Before we get into the best new men’s watches of 2023, let’s remember that the most buzzed-about men’s watch of last year didn’t fly off the production lines of Rolex, Patek Philippe or Audemars Piguet. The biggest watch story of 2022 belonged to little-old (ok, not so little) plastic-tastic Swatch. Admittedly, the watch in question, the Speedmatser-aping MoonSwatch, happened to be an expertly calculated (it turned out) collaboration with industry titan Omega. And, technically, the watch wasn’t made of plastic, but Bioceramic, a swanky-sounding composite made by fusing ceramic with oil extracted from castor beans. Still, few would have predicted a battery-powered number that would have set you back £228 (if you could get your hands on one (big if)) becoming the hottest watch of the year. Or of any year, for that matter.

Well, guess what? For 2023, Swatch was up to it again. At the start of March, after posting a teaser video for something called ‘Mission to Moonshine Gold’, MoonSwatch mania was back. With little to go on, watch heads began speculating that an all-gold variant might be in the offing. Oooooo. That would be cool. Nothing quite so dramatic, it turned out.

Instead, a new MoonSwatch Mission to the Moon with, wait for it, drum roll please, a seconds hand in Omega’s trademarked alloy Moonshine Gold… That was it. The rest of the watch remained the same.

It would only be available to purchase in four cities – Zurich, London, Milan and Tokyo – for one day of the month. It would next become available on the following full moon (see what they did there?). All of which was enough to prompt long queues in those four cities and models being flipped online for four times their RRP (£250) by the afternoon of launch day.  

The new Mission to Moonshine Gold might not have provoked quite the same hysteria as the original collection last year. But it did confirm Swatch as the watch industry’s ruling hype master. With 11 references to tap into, the potential for modification was enormous. Which prompted the question: to where would the Swatch hype machine roll next?

The answer arrived in September. Rather than another partnership with Omega, however, Swatch’s next queue-triggering collaboration was with Blancpain (another stablemate within the Swatch Group portfolio of brands). Discover how the ‘Scuba Fifty Fathoms’ took up where the MoonSwatch left off, and some other standout timepieces of 2023, below…

Swatch x Blancpain Scuba Fifty Fathoms

18 months after its all-conquering collaboration with Omega, Swatch was at it again – watching queues build up outside of its stores across the world for another hyped-up tie-in. This time with Blancpain. Rendered in Swatch’s propriety Bioceramic, the Scuba Fifty Fathoms, or ‘Scuba Fifty’, reinterpreted Blancpain’s legendary dive watch in a suite of five colour options, each named after a different ocean. Unlike the MoonSwatch, the Scuba Fifty is powered by an automatic movement – maintaining a promise that Blancpain made in an advertising slogan back in 1980. “Since 1735 there has never been a quartz Blancpain watch,” went the jingle. “And there never will be.”

£340, swatch.com

Omega Speedmaster Super Racing

Omega’s first watch out of the gate in 2023 was a brand-new Speedmaster. While neon yellow accents, a cool honeycomb dial and a yellow-and-black striped small-seconds hand all made for a noteworthy watch, when it comes to the Super Racing, it’s what’s inside that counts. Since 2015, Omega has guaranteed all of its mechanical watches with an accuracy of 0 to +5 seconds per day. That promise already placed the brand near the top of the industry in terms of precision with only a handful of watchmakers able to promise anything close to that.

Now, however, Omega has gone one further. Fine-tuning a hairspring device, the company has come up with something called the Spirate System. Watches equipped with the mechanism, such as the Super Racing, can now be guaranteed to an accuracy of between 0 and +2 seconds per day. Most significantly, perhaps, the feat provides Omega with bragging rights over market rival Rolex, which can only promise precision rates of between -2 and +2 seconds a day. Slackers.  

£10,700, omegawatches.com

Audemars Piguet 37mm Royal Oak Selfwinding

Turquoise dials, as you already know, have become a bona fide sensation. Patek Philippe started the aquamarine hullabaloo when it co-signed a dial with Tiffany & Co. on the Nautilus 5711 1A-018 in 2021. Jay Z nabbed one. So did Lebron James, Mark Wahlberg and Leonardo DiCaprio. The mania sent prices of Rolex’s turquoise-dial Oyster Perpetual, launched in 2020, soaring. And the craze obviously wasn’t lost on Swatch, which chose a peacock-blue dial for its Mission to Uranus last year. Grand Seiko and Girard-Perregaux have also jumped on the bandwagon. Now, it’s the turn of Audemars Piguet, which has unveiled a new version of its 37mm Royal Oak Selfwinding model crafted in 18-carat yellow gold and illuminated by a natural turquoise dial. Coming to a celebrity-packed NBA courtside near you.

