THE JOURNAL
Watch collectors, in our experience, are acutely preoccupied with the question of what will come next, in terms of their chosen hobby. Maybe it’s a natural side-effect of surrounding yourself with dozens of tiny measuring devices, all designed to tell you how long until the next full moon. Or the next leap year. Or the end of your oxygen supply (that one you really should pay attention to).
It’s also a byproduct of the air of mystery the luxury watch world enjoys. Unlike car fans, who know what Porsche or Ferrari might be working on years before it becomes available to buy because someone’s seen a thinly disguised version doing laps of a test track, watch geeks live in a perpetual state of anticipation. Most new watches are announced at a trade fair called Watches and Wonders, held in Geneva at the start of April, but in this age of immediate gratification, something new tends to drop pretty much every week, helping us get our horological fix.
In between, however, we still focus on the question of what to expect from the biggest and most beloved brands. MR PORTER spoke to four industry experts to get their take on what 2025 might have in store.
01. Colour will bloom
If you’re thinking you’ve heard this one before, you’d be right. “Trends don’t usually die within a year,” says Hamza Masood, business development manager for market analyst site WatchCharts. “Instead, they move down the exclusivity/price ladder.”
Our experts all agreed that we hadn’t seen the last of colourful dials – but it’s which colours to expect that’s the thing. “I would have said that 2025 was going to signal an end to pink dials,” says Tracey Llewellyn, global editorial director for specialist magazine Revolution. “But with the January launch of Oris’ ProPilot X Miss Piggy Edition in the most mesmerising and nostalgic raspberry shade, I think everyone is going to be chasing a rose-tinted year to come.”
Bold colours were also on the agenda for George Bamford, founder of Bamford Watch Department. “I think we’ll start seeing left-field colour codes and the use of colours brands think will be trendy,” he says. “I’m expecting brands to expand beyond their usual palettes.”
For Masood, colour will be linked to materials, predicting more watches with precious stone dials such as malachite or lapis lazuli.
02. We’re trending smaller and edgier
Another unanimous opinion: watches are going to continue to shrink. It won’t be universal, so fans of Panerai or IWC Schaffhausen will still be able to get their Luminors or Big Pilot’s. But the “sweet spot” is still coming down, say our panel. “I expect to see a continued reduction in size of watch cases,” says the collector and content creator Justin Hast. “As well as an increase in prices.”
“I expect to see more small and shaped watches,” Masood says. He also feels like the popularity of 1970s-inspired watches might be coming to a close. “It feels like a pretty safe bet there won’t be any brand-new integrated bracelet sports watches this year.”
For Bamford, it’s about designs that really stand out from the crowd. “I do think we’ll start seeing a lot more asymmetric cases as they have been catching attention, like the Cartier Crash, which has become legendary.”
03. Will we leave the past behind?
It’s a contentious idea, given the watch world’s attachment to its history. But there may be signs that the actual watches themselves will be less devoted to what’s gone before.
“I don’t want to see more back catalogue stuff from brands in the primary market,” Hast says. “We all know that the vintage offering generally has more charm. Instead, I’d like to see true inspiration and that’s what I think collectors are focused on as well.”
It’s a theme picked up by Bamford. “I think people will fall in love with watches for the sake of design,” he says.
Don’t write off the more traditionally minded brands just yet however, Llewellyn says, noting that deep down, “most people still want reissues of vintage designs”.
04. Only the best collabs will make it
“I think we’ll see a dying down of collaborations for the sake of it,” Hast says. “We have almost reached peak collab, but in the same breath, I hope we see more interesting collaborations.”
In recent years, collaborative limited editions have proliferated, but collab fatigue is a threat that’s never far from the surface. Bamford, a prolific collaborator himself, believes that there’s still merit to the concept when “partnerships work together using their often vastly different fanbases on both sides to promote”. Nevertheless, he expects brands to home in on what truly moves the needle. “I hope a lot of brands will be solidifying their relationships,” he adds.
05. Key brands to watch
Finally, we asked our assembled experts which brands they thought would have a storming year in 2025. “Cartier outperformed all comparable brands on the secondary market in 2024,” Masood says, leaning on the idea that the brands’ second-hand value is directly tied to the reputation and performance of their new launches. “The fundamentals that contributed to that relative success remain in place for 2025.”
Hast, Bamford and Llewellyn all singled out Hermès Timepieces, with Llewellyn calling out “the runaway success of last year’s Hermes Cut.” Bamford said that both Hermès and IWC deserved to have “a belter of a year”, touching on the latter’s “phenomenal range of watches”.
Lastly, Hast put the spotlight on Vacheron Constantin, which this year celebrates 270 unbroken years at the top of the pile. “I think it’s going to have a great year – when you consider the competition, they are vulnerable right now in many ways, so Vacheron is going to move into that space.”