By now, you will have seen much of the news that emerged as Watches and Wonders Geneva (WWG) got underway, including from us. WOW Singapore gives over the bulk of its pages to the new watches of 2024 too. How does the issue differ from what you might have seen on LUXUO so far?
Read More: Benoit de Clerck, Zenith’s New CEO is Raring To Go
Yes, our interview with the new Zenith CEO, Benoit de Clerck went online just as the Summer issue was being prepared for the printer. That story is almost exactly the same, although we did manage to squeeze more images into the online version. The same cannot be said for our coverage of WWG or the novelties emerging from it (or debuting concurrently). Our coverage of the daily highlights of WWG, and Geneva Watch Week (GWW) overall, are quite different to our report on WWG in the Summer issue of WOW Singapore. Again, you could say the entire issue has been given over to the fair but not just in terms of new watch coverage. That is fine for news but not a specialist title such as WOW; we are interested in the hows and the whys and the associated whatnots.
Any global debut of any class of product will be replete with meaning. Think of CES in Las Vegas, for example, and then add the Apple keynote into it. So it is that the watches of 2024 will inevitably be considered through the lens of one of the worst export months for the Swiss watch industry, followed by a remarkable subsequent recovery. There will be questions aplenty there, and some answers in this issue, especially in our continuing special on precious metals.
While we soldiered on for more than 30 pages on this very subject in the Summer issue, we are still not done and will continue in Autumn. A short summary is possible so here goes: watches are getting more precious and thus more exclusive; prices are heading north but value, well that remains to be seen. For those of you who might be more than a little interested in the investment angle, this will be bad news. Then again, maybe not…
We take up the discussion directly in the 15th installment of The Conversation, along with some other postulations about WWG and GWW. On this somewhat momentous occasion for this popular segment, it seems World of Watches Malaysia Editor Daniel Goh will become a fixture along with Ruckdee Chotjinda and myself. This story typically finds its way online too, and might one day become a proper forum, if I have anything to say about it. But that is about the undefined future…
The rest of this issue concerns itself with evergreen subjects, including the concluding story in the counterfeit watches phenomenon, and standout novelties of 2024. Well, what we see as important pieces, at any rate. On that note, the TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph Skipper that stars on the cover is definitely one of those important pieces, although it is just one of a few Carrera chronographs that we managed to fit into the cover story.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is a very fair summary of the issue that lies ahead of you. Enjoy the read!
For more on the latest in luxury watch reads from WOW, click here.