The 7 Hottest Watches in the World Right Now

4 min readIt's been a good year in the watch world. Yes, we've had some flops and the usual conveyor belt of minor facelifts launched with the fanfare of royal babies (a slightly lighter blue dial? You spoil us!). But amid the noise, there's been much signal worth tuning into.Happy Birthday, NautilusCourtesy Patek PhilippeThe most influential watch of all time? Perhaps. Gérald Genta's masterpiece, the Patek Philippe Nautilus, marked its 50th anniversary with a trio of ultra-thin editions powered by the 240 movement, which is normally found in the dressier Calatrava.Aesthetically, the anniversary models tack close to Genta's design—any tweaks to the porthole case or integrated bracelet would be sacrilege, mind—but there are some material differences. As in, the materials are different. Where the original ushered in the age of luxury stainless steel watches, here we get the sports style but precious substance; your pick between white gold or platinum. Well, we say take your pick. Good luck finding even one, let alone a choice.Casio's Naughty-lessDue in November, but leaked last month, Casio's newest G-Shock hasn't just got us excited because the brand doesn't really do full analogues. That porthole-shaped case, those broad shoulders, they remind us of something…We're chalking this one up as a birthday tribute to Patek. And we'll also take it as a gift to us, because from around $135, it's a lot of watch for not a lot of money: 200m water resistance, shockproof magnetic hands so it's as tough as any of G-Shock's digitals, a 30-minute stopwatch, and a special battery-saving mode that stretches its runtime to five years (about half the length of a Nautilus waitlist, then). We'll take the resin model in egg yolk yellow, please and thank you.Rolex Perpetual PadelloneRolex.Rolex is not a surprise-drop brand. So when the Padellone arrived in September, with no hoo and limited ha, collectors sat up (for context, the Crown's last off-cycle release was the Daytona launched at the 100th Le Mans, which got those same collectors rather frothy).The Padellone is full of collector in-jokes, not least the name, which means “frying pan” in Italian. That moniker was originally bestowed on this watch's inspiration, the 8171, because of its wide case (well, for the 1950s) and domed dial. It also had a moonphase and complete calendar, which is upgraded here to an annual—it automatically corrects for 30/31 months, only needing manual intervention between February and March. An especially neat touch is that all three bits of the calendar jump at midnight. When you first get it on your wrist, you'll spend a few late nights watching that little bit of magic.Hublot x Jeff Koons Balloon DogHublot.Until an official Marmite collab comes along (and considering the watch industry's love of a tie-up, it must be imminent) this is the kind of collector's dream that half the people who see it will think only a mother could love.Because whatever your thoughts on Jeff Koons's inflatables, a collaboration between the world's most expensive living artist and Switzerland's master of the press cycle was always going to generate heat. Even if it's not a slam dunk for us aesthetically, we do dig the colours and fun details—like the balloon sculpture dog that counterweights the second hand.Tudor Black Bay BumblebeeTudor.We've been suckers for the Black Bay since 2012, when it formed part of the relaunched Tudor's first lineup. We fell even harder in love when the Chronograph dropped in 2017. The only issue was that, as all the other watches in Tudor's catalogue slimmed down to a more modern 39mm, the Chronos refused their Ozempic, staying stubbornly chunky at 41mm.Some svelte releases finally arrived this year. The reduced diameter is beautifully balanced by a slimmer case and less fussy dial, and the Black Bay's original diver DNA persists with 200m of water resistance. But it's this is colorway that we love most; a no-shits-given yellow that makes even the Casio above seem shy, contrasting with that inky bezel in a way that creates a real… buzz [ed's note: see me in my office].Seiko PandaSeiko.Thought the balloon dog was a bit much? Look, we're nothing if not mercurial in our tastes, and Seiko gets a pass in part because of the price tag, but also because its Power Design Project has long been a skunkworks for its designers' weirder ideas. Few make it to production, but there are 5,000 of these adorably tongue-in-cheek (panda! Geddit!?) watches available.Our favorite detail is probably that the tachymeter tops out at 30kmh—the panda's top speed. Although we're a little embarrassed that something so lumpy could smoke us in a foot race.Rolex Cosmograph Daytona Four Seasons CollectionRolexBy now these will be tucked in a vault somewhere, but this quartet of one-of-a-kind watches have been churning their way through the rumor mill all year. When they officially launched in September, it turned out they were wilder than anyone had imagined.These spins on the Rolex Oyster Perpetual Cosmograph Daytona were designed in tribute to the seasons, their natural inspiration a reference to charities founded by two of the brand's ambassadors: the Federer Foundation and Leonardo DiCaprio's Re:wild. The watches raised nearly $50 million for them at auction in September. Though we don't normally like our charity work encrusted in diamonds, we'd happily take the Spring model off the owner's hands, having fallen rather hard for its Wimbledon-like green-and-purple styling.