£52,800, audemarspiguet.com

Patek Philippe 5968R Aquanaut Chronograph

Patek Philippe’s Aquanaut flyback chronograph has been available in steel, with a black dial, since 2018, and in white gold, with either a midnight blue or khaki green dial, since 2021. Now you can bag the world’s smartest smart-casual stopwatch in rose gold with a sunburst brown dial – which might just be the choicest colour combo yet. In the flesh, the case of the 5968R takes on a deep red tint, setting off the chocolate tone of the watch’s crisscrossed mesh face. Tilt your wrist and alternating polished and satin finishes on the case, bezel and pushers mean that the watch sparkles in the light. If the current Aquanaut chronograph looks larger than the current Nautilus chronograph, that’s because it is (it wasn’t, once upon a time). Only by 0.7mm – but, somehow, it shows.

Approx. £56,500, patek.com

Rolex Cosmograph Daytona

The Daytona receives its most significant update since Rolex introduced ceramic to the collection’s tachymeter bezels in 2015 – though, admittedly, you’d be hard-pressed to identify the updates at first, or second, glance. The major modernisation occurs inside, where you’ll find Rolex’s halo Calibre 4131. The movement means that all new Daytonas will boast a 72-hour power reserve. What’s more, the calibre incorporates a skeletonised rotor with hand-decorated finishing.

Opt for the platinum model and, for the first time ever, you can observe the movement doing its thing through an exhibition caseback. On the outside, the most dedicated of Daytona devotees might just be able to identify a brawnier crown guard, marginally larger lugs and slightly smaller subdials. ‘Might’ being the operative word.

£12,700-£70,800, rolex.com

Zenith Pilot Automatic

There are many pilot's watches but, technically-speaking, only one ‘Pilot’ watch. Thanks to some shrewd foresightedness by company founder Georges Favre-Jacot, in 1888 Zenith filed a trademark for the French term ‘Pilote’, followed by the English translation, ‘Pilot’, in 1904 (the Wright brothers only (successfully) took to the skies in 1903). As a result, the Le Locle-based watchmaker is the only brand allowed to use the term ‘Pilot’ on its dials today. The collection that bears that name is Zenith’s longest-standing line and this year receives a ground-up overhaul. The pick of the range, for our money (and if you’re wondering what justifies the £8,500 asking price, the watch is equipped with Zenith’s in-house, high-frequency El Primero movement), is the 40mm, three-hand Automatic in black ceramic. We’re especially into the horizontal grooves on the dial, intended to mimic the corrugated metal on the fuselage of vintage aircraft.

£8,500, zenith-watches.com

Breitling Premier B01 Chronograph 42

Breitling bolsters its Premier collection, reintroduced in 2021, with six new references. The original Premier watches debuted in 1943 and represented the brand’s top-tier offering. Befittingly, 80 years on, the latest Premiers house the highest-ranking movement within Breitling’s arsenal, the watchmaker’s own in-house, self-winding Calibre 01. That guarantees an accuracy of -4 to +6 seconds per day, and a 70-hour power reserve. The 2023 models arrive with slightly slimmer profiles than their 2021 predecessors, although diameters have been upped from 40mm to 42mm. In the metal, the salmon dial option – black, blue, cream, green and white are also available – charms the most.

£7,400, breitling.com

Tag Heuer Carrera Chronograph 39mm

The Carrera turns 60 this year. Meaning it clearly ain’t broken. So, what to do? Tweak it, of course. With a rounder sapphire crystal dome in the manner of models from the '70s. The effect is to magnify the tachymeter scale and create added depth to the watch. What else? More pronounced pushers, to make them easier to, err, push. Cool. There’s also a more efficient version of Tag Heuer’s in-house automatic Heuer 02 movement, with an oscillating weight that will now wind the watch in two directions, rather than one. Watch it do its thing through a crystal caseback. Smart.

£5,600, tagheuer.com

Hermès H08 

Not that the Hermès H08 didn’t already catch the eye, but the Parisian maison has now rendered the sports watch in attention-commanding shades of yellow, green, blue and, our favourite, orange. Vibrant accents appear on the glass seal, the minutes track and the varnished seconds hand. Debuting in 2021, the H08 doesn’t always get the recognition it deserves. Look at it! These new references might change that.

