CH24.PLCH24 Watch of the Year 2023 – winners of the 14th edition!
Hereby we present you the winners of the 14th edition of our “CH24 Watch of the Year”. International […]
2020 CH24 Watch of the Year – the winners
It is with great pleasure we present you the list of this year’s laureates of the 2020 CH24 Watch of the Year. Sixty nominated timepieces competed in several categories, including the “Grand Prix” and a “Public Prize”.
For the reasons we are all aware of, 11th edition of the CH24 Watch of the Year had to go online. We wished to crown it with our traditional dinner gala in Warsaw – that already secured its place in the annual watch-related events calendar – but sadly it was simply not an option. The celebration will go as planned next year – with a blast – which doesn’t change the fact we have still selected the best timepieces of passing 2020. 11-strong international jury (discover all members HERE) worked hard through the year and on October 1st introduced the list of nominees. Sixty watches grouped in six categories: “Classic Watch”, “Sports Watch”, “Ladies Watch”, “Complicated Watch”, “Innovation in watchmaking” and “Watch priced up to 2 500 EUR”. “Public Prize” has also been chosen, by the readers of CH24. The jury selected additionally two final laureates: “Special Jury Prize” and the “Grand Prix” for the absolute best watch of the year. Without farther ado – here are the 2020 CH24 Watch of the Year most advantageous and engaging new timepieces of past 12 months.
“Public Prize” – Certina DS PH200M “Blue”
The original version of the DS PH200 was our 2018 winner in the “Watch priced up to 2 500 EUR” category. The new, improved version of the watch, nicknamed “Blue”, won the highest number of nearly 10,000 votes. Certina has improved significantly in almost every aspect of watchmaking over the past few years, and the blue DS PH200 is a prime example of this progress.
Marc Aellen – CEO Certina – talks about the received award.
Complicated Watch – A. Lange & Söhne Zeitwerk Minute Repeater white gold
Amongst all the watchmaking’s Grand Complications a minute repeater has always been the impressive one, hardest to craft correctly too. To make a mechanical watch chime on-demand with a set of perfectly tuned notes is one hell of a task, but Lange decided that’s not enough of a challenge. The minute repeater was introduced to the Zeitwerk, a digital-display watch with time indication on a set of two printed discs for the hours and the minutes. Complicated watchmaking of Lange’s mechanics goes hand-in-hand with avant-garde aesthetics, packed in white gold and blue dial. It is a unique watch without the slightest doubt.
Wilhelm Schmid – CEO A. Lange & Söhne – talks about the received award.
Classic Watch – Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Ultra Thin Kingsman Knife
With each next edition of our CH24 Watch of the Year, we debate what makes a classic watch. This year’s proud winner – Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Ultra Thin Kingsman Knife – is a classic, elegant timepiece, conservative but with a great taste. A gold, superbly slim case has a crown positioned unusually at twelve o’clock. It houses a slim mechanical movement with a manual winding that powers a set of only two blued hands gliding over a cream beige dial. The watch will be worn by the Kingsman agents, under cuffs of their perfectly tailored shirts and jackets – and that means the timepiece gained approval by the most elegant street in the world – Savile Row.
Watch priced up to 2 500 EUR – Doxa SUB 300 “Caribbean”
There only a handful of watches among the so-called icons of watchmaking, that are both historically significant and affordably priced at the same time. SUB 300 originally was introduced in the second half of the 1960s as a proper tool-watch, created for professional diving. 2020 marked the return of a classic, non-limited version, available in six different colours. The watch presents a perfect combo of vintage vibe with modern quality of execution and good mechanics, COSC certified to that.
Jan Edöcs – CEO Doxa – talks about the received award.
Ladies Watch – Vacheron Constantin Égérie Moon Phase
Every year we learn more and more that ladies taste in watches is quite sublime and no less demanding than men’s. Out of 10 nominated pieces the jury awarded the Égérie Moon Phase by Vacheron Constantin – a crafted in Geneva watch that combines elegant style and high-quality watchmaking, fully mechanical too. Women can discover a bit of jewellery charm in the Égérie, paired with mechanical magic because the Moon Phase certainly is the most poetic of all complications.
