Editors’ Picks: The Best Sport Watches Of 2024, So Far
With the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad now fully underway in Paris – and dozens of medals awarded to the world’s best athletes by the day – it got us thinking about the best of 2024 in a similar vein: sport watches. What are the best releases of the year so far, and why?
So, we tasked our editors with handing out their personal gold medals. While we’re just past halfway through 2024, and more entries in the category will certainly emerge before the end of the year, these are our winners so far. Whether your speed is a sub-$500 MoonSwatch or a million-dollar-plus Richard Mille, check out our picks below.
Mark Kauzlarich: The Richard Mille RM 27-05 Flying Tourbillon Rafael Nadal
I want to note that I originally picked a much more affordable watch. My gut was to go with Omega’s new white dial Speedmaster – a watch I spent a lot of time with and definitely will have to buy in the near future – but I left that to my colleague TanTan, who already put his money where his mouth with. So that leaves me with the freedom to go for something extreme, and extremely sporty. There’s hardly anything more extreme than a Richard Mille.
Look, I get the gut reaction to think that Richard Mille is overpriced or just a flex piece. I also haven’t seen this watch in person. But when you see the specs on the RM 27-05, you just have to shake your head and laugh. The watch has a single-sided (flying) tourbillon movement in a Carbon TPT® B.4 case that’s 7.2mm thick and weighs just 11.5 grams (including the strap). Even crazier, the watch is then tested for 300 G’s. Oh, and it costs $1,150,000 and is limited to 80 pieces. That’s exactly the kind of craziness I have come to love about Richard Mille, even if it’s a price I can never even begin to imagine.
TanTan Wang: The Omega Speedmaster Moonwatch With White Lacquer Dial
The best sport watch of this year in my book is the new white dial Omega Speedmaster Moonwatch. I’ve owned this watch for a few months now, and having owned and sold a few iterations of the tried-and-true black dial Moonwatches, this is the keeper for me.
In a lineup where the black 3861 Moonwatch is the perfect way to appreciate a direct descendant of horological and astronautical history, all the subtle changes on the new white dial make it feel like the first truly modern Moonwatch release from the Swatch Group. White dial Speedmasters are nothing new, as Mark highlights in his Week on the Wrist, but this one as a Moonwatch feels different.
With the extreme contrast of black PVD hands and indices against a richly lacquered white dial and markers being raised instead of printed, the dial is now dimensional. It makes the watch feel thoroughly refreshed and feels more than just a new colorway. While I wasn’t sure initially how I was going to feel about the red printing of “Speedmaster” on the dial in addition to the color-tipped chronograph seconds hand, after wearing it for a while, I’ve grown to appreciate the extra splash of color. It’s all of these small elements combined that make it more dynamic (and, dare I say, interesting) compared to its stoic older brother.
Tony Traina: The Tudor Black Bay 58 GMT
“Best” is such a loaded term and seems to imply some sort of objectivity on something that’s inherently subjective. Is it the best reissue? For that, maybe the Zenith Defy Revival. The best sized-down take on an already fan-favorite that I’d choose but I’m pretty sure Stacey will? Here’s your Doxa Sub 200T. Best super car? Maybe an RM.
Looking at the list of my fellow editors, I don’t see THE maker of modern, mechanical sports watches represented yet, and even if I did, adding another wouldn’t hurt. The best sport watch of 2024 so far is the Tudor Black Bay 58 GMT. It might sound boring and predictable but that’s only because Tudor is so consistently good.
Six years ago, Tudor introduced both the Black Bay 58 and the Black Bay GMT. Pretty much ever since we’ve been asking the two to cross-pollinate. Finally, six years later, and perhaps too late to get the attention it deserves, Tudor gave us the Black Bay 58 GMT. At first, I didn’t like the bezel. Then, I saw some old, old GMT-Masters with those rich, aged Bakelite bezels and kind of got what Tudor was going for (see the 6542 in yesterday’s photo report for what I mean). It’s about 1mm thicker than my Black Bay 58 and a solid few GLP-1 injections thinner than the Black Bay Pro, and still, it’s a Master Chronometer. You can kick and scream about faux rivets or gilt accents or whatever else, and you’re not totally wrong, but they just don’t bother me that much. Or at least they don’t distract from the fact that I think the 58 GMT is a great watch. In a world awash in GMTs, Tudor’s made one that still manages to stand out.
