Everyone has their personal favourites, and with hundreds of new watches on display, you’ll never get every collector on the same page, but my experience from more than a decade of watch shows is that by lunchtime on the first day a clear winner has usually emerged. This year the honour goes to Vacheron Constantin for its re-release of the reference 222.

It would be lying to call it a total surprise – watch designs of the 1970s are red hot, and the 222 is one of the “big three” alongside the Royal Oak and Nautilus, so the smart money would have been it being revived at some point. But it was a well-kept secret until some pretty obvious teasers hit social media the day before Watches and Wonders opened, and crucially when seen in the metal, it was clear Vacheron Constantin had pulled it off to perfection; the size (37mm), weight, quality of finishing and choice of metal (old-school yellow gold) were all spot on. Within hours, all of Instagram proclaimed it their must-have; the few who do end up with one are lucky indeed.

Call it subliminal messaging, but I think the watch industry has got withdrawal symptoms after two years of enforced stasis. Travel-time watches, from “proper” GMT tool watches to fancy-dan world timers were everywhere. You could hardly avoid discussion of Rolex’s green and black destro(a left-handed watch, if you’re not versed in faux-Italian watch-geek speak) GMT-Master II, and younger sibling Tudor also impressed with the Black Bay Pro GMT.

Montblanc added a very handsome GMT to the 1858 range, as well as equipping its unique Geosphere flagship with a chronograph (ahead of sending it to the roof of the world on the wrist of new brand ambassador Mr Nims Purja). Parmigiani Fleurier’s Tonda PF GMT Rattrapante was the connoisseur’s choice, elegant and discreet, while both Jaeger-LeCoultre and Patek Philippe delivered blue-chip world time models with blue dials to match. Special mention must also go to Hermès Timepieces, whose Arceau Le Temps Voyageur wins the prize for “most entertaining to play around with”: as you change the home time with a pusher at eight o’clock, it physically moves the entire hours-and-minutes display around a schematic of the world.

Baffling to everyone else, who observes him with a kind of miffed envy, the Low-Maintenance Mortal is happy in his lane, content with only water and soap on a rope, with the occasional slap of moisturiser if he’s feeling fancy. He washes his face with the same flannel he uses for down there, but against all odds he somehow looks great. Dermatologists hate him. What is his secret? He’ll tell you he got lucky with his genes, but you can’t shake that feeling that he’s going for clandestine chemical peels every three months.

He has incredible hair, to the point that he’s built his whole personality around it. His hair is his superpower and his barber is his best friend. He doesn’t let anything but the best touch his barnet – his grooming cabinet is stocked with the full range of masks, pastes and gels from Sachajuan, Patricks and Christophe Robin – and he uses a hair serum religiously to boost growth and keep his impossibly glossy mane in check. That’s not to mention his exhaustive collection of combs, brushes and hairdryer attachments, all of which work to make his coif so well-groomed it could win a rosette at Crufts. But what’s this? Is his hairline… receding? That doesn’t panic our Hair Superhero – he already has the city’s best trichologist on speed dial.

Titanium has been cropping up in watches since at least the 1980s and for the last decade or so, has been slowly becoming a staple for dozens of brands. This year, however, it really felt like this most lightweight metal gained critical mass, not just as a practical alternative to steel but as a credible choice for the most luxurious watches of all.

Case in point is A. Lange & Söhne’s Odysseus, Vacheron Constantin’s incredible Overseas Tourbillon Skeleton and Laurent Ferrier’s Sport Auto, as well as Czapek & Cie’s flagship split-seconds chronograph. More expected, but no less significant, were the titanium pieces from Oris (with the ProPilot X), Grand Seiko, TAG Heuer (in its 1000m-rated Aquaracer Superdiver), Tudor and Ressence, which has made a point of using titanium as its default case material for some time.

And let’s not forget arguably the most advanced of all, IWC’s Pilot’s Chronograph Top Gun in Ceratanium, the brand’s proprietary blend of ceramic and titanium, which debuted this year in a stealthy all-black design courtesy of a collaboration with Pantone. If you need a reminder of titanium’s appeal, here’s our guide. Truly, the future’s light.