At this year’s edition of Watches and Wonders, the massive Geneva trade show where many of the world’s finest brands debut their novelties, nearly every conversation I had took the same detour: So, someone would lean in conspiratorially, what do you think of the Emoji Rolex? The watch, which adds positive affirmations and exclusive emojis to the Crown’s prestigious Day-Date, was so out of left field for the staid Rolex that many people reacted just as Max Büsser, founder of the Swiss luxury watchmaker MB&F, did on a recent call. “Did they all take acid?!” But it turned out that what’s officially known as the Puzzle Dial Day-Date was only the beginning of the watch industry’s new-vibes era. Even super-collectors like John Mayer are feeling the wave. As he recently told me, “We’re in a golden era of watches that I’m having a really fun time wearing.”
Sometimes it can feel like appreciating the latest and greatest in the watch world requires a loupe, a fat history book, and a PhD in jargon-ology. But you don’t have to understand microscopic millimeter shifts to enjoy many of 2023’s best new releases. Audemars Piguet put its most talented designers to work on a watch with Spider-Man on its open-worked dial; in addition to its emoji Day-Date, Rolex released a delightful confection of a watch titled Celebration. One of Hermès’s very limited editions features the house’s trademark horse in a cape and mask, moonlighting as a superhero. Blancpain and Swatch took inspiration from neon sea slugs, while Oris partnered with Kermit on a froggy green number. MB&F and H. Moser, for their part, collaborated on an elaborate chiming mechanism with a DJ’ing panda.
Audemars Piguet is proof that fun doesn’t come at the expense of world-class watchmaking. It takes a team of artisans 50 hours to complete the Spider-Man figurine of the watch, of which 250 were made. “At Audemars Piguet, we always say we are a serious brand, but we don’t take ourselves too seriously,” François-Henry Bennahmias, the company’s CEO, told me. “Watches should be fun!”
Brands finding their fun side is a natural result of the watch industry’s massive growth over the past few years. Ruediger Albers, the US president of the international watch retailer Wempe Jewelers, credits a younger generation of enthusiasts with pushing watchmakers in this direction. According to Albers, this emerging new class of collectors likes to have “a watch that is aesthetically pleasing and not the one everybody else is wearing.”
While many of these pieces are controversial among more conservative collectors, most have been immediate hits. AP sold out of Spider-Mans long ago, and Blancpain’s colorful take on its typically somber diver had people lining up in droves. When the Rolex pieces were announced, Albers told me his phone “sounded like a pinball machine.” Those timepieces, in particular, immediately caught on with such influential collectors as John Mayer, Tom Brady, and Lionel Messi. “I am happy that [the makers] are taking a few more risks,” Büsser told me. “If you ask them, they will tell you they’re really shocked at how many pieces they actually sell.”
As this new era of watches shows us, transcending mere functionality is liberating. I hardly bother to set my watches most of the time, let alone depend on them as a kitchen timer. This shift allows me to broaden the type of watches I collect. And many watchmakers themselves are now intent on not just helping collectors keep time but to totally reconsider it. As Philippe Delhotal, artistic director of Hermès’s watch division, explained to me, “Hermès watches offer a different interpretation of time: time that is full of fanciful touches, time that is friendly, lasting, playful, and recreational.” You might say they’ve found a higher purpose. Büsser put it more plainly: “We’re creating things that make a lot of people smile.”
Cam Wolf is a senior style writer at GQ.
A version of this story originally appeared in the 2023 Men of the Year issue of GQ with the title “The Watch Party Rages On”
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