£6,090, hermes.com

Rolex Oyster Perpetual

Just a handful of years ago it would have been difficult to imagine Rolex treating its hallowed Oyster Perpetual with anything but buttoned-up reverence. But then, in 2020, the brand of the five-pointed crown demonstrated that it does have a roguish side by unveiling five playful Perpetuals in a quintet of vibrant colours. And now this. Available in 31, 36 and 41mm, the latest Perpetual features a steel case and a turquoise dial fizzing with bubbles in the colours that were introduced three years ago. If the objective was to set watch corners of social media alight, then mission very much accomplished.

£4,750-£5,400, rolex.com

Vacheron Constantin Patrimony Retrograde Day-Date

Consider the Patrimony Retrograde Day-Date something of a Vacheron Constantin greatest hits compilation. The brand’s combination of platinum case and salmon-coloured dial dates back to the 1990s – in the ’40s it was Vacheron Constantin that became one of the early champions of salmon-pink dials – while for the double retrograde day-date display, the watchmaker sought inspiration from commissions it received in the ’20s and ’30s. Just a shame the typesetting of the days couldn’t be a little more uniform, but maybe that’s just us.

POA, vacheron-constantin.com

Bell & Ross BR 05 Green Gold

The Bell & Ross BR 05 Green Gold marries two of the biggest trends in the watch sector of recent years: integrated sports bracelets and green dials. In this case, an 18ct rose gold bracelet (and case) and a luminous green dial meant to mimic the colour of a fir tree (although we’ve never seen a spruce this luminous). The dial changes colour depending on the amount of light hitting it. Which means you’ll be titling your wrist constantly.   

£30,900, bellross.com

Piaget Polo QP Obsidian

Two Piaget epochs collide in the new Polo QP Obsidian. First, we have Piaget as manufacturer of chic, sporty, modern dress watches. See the Polo’s graceful curves and svelte silhouette. Second, is Piaget as flamboyant, ornamental jeweller, a throwback to the brand’s exuberant designs from the ’60s and ’80s. Demonstrated here in the form of a rare obsidian dial and sapphire bedazzled bezel. Only 18 pieces will be made.

£53,000, piaget.com

Tissot PRX

Given the success of Tissot’s sporty '70s throwback, the PRX, which was rebooted in 2021 to what seemed like the universal approval of watch land, it’s of little surprise that the collection has been comprehensively extended. There is a range of dial colours, new rubber straps and a glow-in-the-dark dial option. It’s the few-thrills, quartz-powered black-on-black variant that most rocks it for us though.

£330, tissotwatches.com

A.Lange & Söhne Odysseus Chronograph

With its link bracelet, narrow bezel, athletic looks and – shock horror – use of steel, rather than precious metals, the Odysseus may have sent A. Lange & Söhne purists into a twist when it was released in 2019, but it seems the brand remains committed to exploring sportier avenues. Despite their apparent ubiquity today, propriety chronograph movements remain one of trickiest complications to master. Even among the big boys, many stopwatches continue to be powered by third-party calibres. Not this latest Odysseus. This latest Odysseus is powered by A. Lange & Söhne’s first self-winding chronograph, a feat even trickier to realise than its hound-wound counterpart.

POA, alange-soehne.com

Panerai Radiomir Otto Giorni

Panerai’s latest Radiomir references the very first Radiomir, which, quite incredibly, appeared all the way back in 1935 (at the behest of the Italian Navy). Whereas the original prototype measured 47mm – great for sliding over wetsuits, not so practical for fitting under the sleeve of a dinner suit – this 2023 model arrives at a slightly more slender 45mm (it’s still a whopper). As the case is made from Panerai’s hand-finished eSteel – a product of recycled steel scraps – each watch will be unique.  

POA, panerai.com

Ulysse Nardin Freak One

The original Freak landed in 2001; consider the latest Freak, ‘Freak One’, a greatest hits compilation of all the innovations that have been introduced to the collection since then. And so we get the notched bezel of the original Freak, an escapement applied with shock-resistant DIAMonSIL surfacing treatment (introduced in 2007), a silicon hairspring (2008), a ‘flying’ carrousel tourbillon (2010), an open gear train (2013), and an automatic winding system (2018). Like all Freaks before it, the Freak One features no dial, no hands and no crown. The time is displayed via the movement itself, which rotates around the dial. An anthology of Ulysse Nardin’s envelope-pushing breakthroughs, the Freak One becomes the brand’s flagship timepiece.  

