50 watches we loved this year

10 watches for world travellers

Omega released a tribute to the watch NASA astronaut Walter Schirra wore on the Sigma 7 mission on the Mercury programme in 1962; there are GMTs to monitor what’s going on in multiple time zones; and water resistants that will take you deeper than ever did plummet sound.

From left: Panerai ceramic Luminor Dieci Giorni GMT Ceramica, £16,800. Patek Philippe white-gold World Time, £65,000. Rolex Everose-gold Oyster Perpetual Sky-Dweller, £47,200, watches-of-switzerland.com. Omega steel Speedmaster “First Omega in Space”, £7,400. Longines titanium Spirit Zulu Time, £3,900

From left: Louis Vuitton rose-gold Escale, £25,100. Grand Seiko steel Mechanical GMT, £4,550. Blancpain titanium Air Command 42mm, £18,500. Montblanc steel Star Legacy Orbis Terrarum Around The World In 80 Days, £6,900. TAG Heuer steel Aquaracer Professional 300 Date & GMT, £3,650

Eight design classics

The iconic aesthetics of these pieces will transport you back through the decades, from Cartier’s early-20th-century Santos to TAG Heuer’s 1970s Monaco and a Barbie-pink take on Chanel’s 2015 Boyfriend.

From left: Rolex platinum Perpetual 1908, £26,600. Omega steel Seamaster Ploprof 1200m, £13,500. Cartier steel Santos de Cartier Dual Time, £8,800. Audemars Piguet gold [RE]Master02, £41,000

From left: TAG Heuer titanium Monaco Chronograph Racing Green, £8,150. Vacheron Constantin gold Patrimony Self-Winding, £34,000. Girard-Perregaux titanium Casquette 2.0 Saint Laurent 02, £5,225. Chanel gold and pink-sapphire Boy-friend Skeleton X-Ray Pink Edition, £108,000

10 statement pieces

Rolex says it with turquoise, Dior with pink, Richard Mille, Harry Winston and Lange & Söhne go multi-dial and Bamford says Snoopy.

From left: Richard Mille carbon TPT Automatic Split-Seconds Chronograph McLaren W1, SFr320,000 (about £284,000). Rolex white-gold Oyster Perpetual Day-Date, £56,950. Bamford Watch Department x Franck Muller titanium and black PVD “Crazy Love” Snoopy, £28,000. Alabaster Industries stainless-steel, citrine and tiger’s eye Silver Core, £3,150. Bell & Ross ceramic BR-03 Horizon, £3,990

From left: Breguet rose-gold Type XX Chronograph 2067, £35,500. Dior steel La D My Dior, £4,200. Harry Winston white-gold Ocean Tourbillon GMT Worldtimer, POA. A Lange & Söhne gold Datograph Handwerkskunst, £200,000. Zenith steel Defy Skyline Tourbillon Felipe Pantone, €65,000

Six Technicolor dreams

Watches can be elegant, they can be decadent, they can be practical – but sometimes you just want something way out there that puts a smile on your face. Look no further…

From left: TAG Heuer Arnite Formula 1 | Kith, £1,350. Hublot sapphire-crystal and jewel Classic Fusion Takashi Murakami Sapphire Rainbow, from about £199,000, chrono24.co.uk. Cartier rose-gold Santos-Dumont, £14,900. Jacob & Co rose-gold and multicoloured-sapphire Brilliant Full Baguette Rainbow, POA, watchesofmayfair.com. Jaeger-LeCoultre pink-gold Rendez-Vous Jewellery Tourbillon, POA. Swatch bioceramic Break Free, £115

Eight lunar cycle complications

This year there seems to be something in the horological zeitgeist that wants to reconnect us with the origins of time. Of all “mainstream” watch complications, the moonphase indicator, which displays the waxing and waning of the moon over roughly 29 and a half days through an aperture in the dial, is arguably the least directly useful to the wearer. It’s also the reason why you should love it. Nick Foulkes

From left: Christopher Ward steel C1 Moonphase, £2,155. IWC Schaffhausen platinum Portugieser Eternal Calendar, about £150,000. Omega x Swatch bioceramic Mission to the Moonphase Full Moon, £270. Raymond Weil steel and rose-gold Millesime Automatic Moonphase, £2,075

From left: Blancpain red-gold Villeret Quantième Perpétuel, £47,100. Vacheron Constantin The Berkley Grand Complication, POA. Jaeger-LeCoultre platinum Duometre Chronograph Moon, £81,500. Frédérique Constant steel Classic Moonphase Date Manufacture, £3,495

Eight retro classics

This year Casio celebrates its 50th anniversary. Think Marty McFly in Back to the Future, tiny wrist calculators and the joy of myriad functions, from a light to an alarm that will play Happy Birthday at the touch of a button. The digital watch remains a thing of retrofuturist genius…

From left: Autodromo steel Group C, £420. Breitling titanium Aerospace B70 Orbiter, £3,950. Casio F-91W, £24.90. Omega titanium Seamaster Regatta America’s Cup, £7,000