It’s Official: Esquire Readers’ Favourite Watch of 2024 Has Been Revealed
Subdial, the British online watch-trading platform, has published the results of its Big Watch Survey, polling its audience of collectors about the year in watches.
Esquire readers were invited to take part in the survey, using a dedicated link in About Time, our weekly watches newsletter.
Today, 16 December, the results of that survey have been published.
Asked to name their “watch of the year”, Esquire readers were exactly split between two models, tied with 12.9 per cent of the vote each.
One was Omega’s white ceramic dial Professional Moonwatch (ref. 310.30.42.50.04.001) released in March, after being teased on the wrist of brand ambassador Daniel Craig the previous year.
The other was a steel Rolex’s GMT-Master II, a version of the classic model introduced into the collection in April in a new colourway, with a grey and black bezel (ref. 126710GRNR).
Other results from the Esquire arm of Subdial’s survey found Tudor's Submariner top responses to the question of what reissue readers would most like to see (19.4 per cent), and both Blancpain and Tudor tied at the top (22.6 per cent) of findings for “brands you didn’t used to be interested in but are now”.
Omega’s white Moonwatch also conclusively “won” Subdial’s broader survey of its users, gathering 14.6 per cent of the vote for "watch of the year".
Rolex’s grey and black GMT-Master II trailed in second place here, with 9.4 per cent of the vote.
Vacheron Constantin’s Overseas in yellow gold with a green dial came third, with 8.6 per cent.
“People continue to love small innovations on old favourites,” says Christy Davis, Subdial’s co-founder. “The top three watches are all iterations on current production models. The Speedmaster blew all others out of the water, in part because it's such an historic model, in part because of the Daniel Craig effect, and to my mind in part because it evokes the white-dial ceramic Daytona in design.”
Other findings from Subdial’s survey see Cartier topping the table of brands its database say they have newly become interested in.
The watchmaker has used 2024 to build out its core line-up, adding to its Santos Automatic, Santos Dumont and Tank collections.
Meanwhile, its vintage models continue to be seen on the wrists of influential celebrities, including Tyler the Creator, and Timothée Chalamet.
There were other conclusions to draw, too.
“The key takeaway for me is that whilst old favourites remain popular, there are rumblings of significant upheaval in collector tastes,” Davis says.
“New trends like small case sizes, precious metals, and indie brands are on the rise suggests people are looking further afield for inspiration. It does feel like tectonic plates are beginning to shift in the watch market and we'll only see more disruption as these younger collectors make up more and more of the market.
“We also had a lot of people saying 'Please no more reissues' in response to our question around the most wanted re-issue model.”
You can read all the results of Subdial’s survey here.
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