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Watches should provoke debate and enjoyment

Compiling the latest issue featuring our Watches of the Year was fun, inspiring and far from dilemma free. 

Now in its third year, WatchPro’s Watches of the Year is an opportunity to celebrate the watches that have made a real impact in the year to date, whether because of their innovative design, captivating complications, fashion credentials or, in some cases, because you just can’t quite believe what you are seeing.

While there are always some stand-out favourites, I very much doubt you need me to tell you just how many brands and watchmakers are creating watches worth celebrating, which is great news for this thriving industry but has made our job of whittling them down much more challenging.

It is thanks to the exciting diversity of the market that the decision making is tough, which is also why there are 10 categories for our hero watches, allowing them to be judged not only on their price tag, number of carats and jaw-dropping complications, but on elements such as emerging technologies, mass market appeal and even, as rising stars, the brands and watchmakers that have made a great first impression on the industry and consumers over the past year.

Quite rightly, decisions about the stand-out watches of 2013 are often led by the watches that illicit an emotional and personal response. That’s why during the process, as well as revisiting the watches that got everyone talking at the likes of BaselWorld, SIHH and the London Watch Show, we called upon our readers, brands, watchmakers, retailers and journalists for their nominations of the watches that have made a lasting impression and asked them why.

It has been an exciting project that has provoked debate and enjoyment in spades, which if you think about it, is what watches are all about. So grab a cup of tea, put your feet up and delve into our Watches of the Year issue online, which I hope will intrigue, delight and I’m sure provide some surprises along the way.

This column was taken from the Watches of the Year 2013 edition of WatchPro magazine. To read the issue in full online, click here.
 

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