Watches and Wonders, now-largest horological trade show of the year returned in 2022 for its in-person first edition since 2019. Thankfully, 2022 turned out to be a fine mix of highbrow complications (some of which were brand new) and fresh takes on more utilitarian wares. Narrowing down the newness to just 10 was a tough challenge, but the following were some of our favorites.
Tudor Black Bay Pro
Despite a somewhat derivative design — detractors will decry its similarity to the Rolex Explorer II reference 1655 — the new Tudor Black Pro does deliver exactly what brand devotees were begging the brand for: a true GMT model with a case smaller than that of the Black Bay GMT. And indeed, Tudor delivered — the Pro is 39mm vs. the GMT’s 41. Though still somewhat chunky at nearly 15mm tall, its handsome looks, intuitive functionality, reasonable price and great bracelet are already winning people over.
Diameter: 39mm
Movement: Tudor MT5652 automatic
Functionality: Time; second time zone
Water Resistance: 200m
Price: $3,675 (straps)-$4,000 (bracelet)
Patek Philippe 5326G-001
This year, Patek merged its handy “travel time” complication with an annual calendar, resulting in one of the year’s coolest new watches. Housed in a beautiful 41mm white gold Calatrava case with “hobnail” detailing on the flanks, the reference 5326G-001 houses an automatic, in-house Patek movement with micro-rotor to power its highly utilitarian dial, which displays two time zones, the day, the date, the phase of the moon, and two day/night indicators for home and local time. Best of all — it only needs manual adjusting once a year if it’s kept wound.
Diameter: 41mm
Movement: Patek Philippe Calibre 31-260 PS QA LU FUS 24H automatic
Functionality: Time; second time zone; annual calendar
Water Resistance: 30m
Price: $76,880
Vacheron Constantin 222
The original 1977 Vacheron Constantin 222 luxury sports watch is a rare bird indeed — with less than 1,000 examples out in the wild, it trades for well over six figures now. That’s why it was so shocking when VC decided to reissue the watch this year, albeit with an updated, in-house movement. Though a fully 18K yellow gold watch is by no means inexpensive, at least now the 222 is (theoretically) available at retail, which is more than we can say for the Patek Philippe Nautilus or the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak — its rough equivalents from the other two “Holy Trinity” of Swiss watch brands.
Diameter: 37mm
Movement: Vacheron Constantin Caliber 2455/2 automatic
Functionality: Time and date
Water Resistance: 50m
Price: $62,500
Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF GMT Rattrapante
It’s not everyday that a completely new complication comes along, but Parmigiani manages to cook up a first for this year’s fair. The Tonda PF GMT Rattrapante integrates “flyback” functionality into its GMT function — when not in use, one hour hand is superimposed over the other. Jump the hour hand forward using the 8 o’clock pusher, however, and one of these hands becomes a GMT hand. Then, upon returning home, one can use the button integrated into the crown to instantaneously return it to its superimposed position. Brilliant!
Diameter: 40mm
Movement: Parmigiani Fleurier PF051 automatic
Functionality: Rattrapante GMT (second time zone)
Water Resistance: 60m
Price: $28,700
Hermès Arceau Le Temps Voyager
It never ceases to amaze how a brand like Hermès — a high fashion house more famous for its beautiful scarves — continuously dazzles the watch world with its creative complications and striking aesthetics. Take the new Arceau Le Temps Voyager, for example: Push the pusher at 9 o’clock and the small sub-dial will revolve around the case. As it does, it updates to a new city’s time, making for a clever, intricate take on the world time complication. Pair this to a platinum/titanium or steel case, and you’ve got yourself one hell of an elevated timepiece.
Diameter: 41mm (platinum/titanium), 38mm (steel)
Movement: Hermès H1837 automatic
Functionality: World time
Water Resistance: 30m
Price: $22,550-$28,825
TAG Heuer Aquaracer Professional 200 Solargraph
Believe it or not, the Aquaracer Professional 200 Solargraph is TAG Heuer’s first solar-powered timepiece, requiring only two minutes of exposure to sunlight in order to run for a full day. But that’s not all — hold the carbon bezel under sunlight as well and swirls of green Super-LumiNova suddenly spring to glowing life, making for one of the most unique dive watch designs we’ve ever seen. Housed in a black, 40mm DLC-coated case and paired to a rubber dive strap, the Solargraph combines stealthy aesthetics with the best in modern technology.
Diameter: 40mm
Movement: TAG Heuer TH50-11 solar-powered quartz
Functionality: Time and date
Water Resistance: 200m
Price: $2,950
Oris ProPilot X Calibre 400
Swiss independent brand Oris may be famed for its utilitarian pilot’s watches, but the ProPilot X Calibre 400 is an even more well-rounded beast. Combining a 39mm titanium case, beautiful matching bracelet and a simple, handsome dial, it’s powered by an in-house movement offering 5 days of power reserve and a 10-year warranty — not to mention a 10-year recommended service interval. Right now, the ProPilot X Calibre 400 is available in three colors (including a cool “salmon”), but we wouldn’t be surprised if numerous others are on the way.
Diameter: 39mm
Movement: Oris Calibre 400 automatic
Functionality: Time and date
Water Resistance: 100m
Price: $4,300
IWC Pilot’s Watch Chronograph Top Gun Edition “Lake Tahoe”
IWC has been experimenting with colored watch cases for years now — the jet-black ref. 3705 from the 1990s being a notable early favorite, while the more recent, sand-colored Mojave Desert editions were similarly beloved. However, each of these was fairly serious, dressing up a pilot’s watch in a color pulled from the camouflage palette. This made 2022’s Pilot’s Watch Chronograph Top Gun Edition “Lake Tahoe” all the more exciting — its blindingly white ceramic case takes down the seriousness quotient somewhat and lends it an air of city-slicking cool.
Diameter: 44mm
Movement: IWC Calibre 69380 automatic
Functionality: Time; day; date; 12-hour chronograph
Water Resistance: 60m
Price: $10,700
Cartier Santos Dumont
The Santos Dumont collection from the world’s most famous jeweler features quartz, manually-wound and automatic versions of the pilot’s watch, but until now, it didn’t feature manually wound models with lacquer dials and cases. Yup, that’s right — each of the three new, Large-sized Santos Dumont models is coated in a thin layer of lacquer, then smoothed and polished, making for a wildly beautiful watch. The gold version is striking and the platinum version is attention grabbing, but the black, steel version is both a regular production model and right around $5,000 in price. We’re here for it.
Diameter: 31.4mm
Movement: Cartier 43MC manually-wound
Functionality: Time
Water Resistance: 30m
Price: €5,100 (steel); €12,000 (gold); €16,000 (platinum)
Rolex GMT Master II 126720VTNR
While not a technological marvel — it’s merely a left-handed GMT Master II — this is certainly a watch that roughly no one saw coming. What’s more, it’s available in a new colorway and on both Oyster and Jubilee bracelets right from the jump. Expect it to be all but impossible to purchase at retail, but that’s not the point. This is a watch that both lefties and righties — especially righties who are prone to having a watch crown bore a small hole in their left wrists — can and will enjoy. All that’s left to do is decide upon a good nickname for this one…
Diameter: 40mm
Movement: Rolex Caliber 3285 automatic
Functionality: Time; date; second time zone
Water Resistance: 100m
Price: $11,050
More Like This
This article was featured in the InsideHook newsletter. Sign up now.