2023 BIG BOLD PREDICTIONS
Just as the title says - what are your big bold predictions about watches for 2023?
Last year was a helluva year for new watches. I’d say Omega and Tudor dominated the new release news cycles with lots of really well executed launch events that garnered so much attention. From the Ranger, Black Bay Pro, to the controversial Moonswatch, 2022 was quite unpredictable.
So what are your guesses for what is to come in 2023? My guess: GS will launch an updated hi-beat GMT movement in a thinner case than before. There, I said it. I’m not sure if this is a prediction or just wishful thinking. But either way - let’s hear what you’ve got!
(The picture above is the GS SBGJ235 Mt. Iwate in a 44GS case and with the 9S86 calibre. Not mine - just took a picture when I tried it on in store at the NYC Madison Ave. boutique.)
Lifelong watch lover. Learning more every day about this hobby. See more photos on IG @morebillablehours
Apple will introduce a new version of the Apple Watch that is pretty much the same as the old one. The Royal Oak family will be the biggest seller for Audemars Piguet. Moonswatch demand will remain unmet.
Prices of all brands will go up several percent.
Rolex will be hard to get.
Microbrands will unveil an endless cascade of GMT watches.
From 2022 to 2023 the leader in increase of sales (by percentage) will be...Vostok. World events will no longer conspire to limit the market of the Everyman's dive watch.
From 2022 to 2023 the leader in increase of sales (by percentage) will be...Vostok. World events will no longer conspire to limit the market of the Everyman's dive watch.
Hope you are right, but I have my doubts about those world events going that way. 🤷
Rolex will flood the market by releasing a huge amount of stock that has accidentally remained in their warehouses because they forgot to replace the manager after he retired 3 years ago,you can get any model at any time for the MRP. The grey market will react and dump their stock and as a result all other luxury watch brands collapse because everyone can suddenly buy a Rolex. Patek and AP offer discounts and survive.
JLC will make a Reverso Dive watch.
I honestly hope that you are going to be right with your wishful thinking.
Mine would be a new Explorer II with all the great specs of the current reference 226570 including its 3285 movement, but simply having a smaller diameter of 40mm.
I mean, let a guy dream, right? :)
Omega will release another Seamaster, it will look like all the other Seamasters. It will have increased water resistance so all office workers of the world can unite in getting under their desks and pretend they are deactivating a sea-mine when they plug in their computer monitors.
Tudor will release a Black Bay.
People will continue to struggle over whether to wear a Vostok. As a compromise, everyone will keep buying them from sellers in Ukraine instead of Russia.
People will still complain that they can’t get a Rolex.
Cartier will continue to make great watches, and people will continue to ask if/why Cartier is a fashion brand and praise how they managed to come out of nowhere in the last 5 years. These same people will not buy a Cartier.
Seiko will both continue to satisfy everyone whilst simultaneously missing the mark completely. They will not fix the QC issues and charge even more money to phone it in. Grand Seiko will see their high-end status increasingly eroded away with Seiko adding more Spring Drive and quality hi-beat movements to their ever-growing mid/upper-range, and no one will understand where the Grand begins and Seiko ends. Everyone will recommend Seiko divers as dress watches as this years must have accessory is a blue one-piece suit.
Citizen will continue to be unseen, but definitely heard, because the Miyota rotors are noisy as f***. The newly developed 10x series, released at the end of the year, will break the sound-barrier.
Annoyed that Richard Mille stole the crown for the thinnest watch movement, Bvlgari will release a watch that tells the time via vapour, and thus creating a movement so fine it has to be smelt rather than seen. Annoyed by this, Richard Mille, for £550k, will basically give you a button you can press and newly-retired Roger Federer will be air-dropped to your location and bark the time at you in both French and English. For an additional £100k he can be gold-plated.
Mido will continue to make watches, but the Swatch Group will actually stop selling them, and tell Mido they are a good boy and Mummy is proud of them, and hang them all on the fridge door.
Ulysse Nardin will continue to elicit the reaction - who? The next edition of the Freak will effectively be able to summon CthulhIu, but only if connected to the WiFi.
The waitlist for anOrdain will get so long that the company, alongside Irn Bru, are effectively the only industry left in Scotland with any economic viability once the oil runs out.
Islander will make a watch that everyone wants, and sell it for a reasonable price, but no one will buy it because it’s exactly what they wanted at a reasonable price but isn’t a $250 Seiko homage.
Timefactors Smiths, in their increasing dedication to provide the best customer service possible, will supply all new Everests with a slap in the face.
Tag will continue to release collaborations with anything remotely random. Look out for the limited edition Formula 1 with Campbells Soup, and the Autavia limited editions each haunted by the ghost of a different small Victorian child. The Tourbillon will be £50k - why - because f*** you that’s why.
Pagani Design will release a homage of one of their own homages, and implode under the weight of the critical mass. JOMW will be sucked into the vortex.
Oris will probably release a decent watch, but no one will talk about it, other than Teddy. Kevin will pick a watch with a better dial.
Hublot will continue to delight all within the industry as they are everyone’s favourite brand. Yay! Love you Hublot.
Tissot will continue to stalk Gerald Genta, continuing their R&D process of raiding his bins every night to see what he discards and converting it into whatever will come after the PRX.
Longines and Hamilton will continue to get it right, but be completely overshadowed by everyone else. Hamilton watches will continue to be seen throughout Christopher Nolan’s next film, which is odd considering it will be set in the Renaissance Period. Tenet, as a film, will finally make sense.
Breitling continue to exist, but no one who works there remembers who they are or what they do.
Blancpain will release yet another Fifty Fathoms - seriously they have. I wish I was making that up.
Tudor will make a BB Pro polor dial and also make A BB58 GMT with a slimmer case size but keep it in 39mm with a rotating bezel.
Adrian Barker still harping on that money can be made out of Rolex’s
Bremont still existing, much to the excitement of the crowd of 4.
Cartier succumbing to omega because of the distress it caused to its cult
Dive watches will be the new Dress watch, much to the chagrin of tuxedo wearing gents (an almost extinct specie)
Fake watches finally catch up, or be better, than gens
GS will still depict nature on their watches, innovate beyond spring drive, be extremely accurate, hand made and ppl will still not buy them because of a bracelet
HAQ will be the new Haute Horologie
Invicta will release a brand of digital watches
Jody will sell his BB58
Kurono Tokyo will release a line of dive watches
Longines fever hypes up with a collaboration with Supreme
Moser reluctantly does a watch that actually makes sense
Nomos will still be bauhaus’s uglier cousin
Omega still perpetuating someone went to the moon, and continues to make a relevant chrono for the continued missions to the moon, supposedly
Panerai finally admits they were working with Tag and Bremont
Rolex literally does nothing as it has used up its creative juices for 20mm thick dress watch
Swatch still controlling Moonswatch stocks as if they were selling Rolex
Tudor designs a watch in a 39mm x 11.9mm case
VC gets demoted to “luxury” tier because it finally has a sport watch appropriately rated at 150m water resistance
Zenith releases yet another, chronograph, but in bronze (3 years too late)
Well done for stomaching all of that… I doubt many can actually see it as I’m probably muted.
Re: Citizen, it’s hit and miss - all my 8xxx series are noisy. I’ve heard many complain about the 9xxx but I’ve not found it to be that bad when I’ve handled them, rotor is noticeable. It was pretty harsh from me, but hey… it’s on brand.