This roundup of new watches is going to look a bit different than those from other months. That’s because the industry’s major trade show Watches & Wonders took place in April, with many of the most important brands introducing their big releases for the year. So, yes, there were a lot of cool new watches in April. They include releases from the big boys like Rolex, Tudor and Patek Philippe, but we also have some fun and more affordable new watches from the likes of Timex, Yema and more. Sit back and enjoy, because there’s plenty of horological eye candy below.
DWISS M3
Dwiss
Presented by DWISS
This time of year, many notable brands are releasing watches as a part of Watches and Wonders — a tradeshow of sorts for the watch industry. And while many of those watches are interesting and notable, few offer as unique a watch as DWISS. The DWISS M3 is a Swiss-made watch that makes use of “displaced hours.” For those not up on their watch terminology, that means the hours are displayed in the longer circumference of the dial, followed by the minutes inside that and seconds inside of that. It’s an incredibly unique timepiece, and one that would find a place in the collection of anyone who appreciates horology. To top it off, the M3 is powered by an ETA 2824-2 movement housed inside a 316L stainless steel case with a sapphire crystal and a water-resistance rating of 20 ATM. Initially only available to the 100 members of the club, now 500 pieces are being offered to non-club members. Secure yours below before they are gone.
Price: $1,390+
A. Lange & Söhne Lange 1 Perpetual Calendar
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Believe it or not, what you’re looking at is the first Lange 1 perpetual calendar…full stop. Like, without a chronograph or a tourbillon or a whiriygig or a whosamawhatsit. Ain’t she purdy? It comes in two versions: white gold (limited to 150 pieces) and pink gold (unlimited), and both cost a smidge over $100k. At 41.9mm, this is no small watch, but considering the amount of information displayed, it’s damn remarkable (time, digital jumping date, day, month, moon phase, layered leap year and day/night indicator). This is the type of watchmaking Lange is already known for, but to integrate it unburdened by another complication into the Lange 1 platform has been a long time coming.
Price: $104,500 (pink gold); $116,000 (white gold LE)
Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Jumbo Extra Thin
Audemars Piguet
Though it’s known for the irony of its price considering its fame as a steel (rather than precious metal) watch, this time AP’s flagship product has been given a platinum treatment. The latest Audemars Piguet Royal Oak model matches a precious metal case to a green sunburst dial rather than the familiar, waffle-like “Grande Tapisserie” texture of the classic model. At 39mm wide, it doesn’t sound very “Jumbo” to modern ears, but a thickness of only 8.1mm makes the “Extra Thin” part of the name perfectly fitting.
Price: $105,400
Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Concept “Black Panther” Flying Tourbillon Watch
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The 2018 superhero film Black Panther was a cultural milestone, and now mega fans with about $163,000 to throw around can wear a little piece of Wakanda on their wrist. Though it unfortunately lacks the same technology as the hero’s suit, Audemars Piguet’s watch does offer a flying tourbillon, a prestigious name and the Black Panther character rendered in an action pose on the dial.
Price: ~$163,000
Arnold & Son Luna Magna
Arnold & Son
Watches often relegate the moon phase display to a small subdial. Swiss watchmaker Arnold & Son, on the other hand, have previously been known for (among other things) a striking and prominent execution of the moon phase occupying half the dial. Now a new model has a different take on the complication. Rather than a subdial, at 6 o’clock is a half-aventurine glass, half-marble orb. It turns vertically to represent the moon’s phases in a very visual way, but it’s hard to glean any precise information from it. Around on the case back side, however, is not only a striking view of the movement (and the reverse side of the sphere), but there’s also a dial more specifically indicating the current moon phase.
Breitling Premier Heritage B09 Chronograph 40
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Breitling released a new Premier Heritage collection featuring several different chronograph watches (each in a couple versions), all with a captivating 1940s aesthetic based on vintage examples. We love the complicated chronos in the collection with fancy complications such as split seconds and annual calendars, but the model known as the B09 Chronograph 40 has an appeal all its own. While it “only” features a chronograph and is offered in steel to keep it “relatively” affordable, it’s the steel version’s dial that grabs your attention. It’s in a shade of green the company calls “pistachio,” and it’s fair to say it looks pretty unique and unlike any watch from the 1940s — or from today, for that matter.
