The Coveted Ones: Our Favourite Watch Releases of 2023
From Jacob & Co’s Blingy Billionaire Timeless Treasure to the pared-back elegance of the Chopard Alpine Eagle XPS, these are the watch releases that continue to have us wondering.
Yes, Watches and Wonders is long past. However, the true mark of a covetable timepiece is its ability to, well, stand the test of time. So, removed from the horological fanfare, lavish penthouse suites, and otherworldly booths of Geneva, these are the most noteworthy watches of 2023.
Rolex Daytona Platinum Ref. 126506
Brown and blue just works. Sorry, it does. And this year, The Crown—beyond what was, arguably, ownership of this year’s Watches and Wonders exhibition—went and delivered a sports model with a display caseback. Yes, an open sapphire caseback. It actually makes complete sense in this 60th anniversary year for Daytona, given that the change means a chance to show off the all-new chronograph movement, the in-house Calibre 4131—a stunning piece of engineering. The “ice blue” Platinum Daytona, or “Platona” as it’s being referred to by some (never us), is a weapon—just look at it in all that 40 mm platinum goodness, a thing of beauty, elegance and craftsmanship.
Audemars Piguet 37mm Royal Oak Selfwinding
Turquoise dials, we don’t need to tell you, have become a phenomenon. Patek Philippe started the aquamarine desire in 2021, when it co-signed a dial with Tiffany & Co. to commemorate the 170th anniversary of the partnership between the two brands (in 1851, the New York jeweller became the first official retailer of the Swiss watchmaker in the United States). Only 170 examples of the Nautilus 5711 1A-018 were made. Jay-Z nabbed one. So did LeBron James, Mark Wahlberg and Leonardo DiCaprio. The first example to be offered at auction sold at Phillips New York in December 2021 for US$6.5 million (approx. $9.7 million). The subsequent aquamarine mania sent prices of Rolex’s turquoise-dial Oyster Perpetual, launched in 2020, soaring. The craze clearly wasn’t lost on Swatch, which chose a peacock-blue dial for its Mission to Uranus MoonSwatch last year. Grand Seiko and Girard-Perregaux have also jumped on the bandwagon. This year, it was the turn of Audemars Piguet, which unveiled a new version of its 37 mm Royal Oak Selfwinding crafted in 18-carat yellow gold and illuminated by a vibrant turquoise dial. Owing to the fact that the dials are made from naturally occurring turquoise gemstones, no two watches will ever be the same.
Girard-Perregaux Laureato Green Ceramic Aston Martin Edition
Collaborations—not something we often gravitate towards. But GP meets Aston in a ceramic green Laureato? That’s not something we can walk past. In fact, the delivery here means we can’t help being rude and staring lustfully—oh boy, is this a piece! It’s the fourth alignment between GP and the British marque—not bad considering they’ve only been entwined for two years. This time, the coming together works in elegance and style, framed by the boldness of the deep Aston Martin green. This is the first Laureato to feature a fully green ceramic case and bracelet—the entire piece made of such, with the exception of the lug connectors and titanium double swing-arm deployment clasp. It’s perfect at 42 mm (know that it’s also available, on trend, at 38 mm) and we applaud the three-hand approach to design in keeping things simple and classic, not often the way with automotive collaborations. Still, it’s the materials and colourways here doing the loud talking. An in-house Girard-Perregaux calibre GP01800-2165 offers 54 hours of power reserve and is visible through the sapphire caseback with Aston Martin logo decal.
H. Moser & Cie. Endeavour Perpetual Calendar Tantalum Blue Enamel
You don’t come across tantalum in watchmaking all that often. Reason being, while the element may be extremely hard, resistant to corrosion, and easy to mould, it’s also a complete pig to polish. Most watchmakers that do take on the challenge tend to either sandblast or satin-finish the bluish-grey metal. H. Moser & Cie. chose a more difficult route, taking two years to come up with a way of polishing the material so that it shimmered like darkened steel. Mission accomplished, the watchmaker having paired its new 42 mm case with a beautiful electric-blue fumé enamel dial and an in-house perpetual calendar movement. Doing away with sub-dials and hour indices, Moser lets the watch’s case and dial do the talking. And, we think you’ll agree, the watch has an awful lot to say.
