We brought you the best dress watches of 2024 recently, and in that article we defined the dress watch. The sports watch is effectively the opposite of a dress watch. It must be waterproof, which often (though not always) makes sports watches thicker, wider, and heavier than dressers (except when crafted from ceramic and carbon, of course). A sports watch must be highly legible (unless diamond encrusted or otherwise prioritizing form over function). It must be durable, shock-resistant, scratch proof, and, above all else, a functional-yet-stylish watch you can wear 24/7/365.
The sports-watch category first emerged after World War II as profession-oriented tool watches—often developed for military use first (think pilots watch, or SCUBA watch)—became increasingly fashionable for civilians. The cultural impulse there is interesting: Some men, whose identities and adrenaline-cycles were wrapped up in having served as soldiers, began to chafe against their comfortable civilian roles in the suburban middle class. Khaki trousers, aviator sunglasses and bomber jackets—each a military staple—became a means for civilians to gain back some of that wartime masculinity.
In 1953, Marlon Brando took that look and attitude to extremes in The Wild One, and by the 1960s Steve McQueen and Paul Newman had become icons of a newly minted rugged, casual masculinity that called for tool watches. Look at how the commensurate Boomer Joe Biden dresses today—Ray-Ban aviators and Rolex Oyster Perpetual 41 always on—and you get the idea.
By the 1970s, the sports watch went upmarket, with precious metals, diamonds, and price tags to match becoming the disco-ready norm. During that decade, the Gerald Genta-designed high-end sports watch with an integrated bracelet was born: first was Genta’s Royal Oak for Audemars Piguet (1972), then his Patek Philippe Nautilus and IWC Ingenieur SL (both 1976). After that, the elegant sports-watch category flourished across brands, and it flourished again starting around 2018 in an overwhelming demand for integrated bracelet watches.
2024 is shaping up to be yet another banner year for the sports watch, though with some of the bigger brands—and most notably Rolex—taking the bling down a few notches and returning to the toolish nature deep in the genre’s DNA. Personally, I find this a refreshing break from the look-at-me aesthetics of the previous few years, and I’m pleased to present the following timepieces as the very best of 2024’s sports watches.
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Rolex GMT Master II
Image Credit: Rolex Thank you, Rolex, for acting like Rolex again. This is the GMT Master II that was missing from the modern catalog for far too long. The gray and black bezel is borrowed from the solid gold and two-tone versions of the GMT Master II. Without the gilded contrast, however, this monochromatic bezel merges into the Oystersteel (904L) case, allowing the Rolex-green GMT hand and single line of text to—I won’t say pop—but sit in the design with sublime understatement that’s becoming of a proper Rolex Professional model. Sometimes it’s best not to try so hard, to return to basics, and let the timelessness of a great design do the talking. However, it may be much more difficult to get one at retail than it was back in the good old days.
Size: 40 mm
Water resistance: 100 meters
Movement: Caliber 3285 with date and 24-hour GMT hand
Price: $10,900 on Jubilee, $10,700 on Oyster bracelet -
Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar ‘John Mayer’
Image Credit: Audemars Piguet John, well done, man. Let’s get to the guts, which are what Audemars Piguet claims are the very last of the venerable caliber 5134 self-winding perpetual calendar movements, something of a legendary machine. Only 200 of these John Mayer Royal Oaks will be offered to select clients, and apparently that’s the end of caliber 5134—which I confess bums me out a little. Now, let’s talk about water resistance, which is only 20 meters here, making this watch fall somewhat short of the sports-watch requirements I’ve laid out above. However, in the spirit of elevating the sports watch, Audemars Piguet has managed to offer a self-winding perpetual calendar—one of the most densely packed movements in the world—in a white gold case that’s only 41 mm across and a mere 9.5 mm tall. Damn, those are sexy dimensions, and no one is going SCUBA diving with this thing anyways, right John? The “Crystal Blue” seems to set the sub-dials into a galaxy of horological awesomeness.
