Watches & (limited) Wonders 2023 - Quick Review/Photos

[7sins]

I've been wanting to visit Watches & Wonders for decades now, randomly one tequila tuesday evening I received an email with an invitation a few months back to go and on a whim I decided to visit. Thankfully I paired the event with a quick trip to Lisbon a few days prior to make the trip worthwhile from LA.

First and foremost, the glare and lighting was incredibly difficult to capture the photos on a phone but apologize in advance, it looks like a child took them which according to the women I date perhaps coincides with my maturity level. All in all, it was a wonderful experience, I would not recommend traveling the world to visit for the sole reason but the event was well executed. I felt the vendors spent much more money on setting their exhibition and booths than they did on the actual new watch releases. Of course just my luck, this years releases were quite underwhelming and thus the limited wonders. All in all, I spent ~4 hours and covered the majority of the manufacturers and experiences they had to offer, appeared to be a lot of industry insiders there, made some new acquaintances as well. ALS (Lange 1 Salmon Perpetual Calendar was other worldly) and Vacheron were my favorite from the show, with of course Patek, it was great to see their entire catalog of watches in one viewing and solidified my need for a 5712 and 5164, even if the new releases were mediocre at best. Their new pale blue aquanuat was much better in photos.

Below are just a few of my quick and subjectively nuanced thoughts on the Rolex releases, happy to answer any questions, I spent a lot of time looking at the new models.

Bubbles OP - I spent a great deal of time thinking of something positive to say and came up empty handed. It sure is something unique and perhaps more for the artistic crowd, or if I had a 5 year old child but really feels out of place in the catalog, money could have been spent better developing something else. This is what happens when thinking outside of the box goes wrong.

Perpetual 1908 - Another miss by rolex, IMO while I wasn't an advocate of the Celini line, this is two steps back. Entire lineup is completely monotonous and drab, there is no originality or awe factor - at all. If rolex wants to enter the dress watch market, this is not how to do it.

Skydweller - My favorite of the new releases, which you can tell wasn't a hard accomplishment. The new green dial is EXCEPTIONAL in person, it is more of a lighter forrest green, it works very well in the case with the red accents. This was a home run. I've owned the blue skyd twice now and would be hard to pick between the two. The new RG Blue sky was INCREDIBLE, this had to be the best new release. The gold batons and markers make the blue a bit darker than the steel and incredibly dynamic in person, they could not have paired a better dial. It is a lot of flash and I am not a gold bracelet fan but this was well done. Look at the photo with the RG blue and ST blue, notice the difference in hue between the two dials. To me the skyd OF always looked a bit top heavy and thus no real opinion of it now in steel, prefer the Daytona in that configuration.

Titanium YM2 - I'm sure I will be in the minority here but did not like this in person. We all know titanium is a darker metal but the ti here is really quite dark to the point it makes the metal look like it needs to be cleaned. This certainly could be an allure to some but I feel this missed the mark here, it was underwhelming and I almost walked right by it without noticing it. Nothing special.

YG GMT Jubilee - I am not a YG fan, this looked great in person, I think will be a hit if you can pull off a full YG watch, the yg jubilee paired well.

Daytona - Was excited to see this in person, I know this has been a highly debated topic here on the forum. I liked what I saw in photos but in person, the watch just doesn't look proportionate. It is hard to articulate but the thinner sub rings and thinner markers, while making the dial look less cluttered make it look too spaced out, almost too empty (reminds me of the 15500 to 15510). Optically the dial looks larger now but less cohesive like something is missing, could argue more legible though. The metal edge on the bezel is a disaster, it looks aesthetically out of place and is going to scratch easily. Also disappointing they added the brown subcounters back to the diamond platona. I don't even know where to begin with the clear caseback for the platona. They created a window into the most plain, mass produced and monotonous movement where there is nothing to see lol, there is nothing within the finishing to look at, might as well be the backside of a dinner plate. No contest, from an aesthetic viewpoint, the previous generation takes my vote.

To reiterate, these are all of my useless and subjective opinions from an aesthetic standpoint, there is obviously something to be said about the new movements and the appreciation there. As you can see, this years releases were an absolute bust for me, I did get to see several non-2023 watches I have been wanting to see like the falcons eye and meteorite presidential, those both looked great in person.

[rmlovett1]

Awesome review! Thanks for the pics and descriptions

[BlondesNwatches]

Love the thoughts and the pics. Awesome post. Thank you. Did you plan to try to get any of the new releases with your AD?

[7sins]

[StairLight530!!]

did you see timwrite?

[Roger Lococco]

Which Vacheron did you like?

Any thoughts on the Patek Luce?