Christian Gasplmayr – Managing Director EMEA at Vacheron Constantin – talks about the received award.
Sports Watch – Omega Speedmaster Moonwatch 321 “Ed White”
Over half a century ago Omega flew into space and on the wrist of Buzz Aldrin – a member of the Apollo 11 mission – landed on the surface of the Moon. Speedmaster thus became a watchmaking icon, and probably the most coveted sports watch ever made. First Speedies were powered by the 321 manual calibre, and this year the iconic mechanism marked its return. Speedmaster Moonwatch 321 “Ed White” – our 2020 Sports Watch of the Year – was inspired by the piece that Ed White wore on his wrist when performing first-ever American spacewalk in June of 1965.
Innovation in watchmaking – Bulgari Octo Finissimo Troubillon Chronograph Skeleton
There are many ways for introducing innovation into the classic art of making mechanical watches, all the way from exotic, modern materials, through extraordinary design and modern methods of measuring time. Bulgari has been successfully combining couple of them in the Octo Finissimo collection for already a few years. Octo is a perfect mixture of totally fresh design and some modern materials, but on top of that introduces manufactured movements that break records. Another was established by the Tourbillon Chronograph Skeleton Automatic, the thinnest ever automatic chronograph with a tourbillon. Finissimo never stops to impress with ever so original approach to watchmaking, and our 2020 “Innovation” of the year is more than perfect prove. A cherry on the Bulgari cake.
Jean-Christophe Babin – CEO Bulgari – talks about the received award.
Special Jury Prize – Jean-Christophe Babin
In the course of the past ten years, the Special Jury Prizes honoured the likes of Jean-Claude Biver, François-Paul Journe, Maximilian Büsser (and his MB&F), Edouard Meylan and Walter Lange. All of them contributed significantly to the growth and preservation of watchmaking and its future. 2020 was, by all means, a year of Jean-Christophe Babin.
Born in Paris, 61 years old Babin is since 2013 at the helm of Bulgari, to which he came from TAG Heuer. Under his leadership, Bulgari grew and developed. And in the face of a global pandemic, it even joined the fight against the spread of the virus.
Jean-Christophe Babin – CEO Bulgari – talks about the received award.
Jean-Christophe Babin transformed the jewellery-oriented brand into a respected watchmaker, matching Italian temper and genius of design with Swiss craftsmanship. Octo Finissimo will have its forever place in the pantheon of watchmaking. On top of that, Babin also creates initiative of Geneva Watch Days – a brand new format of industry fair, that just like the Octo, can write a new page in the history of horology.
Grand Prix – Bulgari Octo Finissimo Tourbillon Chronograph Skeleton Automatic
By the decision of the jury our 2020 CH24 Watch of The Year – the recipient of the Grand Prix – is a record-breaking slim chronograph from Bulgari. No other watch among this year’s nominees so significantly combines mechanical innovation, the slim profile of a genuinely refined timepiece, a sporty vibe of titanium and the sportiest of complications paired with a high-end tourbillon regulator.
The entire titanium Octo Finissimo Tourbillon Chronograph Skeleton Automatic case measure just 7,4 mm in thickness, and that is far less than most of the mechanical watches out there, not to mention the chronographs. To achieve that slimness, the Bulgari has put all the features and automatic winding into a calibre of 3.5mm – or we should say slim. It is truly a phenomenal showcase of watchmaking craft, deserving every prize.
Jean-Christophe Babin – CEO Bulgari – talks about the received award.
CH24 WOTY would not have been possible without our partners: Porsche and Pernod-Ricard (The Glenlivet). Our media partners were Men’s Health and Elle Man. Honorary patronage over the event has been held by Mr Jurg Burri, Ambassador of Switzerland in Poland.
