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Just south of Dresden city, in the sleepy mountain village of Glashütte, you have Nomos and, over the town square, its neighbour A Lange & Söhne — the former being Glen Powell to the latter’s elder statesman, George Clooney. Here, the latest Saxonia Thin is a smooth-tongued, reminiscent affair, rendered in warm 750 ‘honey gold’ with refined inner works topped by a jet-black, glossy onyx dial. You certainly won’t be asking, “What else?”

Mechanical mastery developed within the walls of every red-carpet regular’s favourite Swiss jeweller-cum-watchmaker — just in time for Chopard’s elite ‘LUC’ imprint’s 30th birthday. This boasts a grande sonnerie (ringing out quarters and hours), petite sonnerie (hours) and minute repeater (hours, quarters and remaining minutes, on demand), all played on an orchestra in miniature: two sapphire-crystal gongs circling the movement.

Normally, spring-time’s watch-trade fair in Geneva is all you’ll hear of Patek for the year, by way of product newness. But surprise! Behold this new, particularly snazzy addition to the Genevan grande dame’s fond, if quirky, allusion to its transatlantic Hispanic romance period of the early 20th century. The rose-gold case is set with 94 brilliant-cut spessartites (2.02 cts) arranged in a double colour gradient covering a spectrum from cognac to tangerine.

Damascus’ stainless steel is a metal with roots reaching back millennia — its resistance to shattering made this ‘crucible steel’ ideal for swords. Now, the sharp edges of Tissot’s 1970s’ ‘PRX’ revival, its active sportiness and delicate Powermatic 80 mechanics all benefit from such tough outer shielding.

Exactly 20 years after the first ‘Planet Ocean’ iteration of the Seamaster was released — back when Omega’s role as horological ‘Q Branch’ to Daniel Craig’s 007 was earning its stripes — the only historic competitor to mighty Rolex has thrown a curveball. It’s a fourth-gen beef-up for an already-beefy 600-metre-resistant diver, with boldly sculpted facets in steel. And yet, surprisingly, a slim-down to a svelte 13.79mm height off the wrist.

In 1968, Longines launched the Ultra-Chron Diver, the first diving watch equipped with a high-frequency, tenth-of-a-second tick-ticking movement: all-the-more precise in its imperviousness to the occasional glance against a reef or rock. The new Ultra-Chron retains the modernist, mid-century aesthetic codes of the original, only now souped-up with preciser-still silicon components, beating (still at high frequency) at the core of the inner mechanics.

Maintaining its historic gaze toward the Far East, 270-year-old Vacheron Constantin’s latest adventures in ‘métiers d’art’ saddle up in anticipation of China’s equine new year. Grand feu enamelling, miniature painting and hand engraving all showcase the aesthetic talents of Geneva’s oldest and greatest horologer (while the actual horologers remain happy to pare things back with four window displays, removing the obtrusion of hands).

The urbane, cosmopolitan ‘Metro’ designed by Mark Braun was an instant classic — even though it was only launched in 2014. Highly acclaimed not only in terms of progressing the young east-German brand’s famously Bauhaus design language, but because it formed the crucible of Nomos’s newly developed ‘Swing System’ escapement. Now, Metro benefits from the all-new DUW 4601 calibre, blessed (finally!) with an instantly adjustable date display, plus upped, 52-hour power reserve.

In a first for Blancpain’s ‘Fifty Fathoms’ — the watch that pipped Rolex’s Submariner to the post by a single year in 1953, cracking every code of the modern diving watch – the Super-LumiNova glow-up of its dial indices extends to the rotating oxygen-timing bezel. A luminous harmony complemented beautifully within a new blue ceramic case, on a sailcloth strap with fluorescent contrast stitching.

Unfairly overshadowed by halo diving collection Black Bay, Tudor’s no-nonsense ‘field watch’ is back, but in a nattier guise: a ‘Dune’ ivory dial version of 2022’s Ranger, in combination with ‘Jacquard’ fabric strap from France’s legendary weaver. Alluding to Rolex’s little brother’s roles in the British North Greenland Expedition of the 1950s, plus new duties on the ‘white dunes’ of Saudi Arabia’s Empty Quarter as official timekeeper to the Dakar Rally.

Dedicated to the Swiss Air Force’s Squadron Staffel 11, every Maverick’s go-to watchmaker IWC and its latest Pilot’s chronograph is a full 44.5mm’s worth of zirconium oxide keeping precise time on the neutral nation’s ‘best of the best’ via in-house-manufactured ‘69380’ stopwatch mechanics. Wind and learn before you turn and burn…