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[bluestreak]

That YM a looks so washed out. I hope it’s just the lighting.


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[7sins]

Originally Posted by Richris1

Awesome review! Thanks for the pics and descriptions

You're welcome!

Originally Posted by BlondesNwatches

Love the thoughts and the pics. Awesome post. Thank you. Did you plan to try to get any of the new releases with your AD?

Nothing from Rolex, ALS swept me off my feet this year.

Originally Posted by StairLight530!!

did you see timwrite?

Not sure who that is.

Originally Posted by Roger Lococco

Which Vacheron did you like?

Any thoughts on the Patek Luce?


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The pale blue strap and dial just don't work well, it is a pale drab blue. The dial is cluttered and hate the placement of the moon phase. It looks MUCH better in photos. It is almost an industrial type blue, the whole watch was underwhelming, nothing was cohesive of the design. My .02, I swear I am usually a much more optimistic person lol

Vacheron had a couple great new releases, notably the Salmon Patrimony and Overseas Retrograde, dual moon complication.

Originally Posted by bluestreak

That YM a looks so washed out. I hope it’s just the lighting.


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It isn't the lighting, that is how washed out it is in person.

[TM9]

Thanks for the pictures! Great to be able to look at so many watches in one post.

[7sins]

This stole the show for me, just breathtaking.

[jb335]

Awesome post, thank you

And I agree about the new Daytona dial being too spacious and I have also compared it to the 15500 dial


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[BayAreaTech]

Loving the pictures. Thanks for the post!

[maxymax]

Thanks for the pics and your honest thoughts

With such a disappointing and out of the norm releases from Rolex, barring the new SKD dials, it feels as though all the hype has eventually gotten to their head!

[Tridor]

Thanks for the great pics and review. With the exception of the Green SkyDweller, this just may be the most disappointing showing by Rolex that I've ever seen.

[jaisonline]

Thanks for the write up. You pretty much a summed up my thoughts. I finally picked up a 116500 in Feb. Very happy & absolutely zero regrets after seeing pics of the 126500 (which I’m sure will be / is already the latest hot watch).

[1995akcoop]

Thx for sharing. I totally agree with your assessment on the Rolex release. Time to start exploring other brands.


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[Chad353]

Good photo series. Thanks for the post.

Rolex spend an awful lot of money on that huge structure and while they need to be there to be an industry participant and generate some buzz, their appearance probably won't sell them one additional watch because most of them are sold already or have wait lists.

[mykii]

Thank you 7sins, this is the best and most honest writeup I've seen. Simply put, 2023 was a disaster for Rolex. The OP is lazy and horrible, the emoji DD was even worse, and they absolutely butchered the Daytona. To quoute Ben Clymer on a conversation he had with a collector, this year following from last year is "a line in the sand" for the direction Rolex is heading in.

[bluestreak]

To the people so upset about these releases, what would have made you happy?


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[Guppydriver]

Love the non journalist perspective, I appreciate the write up.

I agree that ALS and Vacheron came to play. I also thought Tudor really cleaned (as always) on making sure they give people a taste of what the are asking for, they are going to sell an absolute crap ton of watches.

[Brushed]

Thanks for the pics. Good write up. It's a fair investment of time to go to one of these.

[fskywalker]

Awesome!


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[Rollieo]

Thanks for the post. I’ve been wanting to go to W&W (or in the past Basel world).

Are folks allowed to try on watches? Or is everything behind a case and only high profile journalists allowed to try on?

What about buying watches? I saw one of the journalists ask to purchase an IWC and they were allowed to. I assume also only high profile customers or high profile journalists only?

[Carguy87]

Awesome thanks B for sharing the pics and your insight. Truly appreciate you sharing your trip with us!! Side note, did the YM42 in Ti look more grey or black in person, or does it just depend on the lighting? In direct light it looks more grey but indirect it looks black so I’m curious what your take was actually seeing it in the metal.

[Chewbacca]

Great thread.

[Carguy87]

Originally Posted by Chad353

Good photo series. Thanks for the post.

Rolex spend an awful lot of money on that huge structure and while they need to be there to be an industry participant and generate some buzz, their appearance probably won't sell them one additional watch because most of them are sold already or have wait lists.

I agree, but their presence and marketing are what have gotten the brand to the point that everything is pre-sold, so not just participating in these events but showing up in grand fashion cements their status as “the watch to have” in many buyer’s minds, especially the non WIS folks. Just my $.02

[RTG]

Thank you for sharing. Pictures are great!

[braaad17]

Thank you so much for this! Sincerely appreciate the time and effort!

[BLACKHORSE 6]

Thanks for posting!

[Kostas]

thanks for the pics and your thoughts!