The Best Watches of April 2024

One can always count on the guys at Nodus Watches for thoughtful, considered design at wildly affordable prices. Check out their new Contrail GMT variants: Available in several distinct dial finishes, this is a stainless steel travel watch measuring just 11.8mm thick with a beautiful, bi-color sapphire bezel; a matching steel bracelet; and the automatic Miyota 9075 movement with independent local hour hand adjustment. A “flyer” GMT, the Contrail is well suited for those who live a life on the road, while its sleek profile ensures just the right amount of dressiness.

Diameter: 40.5mm

Movement: Miyota 9075 automatic

Water Resistance: 200m

Victorinox’s watch offerings are much like many of the brand’s other products: tough, practical, and affordable. The new Dive Pro collection, available in both quartz and automatic versions, has an almost tactical look that speaks to its credentials: 300m of water resistance, titanium or steel construction, and a five-year warranty. The Dive Pro Quartz, with its sandblasted titanium case and bright yellow rubber dive strap, is the perfect summertime tool for the avid diver. With ample lume and a reliable Ronda movement, it’s everything you need in a modern tool watch. 

Diameter: 43mm

Movement: Ronda 715 quartz

Water Resistance: 300m

Zodiac’s GMT and world-time watches have always been a fun, relatively affordable way to snag a complicated piece that won’t break the bank. Up until now, many have been limited editions powered by off-the-shelf Swiss movements. Now, for the first time, two new core-collection references feature the STP 7-20 “caller” GMT movement. Made by Swiss Technology Production, a firm owned by Fossil Group — which also owns Zodiac — it offers a 40-hour power reserve and an independently adjustable GMT hand. Nab it in contemporary pink-white, or this fun, vintage-inspired black and grey bezel.

Diameter: 40mm

Movement: STP 7-20 automatic 

Water Resistance: 200m

Celebrating 20 years as the official timekeeper of the NTT IndyCar Series, TAG Heuer has released a special-edition version of its Formula 1 Chronograph with the Indy 500 logo and several Easter eggs related to the famed motorsport event. (The dial’s “11” index, executed in red, references the year 2011, when TAG Heuer began its official partnership with the Indy 500; as well as 1911, the year the race started.) Measuring 43mm and powered by a quartz movement, this cool chrono is merely the latest in a family of Heuer watches celebrating the race stretching back to the 1960s. 

Diameter: 43mm

Movement: Quartz 

Water Resistance: 200m

If by chance you’re on the hunt for a “luxury sports watch”-style piece but would prefer not to take out a HELOC to finance one, we kindly suggest you check out the Aikon Automatic Bronze from Maurice Lacroix. Housed in a 42mm brushed bronze case that measures just 11mm tall, it boasts a gradient, smoked chocolate dial with a Clous de Paris texture paired to 4N gold indices and hands. Within, the automatic ML115 calibre movement — based on the tried and true Sellita SW200 — is visible via a display caseback. With its integrated brown leather strap, it’s ready to give Genta-esque vibes at a fraction of the price of his famous designs.

Diameter: 42mm

Movement: Maurice Lacroix ML115 automatic (Sellita base) 

Water Resistance: 200m

A wildly inventive watch from 1976, the Amida Digitrend is back and ready for preorder. Housed in a modernist, automotive-inspired steel case, its readout appears at first glance to be digital in the mode of an LCD display. However, inside is actually a horizontally situated mechanical movement with a jumping hours and a trailing minutes disc. A clever prism system reflects the digits on said discs such that they’re visible in the vertical plane on the watch’s display, making a strictly mechanical system appear “digital” (in the “not analog” sense of the word). Wonderfully whimsical, it’s an inventive system that’s still wildly cool 50 years later. 

Diameter: 39mm x 39.6mm

Movement: Soprod NEWTON P092 automatic

Water Resistance: 50m

Here’s an option for those who crave a bit of the “rainbow”-bezel aesthetic that’s become so popular lately. The Rado True Square Automatic Open Heart has quite a bit going for it — white ceramic case construction with a matching, integrated bracelet; an open-heart design giving a full view of the automatic movement within; 80 hours of power reserve. But take a close look at the bezel and you’ll notice that 12 colored gemstones form the indices, giving the bright, monochromatic canvas a splash of welcome color. All in all, it’s a pretty cool summer watch, if you ask us.