Rich Fordon: The Snoopy MoonSwatch Mission To Moonphase New Moon
The more I talk to watch collectors this summer, the more an odd trend keeps popping up. With a box full of watches at home, in the sock drawer, or in the safe, many are turning to some variant of a MoonSwatch for the hottest summer days. Either on vacation or running errands around an insufferably hot New York City, the quartz-powered bioceramic Omega x Swatch is getting a lot of wrist time. What I mean to say is that my pick here is not as tongue-in-cheek as you may think at first glance. Put simply, when I evaluate a sport watch, a big factor that might make it the “best” of the year so far is wearability on the hottest, most humid days doing the most relaxing (laying on a beach) or most annoying (going to the dry cleaner, barber shop, and grocery store on foot) activities.
In July of 2024, my take on the MoonSwatch is unabashedly positive. Two years ago, it was the epitome of a hype watch to many in the watch world – I get that. But today, possibly because Omega and Swatch keep at it, releasing more and more variants as the months go by, I have been worn down. Worn down to accept the MoonSwatch as a watch rather than a polemical totem. I firmly believe these are great products that serve a real purpose for watch wearers.
You can do anything wearing a MoonSwatch (of course, you’ll probably want to swap out the stock strap for a NATO) and still feel good about what is on your wrist. The design is still the Moonwatch that we know and love! The Black Snoopy variant scratches a major itch for me, if it doesn’t for you, that’s fine – you can have a different best sport watch of the year so far!
Jonathan McWhorter: The Zenith Chronomaster Original Triple Calendar
This is the year I am (re)discovering Zenith. With masterful reissue after reissue, it’s hard for me not to develop a soft spot for the brand, which is why my pick for the “best” sport watch of this year is not one that necessarily pushes the format, but one that looks backward: the Chronomaster Original Triple Calendar.
My first taste of watch collecting started in the world of vintage watches, and specifically, I remember being fascinated when I first learned what a triple calendar was. This is everything I thought a watch could be, partly because they literally contained everything that I thought a watch could: day, date, month, chronograph, and what the heck – a moon phase? Cut to 2024, and Zenith puts another feather in their cap of incredible reissues with their execution of one of my favorite sports watch formulas.
The Chronomaster Original Triple Calendar follows the usual recipe from the brand: change (nearly) nothing. This one isn’t a full 1:1 like some of its contemporaries, but it’s near as makes no difference to me. The case is a perfect size; the chronograph is a high-beat El-Primero treat, and, of course, there’s still the day/date/month/moon phase packed into that tidy case. It’s my pick for best sport watch (so far) because it’s a completely familiar take on the theme but very much unexpected, yet welcome, in a modern context.
Much like Tony in his Intro piece, I’ve really come to appreciate how Zenith is both pushing their catalog forward in terms of interesting watchmaking and through thoughtful Revivals celebrating their past, and hope they keep it up – they’ve got my attention more than ever before.
James Stacey: The Doxa Sub 200T
While it’s true that my heart really wanted to pick the Momentum UDT Eclipse, that’s a watch that I have not yet seen in person, so we’re going to go with another favorite for the year so far – the Doxa Sub 200T. Essentially a downsized and somewhat more simple take on the cult classic form of the 300T, the 200T was announced for Watches & Wonders 2024 this past spring, and Doxa is making the model more than a dozen colors. Shown above, we have the silver-dialed “Searambler” colorway.
Priced at $1,590 on a steel bracelet – or a few bucks less on a firm rubber – the 200T offers the core Doxa aesthetic at a price point that undercuts both the 300T and the vintage-inspired 300 (which pushes towards $2,600 depending on the spec). Assuming you’re a fan of the look (I deeply am), there is nothing that wears like a Doxa Sub, and the smaller 39mm case of the Sub 200T only opens that world to a wider range of wrists.
Additionally, the brand does colors about as good as any ever have, and the Sub 200T offers all of Doxa’s core “Iconic” and a new range of “Sunray” versions with a brightly brushed finish for the dial. For the cash, you get a watch with real design provenance born in the golden era of dive watches (the classic Sub 300 was originally launched in 1967). Add in a simple Swiss-made Sellita SW200 automatic and 200 meters of water resistance, and you have a fun and charming sports watch that wears well, looks great, and offers an excellent entry point into the cult of Doxa.
Hodinkee