Price: $8,400
Bulgari Octo Perpetual Calendar
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Bulgari has already set multiple records for the thinnest watches in various categories. Their latest is a perpetual calendar housed in the brand’s distinctive Octo case, which was famously designed by Gerald Genta. Despite its mechanically accounting for every irregularity of the Gregorian calendar — including the different days in the months and even leap years — Bulgari managed to fit all the complicated clockwork required into a 5.8mm thick case in titanium or platinum, with movement only 2.75mm thick! The dial’s layout and retrograde displays seem to draw on the aesthetics of Genta’s retrograde watches, and the aggregate effect of all this masterful design and technical achievement is captivating.
Price: TBD
Bulova Joseph Bulova Chronograph Watch
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Watchmaker Bulova has reached into its archives over the last few years for design inspiration. The Joseph Bulova collection’s newest addition is a watch styled on the brand’s first chronograph from 1941. Available in two dial variations of black and white with 42mm case diameters and Swiss automatic movements, it’s limited to 350 examples.
Price: $2,495
Cartier Ballon Bleu 40mm
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If there’s a sweet spot for watch sizes, 40mm is probably it for a lot of people. Previously only available in 42mm or 36mm and smaller, a new version of the well-known Cartier Ballon Bleu slides right into that glaringly open space and will make its distinctive design instantly more wearable for a wider audience. It’s essentially the same highly original, elegant design with Cartier’s seal of prestige, and (as in other core collections) it’s powered by the brand’s in-house 1847 MC automatic workhorse movement. Available in different case materials and blue, gray or classic silver dial colors, each has (integrated) bracelet or strap options with a quick-change system.
Price: $5,800+
Casio G-Shock DW5600 NASA Watch
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The first NASA watch G-Shock launched sold out almost immediately — and so did this one. Its DW5600 case design features a black bezel and a bunch of NASA branding and references, including an EL backlight displaying a shuttle silhouette and “1981-2021” (commemorating the OV-102 STS-1 Space Shuttle launch).
Price: $140 (sold out)
Casio G-Shock Frogman GWFA1000RN8A Watch
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The new generation of the G-Shock Frogman dive watch is more advanced than ever but completely analog, and the brand partnered with the UK Royal Navy for its latest model. The colors of the limited-edition GWFA1000RN8A are based on that of the Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier.
Price: $1,000
Hermès H08
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Though better known for its leather products, Hermès every so often comes out with a aesthetically striking and technically impressive watch — and many watch snobs are reminded that the French brand is indeed a bonafide watchmaker on par with many of Switzerland’s finest. The newest is simply called the H08, and it features a unique look with a cushion-like case, round dial and a distinctive style of Arabic numerals. It’s powered by the brand’s own in-house movement and comes in cases made of titanium or a black, carbon-based material called graphene.
Price: $5,500-$8,900
Hublot Big Bang Integral Tourbillon Full Sapphire
Hublot
While a number of brands have experimented with sapphire crystal as a case material, Hublot has been at the forefront. The new Big Bang Integral takes the concept to its logical inclusion, with just about every piece rendered in sapphire. This includes everything from the bracelet to movement bridges — which, of course, are clearly visible through the sapphire case and dial. Certain elements such as movement parts and screws are still in metal, but the overall impact is impressive — in addition to being hard, lightweight and extremely scratch-resistant.
Price: $422,000
IWC Big Pilot’s Watch Edition “Mojave Desert”
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The sand-colored”Mojave” ceramic treatment remains one of IWC’s coolest. The previous version was a chronograph and this year also sees a Mojave perpetual calendar, but the time-only simplicity of the Big Pilot’s Watch allows the focus to remain on the materials, textures and colors. The entire watch, from the case to the dial to the hands, is matte-finished, which should make for strong legibility. Further making it easy to read (if less easy to wear) is its 46mm diameter — which only whets our appetites for the possibility of something like, say, a smaller Spitfire Automatic with the same treatment somewhere down the line.