Diameter: 38mm

Movement: Rado R734 automatic

Water Resistance: 50m

Regatta timers — which allow the user to count down to the start of a sailing race — were once fairly commonplace chronograph variants. After largely disappearing for much of the Quartz Crisis, they’ve seen a resurgence lately in watches from the likes of Heuer, Nivada Grenchen and others. The Mackinac, from Shinola, puts a creative spin on the regatta timer by offering a version in a square case paired to a quick-release, mesh steel bracelet. Its beautiful blue dial offers a 15-minute regatta timer at 3 o’clock and a date window at 9 o’clock, plus pops of orange, red and white that make for a highly legible package. 

Diameter: 40mm

Movement: Sellita SW511.BHC automatic

Water Resistance: 100m

Depancel, a French maker of automotive-inspired watches, has teamed up with Worn & Wound on a cool new chronograph powered by a notable movement, the Valjoux 92. The Allure, with its light blue color, features a host of unusual features that come together in a truly compelling design: At the dial’s edge is a tachymeter scale, while at the center is a pulsometer scale read via the back of the central chronograph seconds hand. (The running seconds hand has been omitted, while a 30-minute counter is present at 3 o’clock.) The restored, vintage Valjoux 92 movement is visible via a sapphire caseback.

Diameter: 39mm

Movement: Valjoux 92 hand-wound

Water Resistance: 100m

While many collectors most readily associate Breitling with aeronautical watches, the Swiss brand has made its fair share of notable divers over the years, too, such as the Superocean “slow-counting” chronograph. The new Superocean Automatic 36 North American Limited Edition adopts some of that model’s aesthetics into a time-only, 36mm format, adding two-tone touches in steel and 18k red gold. The Breitling Calibre 17 offers automatic winding and a 38-hour power reserve, while a bright white rubber dive strap and 300m of water resistance make it an elegant (and useful) choice for vacation wear. 

Diameter: 36mm

Movement: Breitling Calibre 17 automatic 

Water Resistance: 300m 

Watch industry veteran William Massena makes beautiful modern recreations of significant vintage watches via his Massena LAB project. The new 1952 Observatory Dial Limited Edition — which sees him teaming up with auction house Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo and master watchmaker Raúl Pagès — is based upon the Patek Philippe ref. 2458 made for Joe Ben “J.B.” Champion, Jr. in 1952. Measuring 38.5mm in 316L stainless steel, it’s powered by the manually-wound M690 movement, which features running seconds at 9 o’clock and hand-decoration overseen by Pagès. Limited to 99 pieces, it’s a particularly striking value at less than $10,000.

Diameter: 38.5mm

Movement: Massena LAB M690 hand-wound

Water Resistance: 50m

Introduced in 1975, the Girard-Perregaux Laureato is a luxury sports watch in the model of the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak and the Patek Philippe Nautilus. As part of a special collaboration with German watch retailer Wempe, G.P. has released an exciting new take on the Laureato in 42mm. Featuring a cool, copper-colored dial in a Clous de Paris pattern with baton-shaped hour markers, it boasts a triple-register chronograph in which the totalizers are executed in an interesting, target-like pattern of concentric circles. Powered by the automatic GP03300-2361 movement, it comes paired to an integrated bracelet and is water resistant to 100m.

Diameter: 42mm

Movement: GP03300-2361 automatic 

Water Resistance: 100m

A collaboration between H. Moser and the Alpine Motorsports F1 team, the new Streamliner Cylindrical Tourbillon Skeleton Alpine Limited Edition is a high-end tribute to the curvaceous silhouettes of beautiful race cars. Measuring 42.3mm in stainless steel, its blue synthetic spinel dial below 12 o’clock is powered by an impressive openworked movement featuring a one-minute flying tourbillon with a cylindrical hairspring above 6 o’clock. Paired to a blue rubber strap and water resistant to 120m, it exists — like many of Moser’s products — at the intersection of classical and avant-garde watchmaking. 

Diameter: 42.3mm

Movement: H. Moser & Cie HMC 811

Water Resistance: 120m