Meanwhile, celebrities increasingly involved themselves in watches beyond the red carpet. Kyle Kuzma and Lana Del Rey flexed stunning new watch acquisitions, while John Mayer released a new Royal Oak with Audemars Piguet. Christie’s also announced its coming auction of select pieces owned by F1 legend Michael Schumacher. Most notably, Only Watch looks to resume in May after postponing in November last year.

10 unlikely celebrity couples you didn’t know dated

Read on for 7 of Style’s favourite watch moments from March and April 2024 …

1. Watches and Wonders 2024

At the fair itself, brands such as Rolex, Patek Philippe, Tudor and Parmigiani Fleurier offered refreshed takes on their classic collections, whilst the likes of Jaeger-LeCoultre, IWC Schaffhausen, Hermès and Vacheron Constantin gave us more complicated and intricate timepieces than ever before.

8 of the richest female athletes of 2024 – net worths, ranked

Cartier, Chanel and Van Cleef & Arpels gave us artful takes, combining the best of fashion, jewellery and watchmaking in one go. All in all, we expect the releases from the fair to set the tone for the rest of the year in high horology, but even if you missed what was going on at Palexpo, the Swiss city itself was abuzz with other watchmaking highlights as well …

2. Outside of Watches and Wonders

Along the western end of the Geneva Lake, at La Réserve Genève Hotel, Bovet hosted guests at the Villa du Lac to showcase their novelties which included the worldtimer Bovet Recital 28 Prowess 1. This intricate timepiece includes a flying tourbillon at 12 o’clock, a 10 day power reserve, a world time complication on rollers and a perpetual calendar. Most notably, unlike most other world timers, this piece uses rollers adjustable by the crown that accommodates daylight savings time.

Meet Jensen Huang, billionaire Nvidia CEO and the ‘Steve Jobs of AI’

Further down the lake’s west side, explorers would have been able to stop by Beau-Rivage Palace to take a glimpse at offerings from independent brands like Furlan Marri, Baltic, Doxa, Atelier Wen and SpaceOne.

A collaboration between French watchmaker Robin Tallendier and Hong Kong-born entrepreneur Wilfried Buiron, Atelier Wen looks to bring excellent Chinese watchmaking to the rest of the world, including the work of China’s sole guilloche master Cheng Yu-cai.

The trio were present as the brand unveiled its all-new Perception “Concept”, notable for its all-tantalum construction and striking purple dial. The metal is one of the rarest in the world, and is notoriously challenging to machine, making a full tantalum watch something to behold.

De Bethune unveiled two show-stoppers at the Beau-Rivage, one of which was the Kind of Grande Complication. The piece combines the brand’s signature design motifs and complications over its twenty-plus years of history. The case features the brand’s signature floating lugs and a rotating case design, allowing the wearer to take in two dials. On one side, where the crown is at 12 o’clock, one can see De Bethune’s delta bridge and a thirty-second tourbillon in blued titanium, which the brand claims is one of the fastest and lightest on the market. The more classic blue dial features roman numeral hands, a perpetual calendar and spherical moonphase.

5 of the world’s richest rugby players in 2024 – net worths, ranked

The brand’s other key novelty was equally striking, especially on the wrist of someone we will discuss later in this piece …

3. No slowing down outside Geneva

In Japan, Citizen celebrated its 100th anniversary by releasing not a wristwatch but an eminently vintage-styled pocket watch, featuring a textured white dial, vintage field indices and Breguet-style hands, all evoking the original Citizen pocketwatch released in 1924.

Looking to the future, a new US-based contender in high horology joins the ranks as Fleming introduced its Series 1. Founded by Thomas Fleming, this first piece comes as a 38.5mm time-only piece but in rose gold, platinum – and the rare and challenging tantalum with vintage-inspired horned lugs.

Vietnam’s 5 richest billionaires in 2024 – net worths, ranked

4. Celebs’ watch news updates

Speculation abounds as to exactly which model, but it’s likely that the brand’s signature design style (and perhaps the white case we get a glimpse of in the video) is what caught the couple’s eye.

Florals are in for spring once again as songstress Lana Del Rey gleefully unboxed her recently acquired Jacob & Co. Fleurs de Jardin – of which only 12 were ever produced. The piece itself features 178 pink sapphires and shows a garden teeming with butterflies that rotate using an automata movement.

Would you believe it? 8 of the richest pastors of 2024 – net worths, ranked

5. John Mayer joins hands with Audemars Piguet

Via a March 8 post on X, the release comes alongside the news that John Mayer would take on the role of “creative conduit” with the maison. Though this means we can surely expect future collaborations, what exactly that entails in terms of their working partnership remains to be seen.

The piece itself features a distinctive deep blue “crystal sky” dial finished with sharp angles and facets to evoke crystals, finished using the PVD technique to maximise the depth of the crystals.

Who is Oprah Winfrey’s ‘spiritual partner’ of four decades, Stedman Graham?

6. Race to the auction block for Michael Schumacher’s unique pieces

The pieces in question do include a unique Paul Newman Daytona reference 6262 (as any self-respecting racing collection should) but also includes the rarely seen five-piece Ruthenium Set from F.P. Journe, as well as two unique Schumacher pieces in the form of the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Chronograph in 2003 – commemorating Schumacher’s six F1 driver’s championships at the time – and an F.P. Journe Invenit Et Fecit Vagabondage 1 Model from 2004.

7 of the richest NHL hockey players – net worths, ranked

7. Only Watch’s return

It was announced that the auction would resume on May 10 this year, featuring minor roster changes with brands including Gerald Genta, Patek Philippe, Richard Mille, Zenith, Furlan Marri, Chanel and Louis Vuitton staying the course, and others such as Audemars Piguet noticeably missing from the lots at the time of writing.