Omega Speedmaster Super Racing
The most talked-about watch of 2022 didn’t fly off the production lines of Rolex, Patek Philippe or Audemars Piguet. No, whether we like it or not, the BIGGEST watch story of last year belonged to Omega and Swatch, which collaborated on a low-cost, quartz version of the former’s Speedmaster—the Bioceramic MoonSwatch. Surfing the hype created by that barnstorming co-op—and you cannot question some of what it achieved—Omega kicked off 2023 with a new “Speedie”. While neon-yellow accents, a cool honeycomb dial, and a yellow-and-black small-seconds hand all catch the eye, when it comes to the Super Racing, it’s what’s inside that counts.
Back in 2015, you may remember, Omega guaranteed that all of its watches would henceforth be accurate to within 0+5 seconds per day. That promise already positioned the brand near the top of the pyramid in terms of precision, with only a handful of watchmakers able to swear to anything close to that level of exactness. Omega has now gone even further. Fine-tuning a hairspring device, the company has come up with something called the Spirate System. Watches equipped with the mechanism, such as the Super Racing, are now guaranteed to an accuracy of 0+2 seconds per day. Significantly, that feat now puts Omega ahead of market rival Rolex, which can only promise precision rates of between -2 and +2 seconds a day. Slackers.
Piaget Polo Date 36mm
This has been available in 36 mm format since 2021, yet had you a preference for the smallest edition of the brand’s cushion-shaped sports watch, you were forced to put up with diamond-set indices or bezels dripping with ice. Not any longer, though. The 36 mm model is now available sans sparklers, with a midnight-blue dial, matching blue leather band and a stainless-steel case. Admire Piaget’s in-house 500P1 calibre doing its thang through an exhibition caseback.
Hublot Classic Fusion
In the beginning there was Carlo Crocco, a scion of the Italian Binda Group, best known for its Breil watches. In 1980, Crocco created a timepiece of his own. Well, sort of. Inspired by the porthole of a ship and featuring a heavy-set bezel with 12 exposed screws, there was no denying that the original “Hublot” (French for “porthole”) borrowed heavily from Audemars Piguet’s Royal Oak (Gérald Genta’s octagonal masterpiece had launched eight years earlier). Crocco’s timepiece differentiated itself by pairing an 18-carat yellow-gold case with a strap made of natural rubber—the first time in watchmaking the precious metal had been coupled with the organic compound. In 2020, for Hublot’s 40th anniversary, the brand launched a commemorative collection that channelled Crocco’s original design. Coming in at 45 mm, the watches weren’t exactly what you’d call “wearable”. At the beginning of 2023, Hublot addressed that issue, expanding the line with a range of references in 42 mm, 38 mm and 33 mm formats. The entry-level, three-hander—available in all three sizes—is the winner.
Blancpain Fifty Fathoms 70th Anniversary
In its 70th anniversary year we cannot move past this first release of 2023—and a line that dives deep when it comes to performance, functionality and appeal. Sure, the more recent Tech Gombessa release proved Blancpain’s ownership of the dive space with a piece capable like no other, but then it’s not for the everyday. Drawing its neat and obvious lines directly from the 1950s original, the Fifty Fathoms 70th Anniversary is robust, masculine and extremely wearable at the lesser 42 mm. Powered by the Calibre 1315 movement and with a five-day power reserve, the powertrain is seen through the sapphire-crystal back and includes the oscillating weight bearing the “Fifty Fathoms 70th” logo in platinum. Bien joué.