Price: $14,800
Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Hybris Mechanica Calibre 185 Quadriptyque
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Forget about the absurdly long name for a second. Just think about the following: this is the most complicated Reverso ever. It’s the first wristwatch ever with four faces. (That’s, like, three more faces than normal.) It took six years to develop. It features three displays of lunar information, including the synodic cycle, the draconic cycle and the anomalistic cycle. (I don’t know what any of those are, but I think the middle one tells you how many dragons emerge from hibernation per month.) It’s got 11 complications, including a perpetual calendar and a minute repeater. It required 12 patents to be filed. It’s made of white gold and limited to 10 pieces. It costs 1.35 million EUR. It’s freakin’ DOPE.
Price: ~$1.6M
Laco Palermo 39 Pilot’s Watch
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German watchmaker Laco has a new take on a couple of its historical pilot’s watch styles, swapping white for orange Super-LumiNova against the traditionally black dial. The result makes for an interesting twist on familiar designs, and inside they’re powered by a Miyota 821A automatic movement helping keep the watches nice and affordable.
Price: $410
Marloe Haskell Global Watch
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Profits from the sales of UK-based brand Marloe’s latest watch will support environmental initiatives like the #WeTwo arctic expedition. It’s a good cause, but it also helps that the watch is good-looking and well constructed with a Swiss-made manually wound movement and reasonable price.
Price: $995
Mondaine Essence Collection Watches
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Mondaine’s signature dial based on Swiss railway clocks is the basis for an affordable new quartz watch collection that emphasizes its use of sustainable materials in everything from its cases to the straps.
Price: $200
Montblanc Summit Lite Smartwatch
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A more basic and affordable Lite version of Montblanc’s collection of luxury smartwatches called Summit is focused on fitness applications.
Price: $860
Montblanc Star Legacy Metamorphosis LE 8
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Montblanc’s crazy-complicated watches like the Star Legacy Metamorphosis are meant as a showcase and reminder of the brand’s impressive capabilities. With the press of a button and slide of a lever, the watch transforms between two different faces with a mechanical animation: The subdial at 6 o’clock displays world time with a rotating globe motif, but then it splits in half to open like shutters, revealing a three-dimensional moon in an aventurine sky. The balance wheel is visible at 12 o’clock all times, but when the shutters are opened, the entire tourbillon structure is revealed. The whole watch comprises over 718 tiny components, all handcrafted by Montblanc in its specialized facilities.
Price: $253,500
Omega Seamaster Diver 300M Tokyo 2020 Watch
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It might be 2021, and event might not look like past years, but the 2020 Olympics going ahead in Tokyo in July. As official Olympic timekeeper, Omega releases multiple products for each occasion, and the latest is a version of its dive watch with colors based on the games’ emblem.
Price: $5,600
Oris Divers Sixty-Five “Cotton Candy” 38mm
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A new dial color: big whoop, right? Well, nobody will be yawning at Oris’s unique and striking new “Cotton Candy” colorway for its Divers Sixty-Five collection. Paired to bronze, retro-styled dive watch cases, the pale tones of blue, green and pink are unexpected but feel fresh and positive. They also feel unisex, with potentially feminine colors and 38mm sizes — but these watches are all about how you wear them. They come on bronze bracelets or brown leather straps and are powered by automatic movements.
Price: ~$2,335-$2,650
Panerai Submersible e-LAB ID
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Panerai’s ties to the ocean — they’re a famed dive watch manufacturer, after all — mean that they take more than just a passing notice of the environment and the need to care for it. Their new Submersible e-LAB ID aims to take the concept of a “recycled” watch to its logical extreme: roughly 98.6% of its weight comes from “materials integrating a high rate of recycled elements.” Panerai even put together a sort of consortium of companies to produce many of the watch’s components, which includes titanium, luminous material and strap manufacturers. It doesn’t hurt that the watch itself is pretty darn cool-looking: manufactured from recycled EcoTitanium, it’s powered by an automatic movement housed in a 44mm case.
