The Big New Trends From Watches And Wonders 2023

Major launches, headline innovations and hero pieces at this week's horlogerie jamboree in Geneva

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This his year Watches and Wonders has consolidated its position as the lodestar trade fair and media event for Switzerland's most emblematic industry with an ambitious programme of city-wide events. There are "boutique animations", a "watchmaking rally", a QR-code-led guided tour to horological hotspots with a treasure hunt and competition, street festivities today from 5pm9pm sharp (this is Geneva, after all), including food trucks and an electro DJ on the Quai Général Guisan, with the whole thing culminating in the opening of the salon to the public on Saturday 1 April (not an April Fool... this is Geneva after all).

Biver Carillon Tourbillon, €520,000 Bulgari Octo Roma Striking Papillon Tourbillon, £111,000 Around 180 brands are showing at the exhibition and in and around Geneva. One of the most eagerly anticipated launches is Jean-Claude Biver's eponymous low-volume, high-production-value brand, which kicked off ambitiously with a carillon tourbillon. But the occasional big brand is still resisting the lure of the main hall. Bulgari is absent from Palexpo, preferring to exhibit at the Hotel President Wilson, where it is showing its new Octo Roma, (is it round? Is it octagonal? It's a bit of both) in iterations as diverse as three-hand automatic and tourbillon with butterfly minute display. Cartier Baignoire Mini Bangle, £11,300