£60,330, ulysse-nardin.com

IWC INGENIEUR AUTOMATIC 40

The integrated steel sports watch returns to the IWC portfolio in the form of the rebooted Ingenieur. The lesser-celebrated of Gérald Genta’s holy trinity of legendary ’70s sports watch designs – before reconfiguring IWC’s athletic line in ’76, Genta had already conceived Audemars Piguet’s Royal Oak in ’72 and the Patek Philippe Nautilus in ’75 – the new Ingenieur arrives in four references, three in stainless steel and one in titanium. All house IWC’s in-house 32111 movement, providing for a 120-hour power reserve, and five, fixed-positioned bezel screws (original Ingenieur models have screws in non-uniform places). Tapping into the Tiffany-blue dial trend (see the Audemars Piguet above), the aqua-dialled variant packs the most presence on the wrist.

£10,500, iwc.com

Grand Seiko Spring Drive SBGZ009

It might seem sacrilege to take a hammer and chisel to a platinum case that someone’s spent hours polishing to mirror-like perfection. But, in the case of Grand Seiko’s new, manually-wound Spring Drive, it’s all part of the process. The end result is a case that mimics the texture of white birch trees found in a forest near the Japanese watchmaker’s headquarters at the foot of the North Yatsugatake Mountains. Likewise, the dial, executed in silver, features the same hand-engraved grooves. As such, each of the 50 pieces being produced will have their own unique pattern. The metallic-wood texture created is mesmeric.

£67,450, grand-seiko.com

Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Tribute Small Seconds

Jaeger-LeCoultre may be over-egging it slightly when it says the pink-gold case of its Reverso Tribute has been ‘significantly revised’ for 2023 – the thickness of the case has been slimmed down by almost, but not quite, one whole millimetre, so it’s safe to say that no rulebooks where ripped up here – but a string of new colour combinations do catch the eye. Silver and black dials recall the earliest Reversos of the 1930s, while an opaline option is new for this year. It is the burgundy number, however, that sets the pink-gold case alight. Admittedly, it’ll be far harder to pair with the rest of your wardrobe. So upgrade the rest of your wardrobe.

£8,800, jaeger-lecoultre.com

Montblanc Unveiled Timekeeper Minerva

You’ve heard of white gold, red gold and rose gold – but Lime Gold? Us neither. Turns out, it’s a thing. Or at least it is over at Montblanc, which has created a proprietary alloy by mixing 18k gold, silver and iron. The result is a gold that's somehow more gold than normal gold. It’s incredibly gold. Textbook gold. But that’s not the story here. The story here is the pushers, or lack thereof. Montblanc has created a chronograph minus the push-buttons customarily placed at two and four o’clock. Instead, the stopwatch is started, stopped and reset by clicking the bezel to the right. It’s super smart stuff, requiring several patents to get right. But still, that gold.

£53,000, montblanc.com

Cartier Tank Louis Cartier

Just when you thought Cartier had riffed off its legendary Tank in every which way possible, along comes another play on the rectangular Art-Deco timepiece to prove you wrong. This year, by our calculations, the French jewellery house has extended its already far-reaching Tank family with the introduction of 19 new references. That’s a lot of Tanks. That’s a lot of firepower. Winning the arms race (wrist race?) is a yellow-gold-cased 'Normale' with a grid-iron dial latticed with tiny squares of alternating white, rose and yellow gold. The original Tank dates from 1919; this latest edition has serious ’70s appeal.

£12,800, cartier.com

Hublot Classic Fusion Original

In 2020, on the occasion of Hublot’s 40^th anniversary, the brand launched a commemorative collection in celebration of the watch that kick-started it all – Carlo Crocco’s original, heavyset, circle-inside-a-square ‘Hublot’. The 2020 watches – available in titanium, ceramic and gold – featured black lacquered dials and debuted without hour indices. They were chic. They were classy. They were, at 45mm, also massive. Standard-sized humans rejoice. Because this year Hubot announced that the collection – renamed the Classic Fusion Original – was now available in three real-world sizes: 42mm, 38mm and 33mm. The larger two models house a Sellita-provided, self-winding movement; the smaller watch is regulated by quartz. All three reference Crocco’s minimal dial and industrial bezel, now bolted in place with six, rather than 12, screws.

