As is the case most years, 2024 wrapped up with a tidal wave of Top 10, Best Of, and Most Worn roundups around the watch world. Read on to catch a few of our favorites from the aBlogtoWatch editorial team, Teddy Baldassarre, and a recap of Seiko’s perfectly passable year. Elsewhere, Ariel looks ahead to what 2025 might hold for the watch biz, be it new color sensibilities, allowing the hoi polloi into industry events, or tariff troubles. We also look back at the GPHG awards and reflect on what healthy collecting looks like. It’s all here in our December wrap-up. Cheers to the new year!
Team aBlogtoWatch’s Picks: The Watches We Wore Most in 2024
We can’t let Teddy have all the fun! Here at aBlogtoWatch, our team has been doing an annual wrist-time roundup for at least as long, and this year’s bunch features some unexpected pieces. Ripley kicked things off, getting points for sheer honesty with his Garmin, showing he’s followed the watch-geek path all the way back around to smartwatches — something only a true watch nut can do. David’s Vulcain Cricket is history, fun, and a neo-vintage aesthetic all rolled into one, and Ed’s JLC Polaris has the passport stamps to match its worldtimer name.
Source: aBlogtoWatch
Video: Most Worn Watches Of The Year for 2024
On the content calendar, the days between Christmas and the New Year aren’t exactly known for earth-shaking originality. But there’s something about a Best Of list that’s like catnip for watch collectors. As he’s done for the past couple of years, Teddy Baldassarre gathered a gaggle of watch content creators from across the web and asked them to present — in under 60 seconds — their most-worn watch for 2024. This year, 40+ voices chimed in with everything from a Casio AE1400 to a Royal Oak chronograph. What makes this roundup different? It shows what the people who live and breathe watches actually choose to wear outside of the reviews and sponsorships. Shoutout to @youreterrific for packing in a review, a message, and some blue humor in under a minute.
Source: YouTube
A Condensed Guide to Seiko Releases from 2024
Okay, just one more roundup — I swear. Tracking the specific releases a watch brand makes in a year can be a bit like an archeological dig. Sifting through articles, podcasts, and press releases, a picture begins to emerge of the precise order each piece was announced. With Seiko, no such retrospective is needed as the brand puts out a handy-dandy catalog (that’s not too hard to locate) outlining the release date, reference number, and full-color photos summarizing what’s new. The folks at Fratello helpfully put together a stroll through Seiko’s 2024 and it was… fine. The brand had a few watches that generated buzz, but overall, it feels like Japan’s biggest watchmaker lost ground to rival Citizen whose Tsuyosa lineup is quickly finding its way into collector’s watch boxes. One notable moment for Seiko that flew under the radar was the addition of the caliber 5X83 movement to the Prospex line. Previously only found in chunky Astron watches, this GPS-enabled solar chronograph looks like a million bucks in the slick Speedtimer cases. Here’s to more of that in 2025.
Source: Fratello Watches
According to Ariel: Five Predictions for the Watch Industry in 2025
You heard it here first: the looming threat of tariffs on luxury watches means slashed prices. Get your wallets ready. Ariel’s bold predictions for 2025 are (mostly) fun to imagine but the 800-pound question mark in the room is what protectionist economic policies might mean for watch brands’ pricing strategies. Defying Newton’s law of universal gravitation, when it comes to luxe watch pricing, what goes up doesn’t ever seem to come down. Will the added burden of tariffs wipe out some of the price increases we’ve seen in recent years? Time will tell.
Source: aBlogtoWatch
Honest Observations About the GPHG And What Needs To Change
It feels like each year for the past several years, the GPHG Awards (AKAt the “Watch Oscars”) have become increasingly relevant. Whether that’s a result of better marketing, more cultural attention toward watches, or some other combination of factors is anyone’s guess. And while this year’s awards were a fitting celebration of the best watchmaking has to offer, there’s room for improvement. Roberta Naas at A Timely Perspective got into the Festivus spirit with the Airing of Grievances, but hers are points well-taken. Where are the big brands? Why don’t they participate? Is it a true “industry event” without them? Also, is 21 awards too many?
Source: A Timely Perspective
Grinding Gears: How Long Should Watch Brands Milk Historic Achievements?
Waking up to “I Got You Babe” by Sonny & Cher once? Fine. Waking up to it for all eternity like Phil Connors in Groundhog Day? Maddening. Similarly, grizzled watch collectors may still have an appreciation for, say, Omega’s claim as the maker of THE moon watch but they’re not exactly thrilled to be constantly reminded of it at every turn. David Bredan asks, “When is enough enough?” While a mentality of “what have you done for me lately?” is pretty cynical, collectors spending their hard-earned shekels deserve to demand more than misty nostalgia from the world’s luxury watch brands.
Source: aBlogtoWatch
Meet the Parmigiani L’Armoriale Répétition Mystérieuse
It certainly wasn’t the only watch launched in November but it was definitely the most unique: meet Parmigiani’s audio-only watch, the L’Armoriale Répétition Mystérieuse. Relying on a chiming mechanism to indicate the time, it has all the hallmarks of a haute horlogerie timepiece — white gold, intricate guilloché, and a 392-component manual wind chiming movement — without all the hassle of silly little things like hands and dials. While the Ulysse Nardin Freak has spent over 20 years boasting no hands and no dial, this one truly has none at all (at least on the front side.)
Source: A Timely Perspective
Unplugging: Combatting Enthusiasm Fatigue
Nathan Schultz speaks for many collectors who came to the hobby post-COVID when he describes the self-awareness that came with the realization his enthusiasm for watches continued growing “even after those giant ‘stand 6 feet apart’ stickers were peeled off of grocery store floors.” Reflecting on a torrid affair with watch collecting that really started in 2020, he lays out a thesis of “selective enthusiasm” for getting the most out of this horological hustle.
Source: Worn and Wound