Very fancy potatoes! Maverick watch designers! The best watches of 2024! Yes, it’s Issue 9 of NOW, the Time+Tide Watch Buying Guide…

Luke Benedictus

Planning to invest a hefty sum of money on a new watch? Let’s face it: we’re hardly going to be the ones to deter you. But we also understand that you’ll want to be fully informed of your options before you splash the cash. The problem is that it’s almost impossible to stay on top of the avalanche of new releases that continue to drop on a daily basis. So far in 2024, Grand Seiko alone has already delivered more than 20 new models… But what if there was one highly informed resource that expertly curated all the best releases into one handy guide for your perusal? Well, as luck would have it, Issue 9 of NOW, the Time+Tide Watch Buying Guide is here!

The Guide features 164 of this year’s best watch releases (so far). Catering to every budget, the selected pieces range from a US$200 Casio G-Shock GA-2300 to the US$620,000 A. Lange & Söhne Datograph Perpetual Tourbillon Honeygold Lumen. Whether you’re after a daily beater or something to spunk your bonus on, there’ll be something here for your wrist.

In addition, there are also a host of features on the issues dominating the watch world’s agenda. Is the industry in terminal freefall? A host of troublesome issues are currently impacting the watch business ranging from rising interest rates to the sky-rocketing prices of gold. To assess how bad things really are, we’ve assembled a panel of horological movers and shakers – leading journalists, fiercely independent watchmakers, shrewd second-hand operators, and industry veterans – to share their unvarnished opinions on how bad things really are.

How will 2024 be remembered in watch design? We spoke to Emmanuel Gueit – the man behind the Audemars Piguet Offshore and Rolex Cellini, among others – to pick his five top hits and misses of the year. Emmanuel doesn’t pull any punches with his opinions, but some of his targets for criticism may surprise you.

If you believe in nominative determinism, it shouldn’t be any surprise that Adrian Bosshard is a watch brand CEO. But while most execs learnt the tricks of the trade at business school, Bosshard took the literal fast track. Before entering the industry and working his way up to become the CEO of Rado, Bosshard was a professional superbike rider on the MotoGP Tour and was once ranked in the world’s top 10. He tells T+T why driving motorbikes at speeds of up to 300 km/h was a surprisingly effective way to prepare for life in the watch world.

Clare Smyth has been named the best female chef in the world. She’s also a Hublot ambassador. But while most of these relationships feel tenuous at best, she explains why her culinary philosophy is the perfect match for the maverick watch brand. Just as Hublot elevated the rubber strap into a luxury wristwear proposition, Smyth takes a similar approach by making humble ingredients shine. Her signature dish “Potato and Roe” is essentially a very fancy roast potato transmogrified into a culinary miracle. Yes, it really is that good. All this and more in NOW Issue 9.

Issue 9 of NOW Magazine can be ordered both physically and digitally through the Time+Tide Shop, either online or you can pick up a copy for yourself at our Melbourne Discovery Studio. A digital copy will set you back A$7.95, and a physical + digital bundle will set you back A$19.95. Find out more and order your copy here.