qlekta.com.

Watches and Wonders Geneva 2023 wrapped up with record performance: 43,000 unique visitors to the trade show (compared to 22,000 in 2022), 5,400 retailers, 1,400 journalists who visited Geneva in person plus another 2600 journalists who followed the event's program online.

The number of reposts on social media exceeded all expectations: 1.8 million posts mentioning the hashtag #watchesandwonders were viewed by an estimated audience of over 600 million people. Retailers clocked up over 8,000 appointments, and all 12,000 tickets for April 1-2 were sold out before the weekend began. What did the exhibits have to show visitors and market professionals?

"Nominees"
 

As always, most of the high-profile novelties have yet to embark on the extremely difficult journey to become collector's items. Granted, these watches attracted heightened interest and got good press, but it's still too early to recommend adding them to your collection. That's why we're cautiously referring to these watches as "nominees".
 

For example, Rolex has resolved to gain at least a small foothold in the dress-watch category by launching the Perpetual 1908. The novelty is powered by cal. 7140 — a new ultra-thin automatic manufacture movement with the Chronergy escapement and a balance with the Syloxi silicon hairspring. Perpetual 1908 is also meant to replace the discontinued Cellini line.
 

The elite brand Grand Seiko celebrated the launch of its first mechanical chronograph, Tentagraph SLGC001. This is a huge deal for fans of Japanese watchmaking.

The Tentagraph is built on three pillars: a new signature automatic winding system, three-day power reserve and a high-frequency (36,000 vph) balance that beats ten times per second to ensure high accuracy when measuring elapsed time.

The usually modest Japanese watchmaker boasts that the new trademark 9SС5 is the best mechanical movement Seiko has ever created. Its price is also attractive at USD 13,700: cheaper than a Daytona but more expensive than a Zenith Chronomaster.

There was no shortage of praise for the Vacheron Constantin Traditionnelle Tourbillon retrograde in a 41-mm pink-gold case measuring just 1.07 mm in height. Moreover, the model has been given a new in-house engine, Caliber 2162 R31: its precursor Caliber 2160 debuted five years ago as an ultra-thin tourbillon movement.

Truth be told, the target audience for the new release will more than likely be limited to fans of the Traditionnelle line.

Something you don't see every year is a sensation like the Vacheron Constantin Traditionnelle Twin Beat, which can go into hibernation, wake up, and remember the time and what day of the week it is.

One watch that many think is sensational is the Carillon Tourbillon Biver by Jean-Claude Biver and his son Pierre. The nail-biting wait for this watch ended with a sigh of relief. Biver is certainly a marketing genius, which he's put into practice on more than one occasion by propelling Audemars Piguet Royal Oak in his time, as well as rejuvenating the brands Blancpain, Omega, and Hublot.

But the price buyers will have to pay for the Carillon Tourbillon Biver is no small sum, significantly narrowing the circle of would-be buyers with the purchasing power. The "Biver" logo on the dial (titanium version) will set the buyer back USD 570,000, and they'll have to shell out USD 1,315,000 for the fully diamond-encrusted version.

The movement for the Biver Carillon Tourbillon happens to be developed by the young Swiss manufacturer Cercle de Horlogers, which still hasn't had the time to prove itself to the fullest.

We're also holding off from advising collectors to go out and purchase the Daniel Roth Tourbillon Souscription for CHF 140,000. Mind you, it's still a remarkable brand revival which won't go unnoticed by collectors.

Its tourbillon movement was created at La Fabrique du Temps, who produced movements for none other than Laurent Ferrier. The watch is great in almost every aspect, but it's still a revival. The model makes it look like the 20-year break never happened, as if the watchmaker had used these years to come up with a number of brilliant ideas.

It retails at one-and-a-half times the price of the most expensive watch by Daniel Roth on the pre-owned watch market, which was actually sold just ahead of Watches and Wonders at the Phillips Watches Online Geneva Sessions.

Today's microbrand De Bethune is asking a lot for their extraordinary classic watch priced at USD 90,000 — a very attractive chronograph monopusher with an original 60-minute counter, similar to a small seconds subdial.

The DB Eight has an attractive appearance that breaks away from the typical model range collectors are familiar with. This is coupled with the surprising internal simplicity of the manually wound in-house DB 3000 movement. 

Will many be willing to pay CHF 85,000 for this simplicity? We should turn our attention to another extravagant novelty by De Bethune — DB Digitale “Season 2”, a model the watchmaker launched as a limited edition of just 13 pieces with rapper, songwriter and record producer Kasseem Daoud Dean, better known by his stage name Swizz Beatz.

But this watch is likely to remain exclusive.