Watches Go Green at Watches and Wonders 2024
These timepieces are sure to fashion a similar shade of envy.
There is a green movement at Watches and Wonders—a colour statement of green-hued wristwatches. While the colour didn’t dominate the narrative of the fair, it is a strong favourite and these handsome green models are watches you want to get behind.
Vacheron Constantin celebrates 20 years of its Patrimony collection with three new models that combine a retro style with modern horology. Two 39-millimetre models, one in white gold and the other in rose gold, along with a more complicated 42.5-millimetre model with a retrograde date display and moonphase in a white gold case, feature manual-winding movements, slender gold markers, and convex sunray dials that instantly say old school and oh so chic.
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There is a new-for-2024 Tudor Black Bay 58 18K, and this one is all gold: bracelet links, case, bezel, and crown. Usually, all gold anything screams “look at me,” but gold done the Tudor way means brushed or blasted for a signature matte finish that is distinctly posh. The 39-millimetre Black Bay 58 18K with a yellow gold bracelet complete with a T-fit clasp has an open caseback with sapphire crystal displaying the manufacture calibre MT5400 with 70-hour power reserve. The dial and bezel in matching green make for a winning combination with the gold.
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The new Chopard L.U.C XPS Forest Green is a handsome model that stands out with its captivating green dial and Lucent Steel case. The L.U.C collection is notable for its in-house calibres made at Chopard’s Swiss workshop in Fleurier. The new model features Chopard’s calibre 96.12-L, a Poinçon de Genchronometer grade movement, and a Côtes de Genève motif finish. The L.U.C XPS Forest Green is paired with a brown leather strap featuring ecru stitching.
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The tale of the Santos de Cartier is a story told and retold: In 1904, Louis Cartier created a wristwatch for his aviator friend Alberto Santos-Dumont who needed a timepiece that he could look at without taking his hands off the controls while flying. Enter the Santos de Cartier, with its square case and a bezel secured by visible screws, which has become a grail watch. The watch has had many variations over the century, and now for Watches and Wonders 2024, a platinum-cased Santos de Cartier Dual with olive-green lacquer on the bezel, plus a matching green sunray dial with applied Arabic indices, sword hands, and a green alligator leather strap with a platinum buckle. This model is limited to 200 pieces.
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The green-dial Overseas watches from Vacheron Constantin has been a talking piece since it was released earlier this week—a vibrant new departure for the Overseas collection. The sport-chic suite of four references—a 42.5-millimetre chronograph, a 41-millimetre dual time, a 41-millimetre self-winding date model, and a 35-millimetre with a diamond-set bezel are all in rose gold with a satin-brushed sunburst pattern from the dial’s centre. All of the watches, like their predecessors, come with easy-change straps, including the rose-gold bracelet, plus calf leather and rubber.