GQ is reporting from the Watches & Wonders conference in Geneva this week. Click on right here to learn all our protection from the occasion or join the Field + Papers e-newsletter to get the newest in your inbox.
“Too many individuals,” my taxi driver stated to me on the way in which to the airport this morning. There aren’t sufficient taxis or resort rooms for the quantity of watch individuals who invade Geneva for Watches & Wonders, he instructed me. Apparently, the European Enterprise Aviation Conference & Exhibition, when folks come to purchase jets, creates the identical drawback. Geneva is hilarious.
One other yr of Watches & Wonders has already come and gone for me. The gathering world has grown exponentially over the previous few years and in the event you look carefully you may see the business opening itself to those new hobbyists. Rolex is making jigsaw dial items with 31 emojis, Tag Heuer launched a basic chronograph in addition to a neon-pink Carrera, and even Paneria is shrinking its signature large watches. Virtually each model had one thing ridiculous to point out. There have been pocket watches at each Cartier and Hermes. The previous’s was lined in diamond and the latter was strung with actual horse hair. Who’re these watches for? With so many extra collectors, most likely somebody!
Some closing stray ideas from me. Immediately vintage-inspired 36- (or 36.5) millimeter watches are in all places. That’s actually the proper dimension for a watch, to be sincere. Talking of developments, I noticed so many extra sneakers this yr than I did final. Widespread Tasks and Adidas Stan Smiths had been omnipresent however there have been additionally Nike Panda Dunks and people detested Tiffany Air Pressure 1s. The Lange sales space made by far the most effective drinks—recent squeezed blood orange juice and glowing water infused with mint, wow. The most well-liked meals on the Palexpo? Consider it or not, a poke bowl, which you wanted to order early earlier than they had been fully gone. I refused to eat conventional-hall uncooked fish, however there’s all the time subsequent yr. Thanks for following alongside.
The very best watch I attempted on at this time: What’s the German phrase for “exceeds expectation”? How about A. Lange & Söhne Odysseus Chronograph? The German model’s watch, one of the crucial talked-about on the honest, was every little thing it was cracked as much as be. Lange confirmed solely this one watch, (Cartier, by comparability, confirmed 17 new items within the Tank line alone).
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