Chopard Alpine Eagle 41 XPS
This is a piece that has to be held and be seen to really understand its brilliance and the elevation it brings to the line. Since being introduced in 2019, Alpine Eagle has done very good business for Chopard—and rightly so, given what it offers and does so accessibly. The shape, the screwed bezel, the steel (Chopard’s Lucent Steel A223) all presents as it has before—but again, it’s the dial here that is doing the dancing, the “Monte Rosa Pink” exceptional in the light, its textured pattern capturing and radiating at differing levels depending on what is above. Chopard has also worked on the size—the 41 mm case is ultra-thin at just 8mm. The automatic L.U.C 96.40-L means a 65-hour power reserve, and is decorated with Côtes de Genève on its bridges.
Franck Muller Grand Central Tourbillon Flash
Tonneau case meets the sports field meets Muller daring and some horological wizardry—all further lifted with some poppy new colours that has us from the outset. Sure, some don’t quite know what to make of Muller. But you cannot fault the craftsmanship and the desire to stand apart. It was two years back that the brand showed its mettle with the release of the Grand Central Tourbillon. Not only was it the first tonneau-shaped watch to feature a tourbillon, the position of the complication in the middle of the dial instead of at six o’clock was rather breathtaking. Cut to now and you have the added choice of bold and brilliant colourways—blazing orange, neon green and electric blue. We’ll take the blue—because you may as well go all in—with the brightly coloured indices replacing the numerals on what is a redesigned black dial. It means all eyes on that tourbillon. Housed in the redesigned Curvex CX case, it’s actually fitted to the case middle—allowing supreme visibility, with the sapphire crystal extending all the way to the lugs. Muller has only achieved this feat after perfecting a special technique of fixing the glass at 12 o’clock and 6 o’clock, giving the Curvex CX an incredibly curved profile. Bravo.
De Bethune DB28xs Starry Seas
At 38.7 mm, this is a smaller play compared to its collection compatriots—notably the Starry Sky at 43 mm. But this lends the striking newcomer an agility. Still, the pull here sits with that dial—an incredible interpretation of the water (hence the name)—and which boasts a blued titanium with random guilloche pattern, a world first in its creation. Here too the trademarks align—floating lugs, delta-shaped bridge, crown at noon—to deliver a stunning piece of design that does what De Bethune does so well in seamlessly melding classic appeal to a futuristic effort. Superb.
Jacob & Co Billionaire Timeless Treasure
At just shy of $30 million, this remains a coveted piece. We managed some personal time with it in Geneva—and it truly is a marvel of craftsmanship and excess; a piece that pulls you in and demands your attention. And then some. For all that you expect of the high jewellery and horology brand, Jacob & Co’s The Billionaire Timeless Treasure is a museum-grade wonder that further heightens expectations about what they can achieve. Here, 425 yellow diamonds—an incredible 216.89 carats—feature on a yellow-gold case and bracelet, the skeletonised dial framed by 76 emerald-cut and kite-cut tsavorite, with a further 57 natural baguette-cut yellow diamonds set on the tourbillon movement. It’s phenomenal, it’s outlandish, it’s impressive, it’s gauche—and it is, truly, one of the pieces of the year.
Grand Seiko SBGW295
Marking 110 years of Japan’s first wristwatch, the “Urushi” is quite the study in alluring simplicity. Each dial is crafted by the work of master Isshu Tamura, heir to a 380-year tradition. The black layer of the dial is made from a very rare Japanese lacquer called “urushi”, which is extracted from specific tree trunks and deeply linked to Japanese tradition. Applied by hand, it is carefully polished until it reaches its unique mirror-like shine without distortion. The indexes and lettering are also hand-painted in an ancient “taka-maki-e” technique, giving the impression of 3D, with 24-carat gold powder. The SBGW295 has a 38 mm case and is powered by the familiar—and impressive—GS Calibre 9S64.
