We were not kidding when we said in our SIHH overview that it’s going be a great year for ladies who are in the hunt for new watches.

The first of a two-parter – the other featuring women’s watches, natch – we present these awesome tickers for gents that made us wished we spent more wisely last year.

All the important trends, shake-ups and low-down of the past horological year.

From industry-standard workhorses to epochal calibres, here are the movements that shaped modern watchmaking.

When Ulysse Nardin released the Freak watch with a silicon escapement in 2001 (above), it polarised the industry. One camp championed the revolutionary material and architecture...

It was the Age of Discovery, 15th century. The need to discover the world drove European powers to launch voyages east and west. However, mariners of the time sailed the world with...