Over the next two weeks, MR PORTER has the privilege of partnering with Watches & Wonders to bring you some of the year’s most sensational new timepieces. To many of you, Watches & Wonders will be a familiar name in the watch world. Operated by Switzerland’s leading industry body for promoting fine watchmaking, the Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie (FHH), it is best known for its landmark events, including the annual fair previously known as SIHH in Geneva, which showcases the best that the watchmakers it represents have to offer.

This year, such events have had to take a back seat. It is heartening to know that Watches & Wonders was able to host an in-person event in Shanghai last month, but watch collectors in Europe, the US and around the world will be waiting until 2021 for the full roster of events to return. In the meantime, we are committed to a digital celebration of all that we as watch enthusiasts hold dear. This week and next, we will present a whole host of new watches on our site, in The Journal and on our social media channels – click here to browse the full selection. We will also be hearing live from significant figures in the industry, both to profile new watches in detail and to get their insight. Keep an eye on MR PORTER’s Instagram for full details.

Also coming to our Instagram is a brand new video series, Split Seconds, in which we take a quick hands-on look at key new models. The first four episodes will focus on watches from our Watches & Wonders partner brands, starting with a pair of 1950s-inspired all-rounders from Jaeger-LeCoultre and Baume & Mercier.

To get a wider perspective on the year so far in watches, we caught up with the FHH’s director of external affairs, Mr Pascal Ravessoud. A consummate watch industry veteran and keen personal collector, Mr Ravessoud is not only responsible for the FHH’s global outreach programme, but serves as its in-house watchmaking expert. With one eye on the wider context and the other (equipped with a loupe, of course) able to give a connoisseur’s verdict on any new models, he is uniquely placed to assess the latest watches and how the industry has reacted to a year like no other.

**MR PORTER: How has 2020 has changed people’s watch-buying habits? **

Mr Ravessoud: People who love watches and cannot get hold of them will hold on to their plans one way or another. The interest is still here, maybe even more than ever, because you never want something more than when you can’t get it. We heard about revenge shopping and I believe it happened to some extent.

In recent years, we have witnessed a clear increase of online activity and engagement, especially from the younger generation and newer markets, such as China. Younger generations don’t want to go into a store any more, so the overall experience is done online. This year has accelerated the digital transformation dramatically and has been an opportunity for us to put a digital platform in place to allow our brands to present their products in a brand new way. 

I think time to market is the one aspect that will have to evolve the most. Clients, when they want something, will not wait any more. The see-now-buy-now concept is probably difficult to put in place as such in high-end watchmaking, but the times when watchmakers presented their new products in March and their clients took deliveries in December, if they were lucky, are over.

MR PORTER: What have been the overarching narratives in watch design over the past few years and how does this year’s crop fit in?

Mr Ravessoud: Vintage-inspired watches have become more and more present for quite a few years. After the world was totally shaken or even reset by the 2008 financial crisis and its aftermath, the bigger is better and “bling, bling” phase was over. Consumers geared their interest towards more tangible value, or let’s say a perceived value that was linked to a long-standing brand with a rich DNA and products that will last. And hold value. This in turn has led to a massive surge in the actual vintage pieces of these brands with values sky-rocketing at auctions ever since 2015/16.

Steel sports watches have always been around, but the social media effect and scarcity factor have led to an over-polarisation of the community’s interest on a few iconic steel sports watches, integrated bracelet or not, which led quite a few other players to claim their share recently.

Another trend we have witnessed over the past few years is towards more classic designs, smaller watches, which appeal to a younger generation. Ultra-thin watches are back in fashion with quite a number of world records broken lately. This said, hardcore collectors still crave highly technical, sometimes visually innovative and increasingly complicated watches.

Last but not least, colours. Blue, of course, but green is going to become the new blue for the next period. For years, designs and colours were very conservative from the major players. I think we live in a quite “heavy” period and I really love to see a breath of fresh air in the form of more risk-taking iterations of iconic models. I really think people, in a year like 2020, need some nice, good-looking, expressive and distinctive watches to escape the pressure they experience on a constant basis. Watches have to become cool(er). And I believe this need will increase in the years to come.

MR PORTER: It’s interesting you mention the influence of the wider context on our watch-buying habits. It’s been suggested this is partly why products from the 1980s are enjoying a resurgence – they’re products of a more turbulent decade. Do you believe the watch world is learning to love the 1980s again?

Mr Ravessoud: It is true that in 2020 we have seen the rebirth of two 1980s icons – the Cartier Pasha and the Breitling Chronomat – and we’ve seen a new Polo from Piaget as well. Is it a real trend? It is too early to tell. The designs of the 1980s haven’t always been associated with good taste. The same could be said of the 1990s. But each period has a lot of innovative, recognisable designs.

The – never-ending? – trend for steel sports watches comes from the 1950s to 1970s. Many sports chronographs are from the 1960s, pilot watches hail from the 1940s and 1950s and, more recently, Bulgari revived its Aluminium watch from the 1990s, so there is something for everyone. I think brands should come to the market with what fits best for their own history and what is more relevant to them.

MR PORTER: What are your favourite watches from this year’s launches?

Mr Ravessoud: It is difficult to choose because, despite this unusual period, watchmaking maisons were very creative this year. I would give a special mention to the House of Cartier. They managed to relaunch the Pasha collection, a watch with a strong ethos, in a period that is quite separate from its original inception [1985], and at the same time they launched a totally new feminine collection, the Maillon, in the pure Cartier tradition of distinctive and elegant designs that is totally true to the brand’s strong DNA. Very few maisons have the capacity to do this at this level of mastery. Kudos to them.

Jaeger-LeCoultre launched the Master Control Memovox, where the iconic Memovox alarm watch comes with an additional timer feature that allows you to set the alarm as a countdown for, say, the time left to catch your plane or to your next meeting, and the totally redesigned Memovox movement lets you see the striking mechanism in action. Piaget deserves a mention for its ultra-thin Altiplano concept, a concept that became reality, and is a joy to look at and wear. And lastly, I’m drawn to Ulysse Nardin’s new Blast collection, which plays with shapes, forms and power. As its name suggests, it has very masculine, edgy case shapes with contrasted finishing and a powerful graphic skeleton automatic tourbillon in-house movement with silicon escapement. It’s a different and totally new collection totally in line with the brand’s adventurous DNA.