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Omega Just Unveiled 9 Watches in Its New Constellation Observatory Collection
The line-up shows up a bevy of metals and colours, too, as well as two new calibres.
Omega’s latest watch is in a universe of its own.
The Swiss watchmaker just unveiled its new Constellation Observatory Collection today, the next step in its Constellation lineage and the first two-hand hour and minute timepieces to ever earn Master Chronometer certification. And if you were paying attention to any of the dazzling watches spotted at the Oscars this year, you would’ve caught a glimpse of the new line already: Sinners star Delroy Lindo rocked one of the models on the Academy Awards red carpet, giving us a pre-release preview of the collection.
Developed at Omega’s new Laboratoire de Précision (its chronometer testing lab open to all brands), the collection houses a set of nine 39.4 mm watches. The watches underwent 25 days of scrutiny there, analysed via a new acoustic testing method that recorded every sound emitted from the timepiece to track irregularities, temperature sensitivities, and more in the name of all things precision. (Details such as water resistance and power reserve are also thoroughly examined.) This meticulous process is all in the name of snagging that Master Chronometer label, meaning that the timepiece is highly accurate and surpasses the threshold for ultra-high performance. The Constellation Observatory Collection has now changed the game, though, thanks to its lack of a seconds hand.
“Until now, precision certification has required a seconds hand,” Raynald Aeschlimann, president and CEO of OMEGA, said in a press statement. “The development of a new acoustic testing methodology has made that requirement obsolete. It is this breakthrough that has enabled us to present the Constellation Observatory, the first two-hand watch to achieve Master Chronometer certification.”
In addition to notching its place in history, the collection also debuted a new pair of movements: the Calibre 8915 and the Calibre 8914, each perched on a skeletonised rotor base. The former’s Grand Luxe iteration will appear on the 950 Platinum-Gold model in the collection, which offers up that base in 18-karat Sedna Gold alongside a Constellation medallion in 18-karat white gold with an Observatory dome done in white opal enamel surrounded by stars. The second Calibre 8915, the Luxe, will find its home on the other precious-metal models in the line, either made with the brand’s 18-karat Sedna, Moonshine, or Canopus gold seen across the case, the hand-guilloché dial, and, of course, the movement itself. (Lindo chose to rock the Moonshine Gold on Moonshine Gold iteration, priced at approximately $86,000, for Sinners‘s big night at the Oscars.) As for the Calibre 8914, it can be found in the collection’s four steel models.
Each model is a callback to myriad design features on past Omega models. That two-hand dial, for one, comes from the 1948 Centenary (the brand’s first chronometer-certified automatic wristwatch), while the pie-pan dial (seen in various blue, green, and golden hues throughout the line) and that Constellation medallion caseback both appear on watches from 1952. The star adorning the space above 6 o’clock also harks back to 1950s timepieces from Omega. And to finish off the look, you can opt for alligator straps in a variety of colours, or perhaps a gold iteration to match the precious-metal models; the brick-like pattern on the 18-karat Moonshine bracelet was also inspired by Omega watches from the ’50s.
We’ll have to keep our eyes peeled for any other Constellation Observatory timepieces (or any other unreleased models from the brand) at the rest of the star-studded events headed our way this year—perhaps the Met Gala?
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Inside Loro Piana’s First Sydney Boutique
A first Australian address brings the Italian house’s textile-led approach to retail full circle.
On the fourth floor of Westfield Sydney, near the Castlereagh and Market Street entrance—in the space formerly occupied by Chanel—Loro Piana has opened its first Australian boutique. It is a significant address change for that corner of the mall, and a meaningful one for the Italian house, which has sourced Australian merino wool for decades but until now had no retail presence here.
