Watches & Wonders: Why get excited?
At the exhibition, there are going to be 54 brands present including the top luxury watch brands like Rolex, AP, Patek Philippe, and Vacheron Constantin, among others. All these brands will have something or the other to show at the exhibition, While some watch brands will take advantage of the stage to announce new models, others might take this opportunity to just bring in new dials or different material options for already existing models.
There will be Guided Tours available at the exhibition allowing you to step into each exhibitor’s booth to get a better understanding as to where the brand is headed this year. You might get to check out some of their latest creations and even delve deep into the craftsmanship that went behind creating those masterpieces.
One of the highlights of the exhibition is expected to be something called “The LAB,” where visitors will get a sneak peek at what goes into watchmaking itself.
Which brands are exhibiting at Watches & Wonders 2024?
There is a huge list of brands that is participating at Watches & Wonders. As mentioned before there are a total of 54 brands holding their exhibitions, which are listed as follows:
- A. Lange & Söhne
- Alpina
- Angelus
- Arnold & Son
- ArtyA
- Baume & Mercier
- Beauregard
- Bell & Ross
- Bremont
- Cartier
- Chanel
- Charriol
- Chopard
- Chronoswiss
- Cyrus Genève
- Czapek & Cie
- Eberhard & Co.
- Ferdinand Berthoud
- Frederique Constant
- Gerald Charles
- Grand Seiko
- Grönefeld
- H. Moser & Cie.
- Hautlence
- Hermès
- Hublot
- Hysek
- IWC Schaffhausen
- Jaeger-LeCoultre
- Laurent Ferrier
- Louis Moinet
- Montblanc
- Nomos Glashütte
- Norqain
- Oris
- Panerai
- Parmigiani Fleurier
- Patek Philippe
- Pequignet
- Piaget
- Raymond Weil
- Ressence
- Roger Dubuis
- Rolex
- Rudis Sylva
- Speake-Marin
- TAG Heuer
- Trilobe
- Tudor
- U-Boat
- Ulysse Nardin
- Vacheron Constantin
- Van Cleef & Arpels
- Zenith
Expectations and Rumors
Months before the event is even announced, rumors and expectations start flying around in watch forums online. Here are the top rumors that are expected to become true at the upcoming event.
Pepsi getting discontinued?
The biggest rumor in town right now is that everyone’s favorite Rolex GMT Master II Pepsi is getting discontinued. It is a rather hard-to-believe rumor considering that the Pepsi bezel gained a lot of popularity. Also, it reminds everyone of the first iteration of the Rolex GMT Master as that was the first watch to introduce the red and blue bi-color bezel.
Backing this rumor up is the fact that these bi-color ceramic bezels are rather challenging to manufacture. The use of the colors blue and red just makes it a lot more harder for the manufacturer.
Just on the basis of this rumor, we have been seeing a rise in demand of the Rolex Pepsi watches has been going over the roof. As a result, the prices of these watches has been increasing rapidly in the secondary market. A brand-new Jubilee Pepsi is already exchanging hands anywhere between AED 85,000 to AED 90,000. Once they do officially discontinue the watch, the prices are expected to go over AED 100,000.
Titanium is the next big thing
Titanium is becoming a popular material of choice among watchmakers and you can expect a few more watches to launch this year that are crafted out of Titanium. We recently saw Rolex accept this by introducing the Sea-Dweller in Titanium so we might see more Titanium watches by them. We might also see a few additions by other brands like Hublot and AP.