Visit hublot.com

Zenith Defy Skyline Boutique Edition

For good looks and everyday wrist appeal, they didn’t come much more handsome in 2023 than Zenith’s Defy Skyline Boutique Edition. What’s so special? The dial of the Boutique Edition has been engraved with hundreds of tiny, four-pointed stars, an emblem used extensively by Zenith in the past. However, whereas the dials of the smaller Skylines feature just one colour – choose between blue, green or pink – the anthracite grey dial of the Boutique Edition contrasts with stars stamped and then plated with rose gold. The effect is magic.

£7,900, zenith-watches.com

TAG HEUER CARRERA CHRONOGRAPH 60TH ANNIVERSARY

Tag Heuer’s Carrera, the first watch designed specifically for timing racing cars, turned 60 this year. To mark the occasion, the Swiss watchmaker unveiled a limited-edition re-issue of one the earliest models to roll off the production line. Based on Heuer’s Ref. 2447 SN of 1968 – the first Heuer chronograph to feature black sub-dials on a silver face – the watch proved to be catnip for collectors. If you get the chance to secure one of the 600 units that were produced, nab it.

£6,100, tagheuer.com

Rolex Yacht-Master 42 RLX Titanium

Back in 2021, Rolex ambassador and the most successful sailor in Olympic history, Britain’s Sir Ben Ainslie, was photographed wearing a prototype Rolex purported to have been made from titanium. The photograph was widely shared in watch circles, eliciting exactly the sort of excitement you’d expect such a watch to elicit in such circles, and then the story went quiet. Were we about to see the first-ever titanium Rolex? Or, like that jaw-dropping Jaguar C-X75 in Spectre, which, tragically, never got put into production, was Ainslie’s prototype destined to remain a concept watch forever? This year, we got the answer. Rolex revealed the Yacht-Master 42 RLX in titanium. The titanium tale is, of course, a story about weight. Almost half as light as stainless steel, the new Yacht-Master 42 weighs around 100 grams – or, to put that another way, about the same as 100 paper clips.

£11,800, rolex.com

Seiko Prospex ‘Marine Green’ GMT

The first modern dive watch to come out of Japan rolled off Seiko’s production lines in 1965. The watch was made at the behest of a diver from Hiroshima, who’d written to the company to express his frustration at not being able to find a watch that could function at depths greater than 300 metres. Ten years later, Seiko manufactured the first watch capable of functioning at depths of 600 metres, followed, in 1982, by the first diver’s watch to incorporate an alarm. This year’s Prospex ‘Marine Green’ GMT may not feature an inbuilt warning system, but will – a first for a Seiko dive watch – tell you the time in a second time zone.

£1,400, ernestjones.co.uk

Omega Planet Ocean 600M

To mark the 75th anniversary of the Seamaster, Omega has rendered two of its most intrepid dive watches – the Planet Ocean 600M (pictured, £6,800) and Planet Ocean 6000M Ultra Deep (£12,000) – in an appropriate new colourway: dark blue. Shine a UV light on the dial of the Ultra Deep and a scribble of hidden text is revealed. Written playfully at three o'clock, ‘10,935m – Omega Was Here’ is a nod to a record set by the watch during a diving expedition in 2019.

Visit omegawatches.com

Tudor Black Bay Burgundy

Tudor’s dive watch credentials run deep. In 1954, the year in which Rolex brought out the Submariner, the Rolex sister brand came out with its own deep-water watch, the Oyster Prince Submariner. This year, Tudor upgraded that watch’s successor, the Black Bay, with a METAS-certified movement, housing it in a slimmer, more ergonomic case. The burgundy bezel is a winner. So, too, is the new five-link stainless steel Jubilee-style bracelet.

£3,790, goldsmiths.co.uk

BREITLING ENDURANCE PRO IRONMAN 70.30 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

The new Breitling Endurance Pro is machined from a proprietary brand material that is more than three times lighter than titanium – so at least you won’t have to worry about your watch weighing you down during your next Ironman.

£2,950, breitling.com

GLASHÜTTE ORIGINAL SEAQ

Sporting a smouldering red-gold case against a synthetic grey strap, the latest SeaQ from Glashütte Original is the first dive watch from the German horologist to display its inner, hand-finished workings through an exhibition caseback.