The facade is understated—creamy, tactile, more about texture than theatre. Inside, the store unfolds across a single, expansive level divided into distinct men’s and women’s wings. The separation is clear without being heavy-handed: womenswear leads from soft accessories and leather goods into ready-to-wear, while menswear occupies its own assured territory, with tailoring and outerwear given proper breathing room. Footwear (supple loafers, luxurious slides, pared-back sneakers) is particularly strong, and the sunglasses are a quiet standout: mineral-toned frames with a disciplined elegance that feels entirely of the house.
That same restraint carries into the interiors, where the surfaces do much of the talking. Walls are wrapped in the company’s own linen and cashmere; carpets are custom, dense underfoot, softening the acoustics and the pace. Oak and carabottino wood add warmth without fuss; marble accents introduce a cool counterpoint. The effect is a composed space calibrated around material, proportion and restraint.
The Spring 2026 collection now in store underscores that sensibility. Silhouettes are elongated and fluid; cashmere, silk and featherweight merino move in sandy neutrals, creams and muddied earth tones, with flashes of marigold and pale turquoise breaking the calm. Tailoring is softly structured and projects confidence without aggression. Leather goods arrive in buttery skins that feel almost pre-lived, as though time has already worked its magic.
What distinguishes Loro Piana, particularly in a market that has grown noisier by the season, is its refusal to perform luxury in an obvious register. There are no oversized insignias telegraphing allegiance. Instead, the status is encoded in fibre count, in hand-feel, in how a coat hangs from the shoulder. It assumes the wearer knows and, crucially, does not need to announce it.
Sydney’s luxury landscape has matured in recent years; global houses no longer test the waters but commit to them. Yet Loro Piana’s arrival feels different. It is not trend-driven expansion but material logic. For a country whose sheep stations have long contributed to the house’s fabric story, this boutique reads almost as a thank-you note written in cashmere.
Photography: Courtesy of Loro Piana.
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This Stylish, Water-Resistant Dopp Kit Might Be the Last One You Ever Buy
Patricks’s limited-edition wash bag is designed to keep liquids in and out, so it can come along wherever your travels take you.
If all you’re going to do is look at it, a leather Dopp kit from a fashion house is a fine choice. But if you take travelling seriously—and do it often, for business, pleasure, or both—such a bag will inevitably end up blemished with droplets of water or stained by errant flecks of toothpaste. Get stuck with a cavalier team of baggage handlers, and it can even get soaked in your favourite fragrance or anti-ageing serum.
But Patricks, the high-performance Australian grooming brand stocked in Harrods and Bergdorf Goodman, has a solution. Its limited-edition bathroom bag, called BB1, is purpose-built to protect everything inside and out. Conceived by industrial designer George Cunningham with brand founder Patrick Kidd, the cuboid design is executed in a water-resistant recycled nylon you can rinse clean. It’s lined with a thin layer of shock-absorbing foam to safeguard your products, but if a bottle somehow gets cracked in transit, the two-way water-resistant zippers and sealed seams (which keep liquids from seeping in or out) ensure that whatever leaks won’t ruin your cashmere. Inside, two dual-sided zippered compartments are ideally sized to fit toothbrushes, razors, and other small essentials.
And though its clean lines and rugged construction make it undeniably masculine, its greatest feature is borrowed from women’s makeup bags. Like the best of these, BB1 unzips to lie flat, giving you unobstructed access to everything inside. Well, you and the 999 other gentlemen who move fast enough to snag one. $289
Courtesy of Patricks
1. Hanging Loop
The G-hook system isn’t just a stylish handle: You can also use it to hang the bag from a hook or secure it to your carry-on.
2. Two-Way Zipper
The closures are water-resistant in both directions, meaning liquids won’t get in or out.
3. Fold-flat Construction
BB1 opens to 180 degrees, letting you scan its 4.2-litre capacity at a quick glance.
4. Technical-Fabric Shell
The durable recycled-nylon is easy to maintain and woven to survive splashes and leaks from your go-to products.
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Mauve on Up
Brisbane boutique stay Miss Midgley’s offers a viscerally human experience—especially if you dig pink.
