The 11 Coolest Watches People Actually Wore at Watches & Wonders, From Piaget to Rolex
There’s no shortage of horological firepower in the booths at Watches & Wonders, the world’s largest horological tradeshow that happens annually in Geneva. But to think that the only interesting watches you’ll see at the fair are behind vitrines or under a strict press embargo would be, well, wrong.
In fact, some of the most interesting pieces you’ll find at the fair are on the wrists of its attendees. What separates them from the newest releases is that they’ve had time to acquire a real emotional resonance, which makes them not merely objects worth coveting, but also meaningful parts of people’s lives. Take the Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso that dealer Derek Mon bought to celebrate hitting 100,000 subscribers on YouTube or the A. Lange & Söhne Lange 1 that menswear designer Wesley Smith sold six other timepieces to acquire. Two of the people we spoke with had a hand in designing the watches they were wearing in the halls of the Palexpo convention center.
Below, a closer look at what the fair’s attendees actually wore—and what each special timepiece means to its owner.
Erika Ratini, WatchMissGMT
What are you wearing today?
My Rolex Daytona, the Ref. 126500.
How long have you had this watch, and what made you want to add it to your collection?
I actually just got into racecar driving. I really wanted to learn how to drive manual, so I picked up a manual Mazda Miata and learned how to drive it. It’s just kind of fueled my fire for racing, and I felt like I needed a Daytona.
So unlike every guy with a Daytona, you’re actually using it for its intended purpose.
It might be hard with the speeds that I’ve hit already, you know, with the screw-down pushers, but yes, definitely it’s necessary when you’re in the automotive field.
Yoni Ben-Yehuda, Head of Watches, Material Good
What watch are you wearing today?
Today I’m wearing the Vanguart x Material Good limited-edition Orb in pink ceramic and titanium, limited to 25 pieces. It’s a flying tourbillonTourbillonA watch complication invented around 1801 by Abraham-Louis Breguet that rotates the escapement in a cage to counter the effects of gravity on accuracy. Tourbillons are mesmerizing and very difficultGo to Tourbillon Glossary with the ability to move from manual to automatic mode, and a new watch for the brand and a new watch for us. And it’s the first timepiece to ever have the MG monogram on it.
Given that this is something you helped create, where does it rank in your collection?
Any timepiece that I get to design is a really big deal for me, and falls to the top of the pantheon of my paltry but growing collection. There is nothing in the world I would trade this watch for. My children can fight over which one of them gets this watch.
John Vorwald, Executive Editor, Robb Report
What’s on your wrist today, boss?
Today I’m wearing the Patek Philippe Calatrava Ref. 3796R in rose gold. Also known as the “pink-on-pink.”
What made you want to add this to your collection?
One of them came up for auction, and we wrote about it for Robb Report, and when I saw the picture in the story, I just stopped. I thought it was so beautiful that I tracked the auction. I didn’t buy the piece from that sale, but from that point forward, I just kept looking for them until I found one.
Where would you say it ranks in your collection?
It’s a clear-cut number one for me. I just love everything about it: the crisp minimalist profile, the small seconds, the pink-on-pink configuration. And, of course, the proportions—the case is 30.5 mm and it’s only 7 mm thick. It’s the kind of piece that feels like it would fit into the 1930s but also feels totally at home and modern in 2026.
Is there anything you’d trade it for?
No. In fact, the very nice dealer who sold it to me called me a year later asking to buy it back and offered me a profit, and I turned him down.
Teddy Baldasarre, Dealer
What watch are you wearing today?
Today I’m wearing the IWC Ingenieur. This is the aqua dial version, 40 mm. It goes back to the SL case from 1976, designed by Gerald Genta. I absolutely love this piece.
Where would you say it ranks in your current collection?
Right now, it is probably my most worn this year. I don’t know if I could rank all my babies, but this is up there for at least this year.
Is there any watch you’d trade this watch for?
No, no. When I acquire a piece, it’s all about the intention of wanting to own it forever. I’m not someone who trades frequently with my watches.
Cameron Barr, President, Craft and Tailored
What’s on your wrist today, Cam?
Today on the wrist, I’m wearing a pretty rare and interesting Rolex Submariner from 1965. What you’ll notice is that it has what’s referred to as an Explorer dial, so pretty rare variant that you don’t find all that often.
These watches were produced for what’s commonly referred to as the Commonwealth market, so primarily the U.K. and Canada, and we’re thinking that it may have been kind of like a test dial. It’s kind of more reminiscent of military dials, or Rolex’s field watches, similar to the Explorer. But this watch actually came out of London, and it actually retains its original box, its original paperwork, which is kind of uncommon for a watch like this. In my collecting career, and as a dealer in this space, it’s only the fourth one that I’ve ever seen.