£21,000, chisholmhunter.co.uk

TISSOT SEASTAR 1000 POWERMATIC 80

Good to a depth of 300 metres, powered by a Swiss-made automatic movement, and featuring scratch-resistant sapphire-crystal glass and an exhibition case-back for less than £1,000, the new Tissot Seastar might just be the steal of 2023.

£805, tissotwatches.com

Patek Philippe Aquanaut Luce 5261R 

When the first Patek Philippe Aquanaut Luce models arrived in 2004, gem-set bezels and 4N red-gold cases identified the timepieces as intended for women (traditionally, Patek Philippe uses 5N gold for gent’s models, and 4N gold for women’s). As you can see here, the latest Aquanaut Luce – an Annual Calendar with an epicene 39.9mm case – arrives minus the sparklers and, yes, in lighter, yellower 5N gold (the 4N stuff has a slightly redder sheen). This is the first time Patek Philippe has offered a complicated Luce model without a diamond-set bezel, and represents the first runout for an androgynous new colourway imaginatively coined ‘blue-grey’. A watch, in essence, for everyone.

£49,530, patek.com

Bell & Ross BR 05 Chrono Green Steel

The 2019 launch of Bell and Ross’ BR 05 registered as one of the most significant debuts of that year. And while some hard-line brand purists decried the company for departing from its cockpit-clock DNA, most sensible folk recognised the watch for what it was – a sleek commercial offering that could be worn by people that weren't horn-rimmed spectacle-wearing product designers. Or fighter pilots. This year, the chronograph version of the BR 05 has been upped to 42mm, so as to house an upgraded movement that now offers 60 hours of power. The emerald green colour scheme is also new. Choose between an integrated steel bracelet or a textured green rubber strap.

From £6,000, ernestjones.co.uk

Rado True Square Automatic Skeleton

Rado had been playing around with ceramic long before it became de rigueur to employ the tricksy, hard-as-nails-but-brittle-as-egg-shells material in bezels. In 1986, the brand became the first watchmaker to offer a timepiece – the right-angled Ceramica – with a case, crown and bracelet made entirely of ceramic, a material that’s four times harder than standard stainless steel. In tune with the spirit of the Ceramica, Rado’s True Square arrived in 2020 with a monobloc case injection-moulded with ceramic. This year, the brand has cut away at the watch’s dial and top plate to shine a light on its new, super-shock-resistant R808 movement. A credible amount of watchmaking for just £2,600.

£2,650, goldsmiths.co.uk

Audemars Piguet 1017 ALYX 9SM Royal Oak

After 29 years, 10 of which have been spent as CEO, François-Henry Bennahmias will step away from Audemars Piguet at the end of this year, making way for incoming former perfume boss, Ilaria Resta. One of Bennahmias’ final acts as AP supremo was to reveal the brand’s four-watch collaboration with American fashion designer Matthew Williams. As the founder of luxury streetwear brand 1017 ALYX 9SM, Williams has become synonymous with a paired-back, utilitarian aesthetic. True to form, his partnership with Audemars Piguet sees the Chicago-born designer apply a minimalistic approach to two Royal Oak and two Royal Oak Offshore models. Hour indices and minute markers have been removed, as have the sub-dials on two chronograph models. A suitably contemporary collection on which the forward-looking boss can retire.

From £63,200, audemarspiguet.com

Breguet Type XX

Twenty-eight years since the modern Type XX was released – and five years since the most recent models were discontinued – Breguet has revived its popular pilot's watch. Two models are available. The Type 20 ‘military version’ (pictured, £16,400) has a 30-minute register and small-seconds counter; while the Type XX ‘civilian version' (also £16,400) is equipped with a 15-minute register, a 12-hour register and a small-seconds counter. Unlike earlier models, both versions now feature a date window (cue criticism from some of Breguet’s more conservative partisans). Cases have been upped from 40mm to 42mm.

£16,400, breguet.com

Blancpain Fifty Fathoms 70th Anniversary Act 1

This year represented the Fifty Fathoms’ platinum jubilee, a milestone Blancpain marked with three new issues and the aforementioned collaboration with Swatch. The Fifty Fathoms 70^th Anniversary Act 1 arrived with a 42mm stainless steel case – the first modern Fifty Fathoms to be offered true to the size of the original – and a black NATO strap made from 100 per cent recycled fishing nets. Unlike the original, the watch boasts a five-day power reserve and a sapphire crystal case-back. Unsurprisingly, it didn't take long for the anniversary piece to sell out.

£15,200, blancpain.com

Read more: The best men's watches under £5,000