On a sun-bleached corner of Brisbane’s New Farm, where the scent of frangipani mingles with the clink of coffee cups, stands a building that has lived more lives than most people. Once a premier’s residence, an orphanage, a hospital and a private school, the 160-year-old stone structure now finds itself reborn as Miss Midgley’s—a boutique stay that teaches a masterclass in how to make heritage feel modern.
Designed and run by architect-mother-daughter duo Lisa and Isabella White, Miss Midgley’s captures the cultural confidence of a city in bloom. Nowhere is that new confidence more visible than along James Street—the leafy, slow-burn heart of the city’s fashion and dining scene—where Miss Midgley’s sits quietly at the edge, its shell-pink façade glowing in the subtropical light.
Built of Brisbane’s rare volcanic tuff, the building’s soft mauves and pinks are more than aesthetic; they are its identity. Locals still remember its 1950s incarnation as the Pink Flats, and the Whites have honoured that legacy with a contemporary blush-toned exterior, chosen to harmonise with the stone’s peachy undertones. Inside, those hues continue in dusty terracottas, russets and the faint shimmer of brass tapware. “Design can’t afford to be for the sake of fashion,” Isabella White has said. “It has to respond to what’s in front of you.”
That sentiment is tangible in every corner. Five apartments, each with their own idiosyncratic floor plan, occupy the building. Ceilings bloom with heritage plasterwork, 19th-century wallpaper fragments have been preserved in the kitchens, and tiny hand-painted notes left by the architects point out original quirks: a misaligned beam here, a hidden archway there. It’s a kind of adult treasure hunt for design lovers, where discovery feels personal and unforced.
Even the picket fence, a heritage requirement, has been reimagined in corten steel—a sly nod to regulation turned into sculpture. It’s this blend of reverence and rebellion that gives Miss Midgley’s its edge: heritage without starch, nostalgia without sentimentality.
True to Brisbane’s easy elegance, luxury here is measured not in marble or minibar but in proportion, privacy, and personality. Each apartment—from the Drawing Room and the Assembly Hall to the Principal’s Office—is a self-contained sanctuary with its own kitchen, large bathroom and outdoor space. The ground-floor units open onto leafy courtyards and welcome small dogs; upstairs, the larger suites spill onto verandahs shaded by jacarandas.
At the heart of the property lies a solar-heated pool hemmed with tropical greenery and fringed umbrellas—more mid-century Palm Springs than colonial Brisbane. Around it, guests share a petite laundry, a communal library and that rarest of urban luxuries: a car park per apartment. The atmosphere is quietly collegiate—a handful of travellers who might nod to each other on the stairs but otherwise inhabit their own creative bubbles.
The hotel’s namesake, Annie Midgley, lends the project both its name and its spirit. An ambidextrous artist and teacher, she famously instructed two students at once, writing with both hands simultaneously—a fitting metaphor for the dual vision the Whites bring to the building: one hand rooted in history, the other sketching toward the future. “Not famous, yet known,” goes the property’s understated tagline—and indeed, Miss Midgley’s has quietly become that most desirable of addresses: the one whispered about by people who know.
Sustainability isn’t an accessory here; it’s structural. The adaptive reuse of the heritage building is its boldest environmental act. Solar panels power the property; an electric heat pump warms the pool; recycled decking and tiles frame the courtyard. The metre-thick tuff walls regulate temperature naturally, and the amenities follow suit—refillable bath products, biodegradable pods, Seljak blankets spun from textile off-cuts, and compendiums wrapped in Australian-made kangaroo leather. It’s slow luxury in the truest sense.
In a world of carbon-copy hotels, Miss Midgley’s feels deeply human—a place where history isn’t curated behind glass but lives in the warmth of stone and the flicker of afternoon light. The lesson it offers is simple and resonant: that the most elegant modernity often comes not from reinvention, but from listening to what’s already there.
