As the year comes to a close and we spend time with families and friends over the holidays, it’s time once again to think back on the year and share watches the aBlogtoWatch team wore most this year. As is our wont, we’ve all brought new pieces into the collection and rediscovered the beauty and joy of old pieces. The watches below found their way onto our wrists more than any others and helped define the year in watches as we experienced it. We’d love to hear about your most worn watch in the comments, and we hope you have a wonderful holiday season!
Ripley Sellers: Garmin Vivoactive 5
Given that this is a website entirely dedicated to watches, I’d like to be able to say that the watch I wore most in 2024 was some interesting mechanical piece that is representative of my personal taste and lifestyle. However, if I am being completely honest, it was actually my Garmin Vivoactive 5 smartwatch that found its way onto my wrist almost every single day this past year. Along with using its vibration-based alarm to wake me up each morning, I also go running on a daily basis, and this means that my Garmin would receive a minimum of a few hours of wrist time, even if I was wearing a different watch that day.
I’m also slightly ashamed to admit that I didn’t even bother switching up the strap on my Garmin, and I have simply rocked the Vivoactive 5 on its stock silicone strap almost every day since October 2023. While it is hardly horologically inspiring, the Garmin Vivoactive 5 is an incredibly capable sports watch, and my personal example has been everywhere from the top of race podiums to the bottom of lakes, and it has spent most of its life completely marinated in my sweat. After more than a year of daily wear, the Gorilla Glass crystal is scratched and the outer surfaces of its strap have been worn to the extent of becoming shiny; however, the watch itself is still going strong, and it will continue to accompany me on my daily runs and outdoor adventures in 2025.
Jake Witkin: IWC Mark XVIII
Year after year, I grow as a watch collector and enthusiast, even if my collection doesn’t grow at the same rate. Rarely do things stay the same, but as life goes on and I spend more time with certain watches, they’re more likely to stick around. This year, and for the second year in a row, my IWC Mark XVIII has been my most worn watch. While it was surely a close race with others, looking back on my year and scrolling through my photo library of wrist shots, the IWC comes out on top again, and I am glad it did. It was on my wrist around the world for work and family events, on my nightstand traveling or at home upright as a tabletop clock, and it’s the first watch I grab when I’m unsure of what to wear. It’s a perfect watch for me and in almost every situation I find myself in. In 2024, it has gained a few more scratches and, more importantly, a whole lot of stories along the way, and these are the things that keep me putting it on my wrist again and again. I won’t be surprised if it takes the crown for 2025, too.
Mike Razak: Nodus Sector Sport Two-Tone
This year, I took a scientific approach and actually tracked my wears. I downloaded an app with a simple interface (I’ve heard of people who track their wears in a spreadsheet, but that seemed like far too much work), and added all my watches, including a placeholder for review watches. Not surprisingly, review pieces dominated my wrist this year by a factor of 4. But the Nodus Sector Sport edged out the competition in my permanent collection. And I do mean edged: I wore it just once more than my Rado Captain Cook, my most worn from last year. When I first got the Nodus Sector Sport at the end of 2023, I didn’t expect it to get a huge amount of wrist time, but the bronze-and-steel two-tone ended up working on both the bracelet and a number of straps. The watch proved itself to be a great all-arounder and I regularly chose it when traveling (in addition to two or three other watches, of course). And since you asked, my proudest watch nerd moment this year was when my wife ended up packing more watches than I did for a recent trip — I may make a watch nerd out of her yet!
David Bredan: Vulcain Cricket President 36mm Alarm Watch
For me to wear a watch over an extended period of time, and frequently, requires a complete package. What’s that for me? Comfort, legibility, fun (in looks, functionality, or any meaningful aspect), and a cool movement. The Vulcain Cricket President 36mm does well in every aspect apart from legibility — four sticks over a dial won’t ever give us peak read-out times. What’s interesting is that I was not expecting the Cricket to stick around for long, but it has really grown on me. I love the fact that the caseback reveals a unique movement layout and functionality — with the alarm’s frantically beating hammer on show — and that I can still fiddle around with the pusher and the many functions of the crown without exactly knowing what I am doing. I love that it is small and elegant, and in a way that ties it to historic Vulcain Crickets. It is a meaningful re-release that is fun and comfy to wear 77 years after the launch of the world’s first alarm wristwatch featuring a striking mechanism.
