Editors' Picks Watches & Wonders Highlights: The New Releases We Can’t Get Out Of Our Heads

Well, we saw them. Photographed them. Wrote about them. Discussed them on the podcast. All of that coverage can be found right here.

In a lot of ways, Watches and Wonders sets the industry agenda for the year – so we'll keep on telling these stories. But the pieces below made the strongest first impressions.

I am a small man, and I like a small watch. But I never expected to go all the way down to 31mm. Then I snapped on the new two-tone Tudor Black Bay 31 in stainless steel and gold, and suddenly the room began to spin. While my colleagues were admiring adult-sized novelties like the BB Pro and GMT "Root Beer," I was hyperventilating over the child-sized model. The smallness seemed not like a mistake, but like a choice – a style move, a proportion reset akin to Thom Browne's shrunken suits. Someone in the room, I forget who, looked down at my wrist and said with surprise, "That looks good on you!" And I was like, "I KNOW AND I WANT IT." After returning the BB31 to its rightful owner, I staggered onto the trade show floor and saw many other beautiful watches – only one of which (you'll never guess which one) made as much of an impression on me as this one did. The next day I went back to the Tudor booth to visit my little watch and see how it was doing. I already missed it. – Nick Marino

I'm just going to tell you up front that I am completely biased toward the black-dial Cartier Tank Louis and have been since the moment the press release came across my desk. It's hard to think of a more chic combo than a Cartier Tank with a jet-black dial. And yet, as simple as that sounds, when I saw this watch in the metal I was awed by how interesting it is to look at. The lacquer and gold make it special, so much so that I think it will be a big hit. The price is right (for a Tank, for a manual watch, for something so beautiful) and while the wheel is far from re-invented here, I feel like we will be seeing this little darling out and about in no time. – Nora Taylor

I've never seen a watch like the Van Cleef Lady Arpels Heuers Florale, and if I hadn't had an opening in my schedule, I likely never would have. The Lady Arpels Heuers Florale is a 38mm white-gold tribute to sheer technical whimsy that displays the hours via an array of 12 animated mechanical flowers. Using an incredibly complicated and entirely hidden automatic movement, the flowers bloom in a specialized cycle, opening at the start of an hour and closing as the next hour approaches. Each hour has a distinct flower pattern that is based on a three-phase cycle, so the flowers appear to be randomized. With a retrograde linear minutes display tucked into the left case flank, the effect is unique, totally outside of what I normally pay attention to in watches, and entirely jaw-dropping. I don't think it would suit my wrist, but the Lady Arpels Heuers Florale definitely stole my heart. – James Stacey

Sometimes you think you know exactly what you love. It's part of your personal brand, it's the watch you look forward to seeing in the grand, carpeted halls of Watches and Wonders. In my case, this would've been one the new steel Rolex sport watches. But then I walked into Cartier, saw the beige Santos Dumont and fell under its spell. This watch might not be getting the lion's share of the attention this week – even among Cartier, to say nothing of the show, overall – but I challenge you to lay your eyes on it and not fall prey to its lacquered beauty. It's appropriate that Cartier made the piece in rose gold, because it carries a certain romanticism. This release will win you over. You'll see. – Danny Milton

There were many wild watches at the fair this year, including several animal-themed pieces from Cartier, but the Cartier Metiers d' Art Crash Tigree Metamorphoses stood out and had the quickest time between being presented and crashing onto my wrist. The Crash was already an unusual watch – even the most traditional model looks like someone took a beautiful clock and left it on the radiator a bit too long in Salvador Dali's house. Well this new Crash was left on the radiator too long in a whole other dimension. Holy bananas this thing is wild! I couldn't try it on fast enough when it was presented to us. The Crash isn't large and neither are my wrists, but if I've learned anything over the years it's to always try on anything that might match the colors in your tattoos. Cartier's artistic spirit and wild sacrifice to the god of jewels and gold is perfectly venerated in this piece. Given the financial independence to buy whatever my heart desired, it'd be in regular rotation. – Atom Moore

The Vacheron Constantin 222 reissue was not exactly unexpected – the modern reappearance of any watch that first debuted in the 1970s isn't a surprise per se, especially nowadays. After all, two of the world's most popular watches – the Royal Oak and the Nautilus – came from that era. So it seemed actually kind of inevitable that Vacheron would reach into its past and bring back the watch it created to compete with those two icons of watch design. But what I didn't expect was for the 222 to look and feel so great in person. I'd never had a chance to see an original 222 (Vacheron had one to show during their presentation), and so I'd never before had a chance to gauge my reaction to it. When I handled and tried on the new 222, however, I was absolutely floored. It has a heft, visual impact, and coherence of design that makes it irresistible – and although there's a part of me that would have been even happier to see it in steel, with the caliber 1120, I also think that the use of yellow gold and a modern movement not only doesn't detract, but actually gives the new 222 a new presence and authority. It's still too soon to say for certain – as I write, Watches and Wonders is still ongoing – but this may be my favorite all-new release of the entire show. – Jack Forster

Though some of my colleagues might disagree (as you can see from all the Cartier on this list), I think Grand Seiko completely and utterly dominated this year's trade show. It was the Japanese company's first time exhibiting in Geneva (GS had previously presented novelties in Basel), and Grand Seiko was the lone non-European watchmaker present on the Palexpo floor. Forget about first-year jitters – Grand Seiko brought serious firepower, dropping its first mechanical complicated watch, a swoon-worthy update to the Spring Drive Diver (my personal favorite), and a pair of GMTs that I have no doubt will be smash hits. Quite a few brands decided to play it safe this way and focus on color iterations and model evolutions. Grand Seiko clearly didn't get that memo. – Logan Baker

I have a feeling this was my one and only shot to lay eyes on the TAG Heuer Carrera Plasma. There are so few made, and TAG Heuer practically has its own security force to look after the watch. The crown is one big diamond, so this isn't something you can just stroll down to your local boutique and try on. In fact, even at the trade show, you weren't allowed to try it on – unless you were serious about buying it at CHF 350,000. Still, it was cool to see. And even behind glass it did what it needed to do and sent me down the rabbit hole of learning about material-science innovation in modern watchmaking, how diamonds can be grown in labs, and the many different expressions of carbon. – Cole Pennington

At first, the black and steel Cartier Santos caught my eye. I love the curvature of the watch, and it was just the right fit. Then I saw the new Bvlgari Sketch, which has more of a wow factor. I can't say I have a favorite, but style-wise, these are my top two. The Sketch definitely matches my personality; it's dressy, artsy, and casual too. I feel like I could honestly rock it every day. But let's not forget about the new black Santos. It's one I wouldn't want to leave my wrist. – Tiffany Wade

Chopard's L.U.C collection was an early comer to the enthusiast haute horlogerie segment. Its classic designs and fine mechanical movements drew comparisons to Patek Philippe in the late '90s and early aughts. A serious watch enthusiast (who was told by Philippe Dufour that he was his first Swiss customer), Chopard co-president Karl-Friederich Scheufele makes watch movements that respect tradition while advancing technology in meaningful ways. This year, Chopard celebrated 25 years of L.U.C with a trio of chiming watches whose gongs are made of sapphire crystal, with one watch made entirely of the stuff. It's not the first time Chopard has played with the acoustics of sapphire glass, but in orchestrating three different versions all at once, they had my ear. – Jon Bues

Photos by Atom Moore and Tiffany Wade