If you had to rank it in the context of your current collection, where would it be?
It’s like, top 10 in terms of sports watches. I would say that this is probably in the top three rarest pieces within the collection, for sure.
Would you trade this for anything?
This one checks a lot of boxes for me. I have very eclectic taste when it comes to watches I like dress watches, I like sports watches, I like avant-garde pieces. I think in terms of Rolex sports watches in steel, this is probably the pinnacle.
Mark Cho, Founder, The Armoury
What are you wearing today?
Today I’m wearing my Credor Goldfeather. This was part of Credor’s re-release of the Goldfeather series from a few years ago. They only released this one in Japan. It’s one of, if I can read it properly, one of 12 in platinum, with this beautiful engraved pattern on the front, and a beautifully engraved feather on the back as well.
Is there anything you’d trade this watch for?
I am very fond of this watch, so probably not. But there have been a lot of beautiful things at Watches & Wonders this year.
Elliot Hammer, Watch Designer, The Armoury
What’s on your wrist today?
Today, I’m wearing the Naoya Hida Lettercutter that I designed with Mark Cho that came out a few years ago.
It has to be great to design your own watch. What did you want to achieve with this reference?
So the inspiration from this was Kano San, the engraver at Naoya Hida. He engraves all of the numerals by hand. And I, coming from a design background, really loved typography, so I actually did a stone carving course on the island of Portland, just off the south coast of the U.K., where they carve into that white stone that most of London is made of. And that got me thinking about architectural numerals and lettering. And the people who actually do that are called letter cutters. Hence the name of the watch.
Derek Mon, Dealer, Carat & Co.
What’s on your wrist today?
Today I’m wearing my Jager-LeCoultre Reverso DuoFace in the medium size. I have it here on this nice mesh bracelet, and I’m wearing it on my right wrist because I’m trying on tons of watches here at the show, so I need my left wrist to be empty.
The nice thing about this watch is that you can flip it over, and here I have New York time, so I can check in on my wife and daughter at home. And then here I have Geneva time, so I can always be on time for my meetings. Except this one, which I’m late to.
Where does this watch rank in your current collection?
Oh, this is definitely a top five. I actually made a video talking about how I would never sell this watch. The story, when my YouTube channel hit 100,000 subscribers, I wanted to give myself a nice milestone gift. I’ve always wanted a JLC Reverso in my collection, and I wanted to connect it with something meaningful.
Would you trade this for any other watch?
I would not trade it for anything right now. I mean, if I want something else, I’ll just hit another milestone!
Wesley Smith, Founder and Creative Director, Standard H
What watch are you wearing today, and when did it join your collection?
I’m wearing a Lange 1, and I’ve had it for two years, almost to the day. I was traveling to Paris and saw it, and I went back there to buy it six months later.
Where would you say this watch ranks in your collection?
I wear it 80 percent of the time. That’s pretty high up there. I sold six watches to buy this watch.
Yolanda Edwards, Editor, Yolo Journal
What watch are you wearing today, and how long have you had it?
Today I am wearing a Cartier Tankisseme. I’ve had this watch for probably five or six years. I’d seen it for ages on different friends’ wrists, and was just coveting it for at least, like, 20 years. And then I asked Matt, my husband, like, if you ever find one I need that watch. And so he gifted it to me for my birthday.
If you had to rank this watch’s place in your collection, where would it be?
Number one. Matt will justify his watch purchases by saying, “We can share it.” But this is really mine. We don’t share it. And it’s my favorite watch.
Matt Hranek, Editor, W.M. Brown Magazine
What’s on your wrist today?
I am wear a Piaget Polo, a vintage piece from the ’80s. I thought it would look good with the yachting outfit that I decided to wear this morning.
How long has it been in your collection?
I just got this watch. I actually bought it for scrap. A dealer I know on 47th Street happened to have this piece when I walked in there. As a kid growing up in the ’80s, this was, for me, one of the most iconic watches. There were friends of my dad’s who actually had versions of this watch. I coveted it so much that I actually bought a fake one on Canal Street in the ’80s. I think I still have that in a drawer up at my mom’s house, but now I am super happy to own an original.
What do you like about it? What made it a must-buy, other than wanting one when you were a kid?
I mean, it’s really kind of a jewelry piece, right? It’s this kind of gold bangle, and I convinced my wife, Yolanda, that we should buy it, because I think it’s a piece that we can share. And I think for me, it’s kind of a summer watch: deep tan, Amalfi Coast, those vibes. I couldn’t be happier to own it.
This article originally appeared in Robb Report US.