Sean Lorentzen: Chopard Mille Miglia Ref. 8915 BRG
I make no bones about the fact that I was a car guy long before I got into watches, and my ongoing automotive love affair informs my taste in timepieces more than most. With that in mind, I’ve had a massive soft spot for the Chopard Mille Miglia series for as long as I’ve been a watch enthusiast, and when an industry friend pointed out this Reference 8915 BRG for auction early this year, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to finally add one to my collection. Not only is this a racing chronograph virtually overflowing with character, but it’s also an immensely comfortable one for daily wear as well thanks to its titanium case construction. The mix of contemporary (for its 2008 release, at least) and classic European sports car design cues, refined presentation, and the glossy near-black British racing green dial make this a stylish and sporty wear in a variety of situations. It’s accompanied me everywhere from local car meets to the heart of London’s West End this year, and the charm hasn’t begun to fade for me at all.
Ed Rhee: Jaeger-LeCoultre Polaris World Time Chronograph
I’ve been on a search for the perfect worldtimer watch for as long as I’ve been a collector. In fact, my very first proper luxury watch purchase was an IWC Pilot Worldtimer Ref. 326201 from a local seller on eBay. I didn’t know then what I do now about lug-to-lug distance, and that particular watch clocked in at a hefty 55mm lug-to-lug, i.e., objectively far too big for my wrist. Like many of my past relationships, I tried to make it work for longer than I should have, but eventually, reality set in, and that watch and I sadly had to part ways. (It wasn’t you, IWC Pilot Worldtimer, it was me.)
Worldtimers are, arguably, one of the hardest watches to pull off well. It’s no easy feat to fit 24 cities’ worth of information on a dial while maintaining legibility and a respectable case size. To achieve one attribute usually means sacrificing another. Not so with the Jaeger-LeCoultre Polaris World Time Chronograph. I’d kept my eyes peeled for one the last few years but could never find one in decent condition or price (the watch debuted in 2018). That all changed when one popped up on the forums this past spring. A couple of messages and about a week later, the watch was on my wrist, and has hardly left it since. It is truly one of the best worldtimers out there: Its 44mm case size certainly isn’t dainty, but it still manages to be a relatively compact 50.5mm lug-to-lug, not to mention that it’s made out of titanium, so I hardly ever notice it. Add in the stellar Polaris design language and a bicompax 12-hour vertical clutch chronograph, and the Jaeger-LeCoultre Polaris World Time Chronograph is about as close to worldtimer perfection as you can get. The watch has accompanied me to six countries and as many time zones in 2024, and I’m looking forward to adding a few more far-flung destinations in the years to come.
Ariel Adams: Solar-Powered & Colorful Watches
When thinking about the wristwatch I wore the most in 2024, no one particular model comes to mind given that I so frequently change what is on my wrist. Two trends — and the amusing struggle that came with them — typify my timepiece-wearing experiences in 2024. The first struggle was trying to find opportunities and clothing items sufficient to wear wild, bright-colored watches with. The toy-like appeal of tool watches cast in child-friendly hues is a concept that delights my mind but confounds practical realities. What am I going to wear with this bright green watch? How am I going to pull off this purple dial when I don’t have much purple in my wardrobe? The amusing contrast between practical daily realities and my interest in wearing bright watches was certainly an ongoing trend in my watch-wearing this year.
The second struggle for me in 2024 was how to keep all the light-powered watches I was wearing charged. I love that high-end solar watches are now very much a thing from Casio to TAG Heuer, but you still need to make sure they have enough sunlight. I am famously a night person and often go days without being outside in daylight for as many hours as these solar watches need. Indeed, they can charge in any light, but it is really in sunlight that light-powered watches get enough “juice.” That said, some brands recommend exposing your watches to between three and five hours a day in the sunlight! How to merge my interests in the evening hours and solar watches is something I will have to try to figure out better in 2025.
Now it’s your turn. Chime in below in the comments and let us know what watch you wore the most this year!