While digital watches and smart watches remain popular, luxury timepieces are timeless works of craftsmanship. Earlier this year, several leading luxury timepiece companies unveiled their novelties for the season in Geneva, Switzerland. There were a few events that took place such as the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie (SIHH) led by Richemont Group—which also included a selection of non-Richemont brands and independent watchmaking companies—and LVMH's Geneva Fair. While the timepiece industry's biggest exhibition, Baselworld, is still a month away, the new launches have already set some notable watch trends. Here we take a look at some of the top luxury watch trends for 2020.
Luxury Watch Trends
1. Retro Vibes
For 2020, there were plenty of top watch brands that dug into their archives to debut timepieces that proudly showed off a vintage look. While these new retro-inspired timepieces undoubtedly paid tribute to bygone eras in terms of aesthetics, they are of course adapted to suit contemporary tastes and include the latest in horological technology. The Zenith Heritage 146 is an unmistakable nod to the brand's famous 1960s chronographs while the new Montblanc 1858 Automatic models had a distinct vintage military design to them. Furthermore, two 1980s icons were brought back into the spotlight with the revival of the Panthère de Cartier ladies timepiece collection and the redesign of the IWC Da Vinci.
2. Restrained Sizes
Whether it was the diameter or the thickness of cases, there was certainly a general trend of restraint in the size of men's timepieces this year. And after almost a decade of oversized timepieces, this is a refreshing change indeed. Some fantastic ultra thin men's models included the Bulgari Octo Roma, the Drive de Cartier Extra-Flat, and the Piaget Altiplano 60th Anniversary. What's more, the new Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Control Date sported a reserved 39mm case size. Even more surprising was the pared down size of the Panerai Luminor Submersible 1950 3 Days Automatic coming in at 42mm—markedly modest in comparison to its original 47mm size.
3. Material Focused
Aside from the new designs, shapes, and sizes, another trend that was seen among top timepieces was the use of distinct or innovative materials. This was clearly evident with the beautiful hammered gold construction of the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Frosted Gold timepiece for women and the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar in scratchproof black ceramic. Also dressed almost entirely in black ceramic was the sporty TAG Heuer Carrera Heuer-01 Black Matt Ceramic chronograph, while innovative carbon elements was the main focus of the Panerai LAB-ID Luminor Submersible 1950 Carbotech 3 Days Automatic. Normally prone to scratching and denting, gold was made infinitely more resistant and robust in the Hublot Big Bang MECA-10 Magic Gold thanks to the clever blending of gold and ceramic.
Having seen the first batch of new luxury watches for the year, we are excited for what Baselworld holds—particularly from brands such as Rolex, Patek Philippe, OMEGA, and Breitling. Whether these current themes will prevail or if a new set of watch trends will develop, remains to be seen.