Price: ~$71,235
Patek Philippe Nautilus 5711/1A-014
Patek Phillipe
For the Patek Philippe Nautilus’s swan song, it got a green dial. Yes, the iconic steel watch often referred to simply as “the 5711” is being retired, but not before it gets a “victory lap,” as the company’s president Thierry Stern said. It’s the last of the classic design in steel that’s come to be a prestige symbol, and the dial now has a pale green hue rather than the previous version’s blue. This reference will have a particular significance to collectors and the color will make it immediately identifiable. It’s sure to be near-impossible to get your hands on, and definitely not at retail pricing.
Price: $34,890
Rolex Explorer 36mm
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The new references 124270 (steel) and 124273 (two-tone steel and gold) have been downsized to 36mm — the size of the original Explorer from the 1950s, and most subsequent Explorer I models until 2010 or so. This is the first time that a two-tone model has been made available, though both references are otherwise the same: powered by the automatic cal. 3230, they ship on matching Oyster bracelets and feature black lacquer dials with Chromalight lume for low-light legibility. Other perks include a 70-hour power reserve and 100m of water resistance. (Maybe don’t take the two-tone Rolesor version up Mt. Everest, though — you might get some weird looks up there.
Price: $6,450-$10,800
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Shinola Duck Burton Watch
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Shinola’s latest model in its Great Americans Series celebrates Burton Snowboards’ founder Jake Burton Carpenter with a watch as part of a larger gift set including a replica of the brand’s first production snowboard.
Price: $1,200
Swatch Big Bold Next Bioceramic Watch
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It’s kinda crazy to imagine ceramic, a typically premium material, available from the watchmaker known for its very affordable price point. In fact, the new material called Bioceramic is two parts ceramic to one part plastic, and the watch using it is as inexpensive as any other Swatch — and comes in the brand’s typically playful styles.
Price: $125
TAG Heuer Monaco Green
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There have been a lot of green dial watches this year, but TAG Heuer’s new version of its famous Monaco chronograph might be one of the most natural-feeling with its deep hue matched to black subdials. The Monaco is powered by an in-house Heuer 02 automatic movement which you can see through the caseback — a cool touch, if you look closely, is that the important movement component called a column wheel is also colored green on top.
Price: $6,650
Timex Q Malibu Watches
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Timex came out with a few watches sporting a strikingly summery color palette unlike much we’ve ever seen on a watch before. On the retr0-themed Q series watches at 36mm, the colors alone seem to transport you directly to 1980s California.
Price: $189
Tudor Black Bay Chrono
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Tudor didn’t release entirely new collections or groundbreaking new models for 2021, but it’s widely agreed that the mostly aesthetic updates to existing lines look pretty great. The Black Bay Chrono now comes in very vintage-feeling “panda dial” (black subdials on white main dial) and “reverse panda” (white on black) versions. This now-popular colorway looks good on the Black Bay Chono, and it fits its character well with a more playful and casual feel compared to that of its serious older sibling, the Rolex Daytona. (Tudor is a subsidiary of Rolex.) A more substantiative change is that Tudor made the case slightly thinner — always appreciated with chronographs, which tend to be on the thick side.
Price: $5,225
Ulysse Nardin UFO Clock
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I know what you’re thinking: Today is Wednesday. Or is it? But you’re also thinking that this is not a watch. And you’d be right. But contemplate with us for a moment just how darn cool this clock is: Built from 663 components and boasting an incredible one year of power reserve from six extra-large barrels, UN’s UFO clock can display three time zones simultaneously. It takes inspiration — like many of Ulysse Nardin’s pieces — from the ocean, and the gentle swaying of the waves. To that end, the clock’s bottom is rounded and actually swings back and forth up to 60 degrees from its axis due to a tungsten mass built into the base. If it weren’t limited to just 75 pieces at a price of $41,100, I’d buy two.
Price: $41,100
Yema Superman Worldtime Watch
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Among multiple cool releases this year, Yema has announced a couple new versions of its Superman Worldtime — which despite its name suggesting a somewhat different type of watch is recognizable as a proper GMT with its 24-hour hand and accompanying 24-hour rotating bezel. It comes in two iterations, including one with an all-steel bezel and one with a Rolex-like bicolor “Coke bezel,” both powered by the brand’s own YEMA3000 automatic movement.
Price: $1,119-$1,190
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