Size: 41 mm x 9.5 mm
Water resistance: 30 meters
Movement: caliber 5134 self-winding perpetual calendar
Price: Upon request (limited to 200 pieces) -
Patek Philippe Reference 5164G Aquanaut Travel Time
Image Credit: Patek Philippe I am not alone among the watch aficionados here at Robb Report in finding the denim straps Patek Philippe attached to far too many of its 2024 models a bit uncool. Was this a bid for a youthful audience? Maybe that denim strap just doesn’t fly for us Americans who invented Levi’s and have strong opinions about which shade of denim is acceptable and which parts of the body denim belongs on (i.e., not wrists). With that complaint aired, I did find the blue dials Patek Philippe offered this year gorgeous, and when the brand puts a proper rubber strap on the new white gold Aquanaut Travel Time, it’s like drinking a cool glass of water from a pristine Alps-fed Swiss lake. The movement is one of the best going, with dual-hour hands for tracking home and local time zones, plus subtle indicators of a.m./p.m. for both home and local time. So smart, so chic, so unsuited to light blue denim.
Size: 40.8 mm x 10.2 mm
Water resistance: 120 meters
Movement: Caliber 26-330 S C FUS
Price: $63,043 -
Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF Micro-Rotor
Image Credit: Parmigiani Fleurier I’m a sucker for a salmon dial—and perhaps we should use the proper term here, which is “gilded dial.” If you like these dials, too, then you’ll be in for a treat considering the dressiest-of-dressy dials housed inside a super cool stainless steel case providing a full 100 meters of water resistance. “Every element of this timepiece reflects our vision of discreet and timeless refinement,” says Parmigiani CEO Guido Terreni. The lack of complication here—very much unlike the Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar above—allows Parmigiani to scale this one down to just 7.8 mm thick. That’s nuts, really, and super sexy on the wrist. Like all movements from the maison in Fleurier, Switzerland, the Parmigiani caliber PF703 is finished to a level on par with Patek Philippe and Vacheron Constantin, which are known for the art. The micro-rotor is effective and fun to watch through the rear window.
Size: 40 mm x 7.8 mm
Water resistance: 100 meters
Movement: Caliber PF703
Price: $25,300 -
Vacheron Constantin Overseas Dual Time in Pink Gold With Green Dial
Image Credit: Vacheron Constantin If you’ve never tried on a Vacheron Constantin Overseas, you’re just not getting the full picture of how incredible these watches are. I’ve personally watched two reasonable men who held reservations about both the brand and the model become instant converts when slipping an Overseas onto their wrist. One of them bought one within a week. Why so good? It’s the size, first; this watch wears like every other 40 mm watch, despite being 42.5 mm across. Then there’s the finishing, which is off the chart—truly unsurpassed, in my opinion (the movement wears the Geneva Seal). But the star of the show may be the bracelet, which is gorgeous, super comfortable, and easily swapped out in under 30 seconds for the included rubber or leather options, both of which are best in class. Pink gold? Green dial? Move over Rolex, there’s a new king of the verdant shades in town.
Size: 41 mm x 12 mm
Water resistance: 150 meters
Movement: Caliber 5110 DT/2 dual-time with auto-winding system
Price: $75,500 -
Girard-Perregaux Laureto 42 mm in Rose Gold With Green Dial
Image Credit: Girard-Perregaux Look familiar? Some mistake these for Royal Oaks, and obviously this model matches Vacheron’s offering into the category for 2024, as seen above. However, we can’t say that Vacheron Constantin started the green dial trend, nor can we say that Vacheron is as up to the minute as Girard-Perregaux with this lovely sage green clous de Paris dial—that term referring to the tiny pyramids that make up this dial’s engraving pattern. During the integrated-bracelet craze of a few years ago, GP came to the rescue of those desperate to have a great Swiss sportster on their wrists, and the Laureto has pretty much joined the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak, Patek Philippe Nautilus, and Vacheron Overseas as a must-have for enthusiasts and collectors—as it should, having been born in 1975, just before the Genta-designed Patek and IWC offerings in the category. It’s slim, robust, drop-dead gorgeous and you have a shot at buying one at retail. What else do you want?
Size: 42 mm x 10.68 mm
Water resistance: 50 meters
Movement: Caliber GP01800 auto-winding mechanical in-house movement with pink gold oscillating weight
Price: $51,900 -
Blancpain 42 mm Fifty Fathoms in Titanium
Image Credit: Blancpain There’s a rose gold version of this watch that is just beautiful. However, when a dear old friend of mine wandered into the Blancpain boutique on Madison Avenue earlier this week, he tried on the new titanium 42 mm Fifty Fathoms and—I kid you not—promptly said to the gentleman, “Ring me up, Pete!” Why titanium over the gorgeous solid gold? Because on the full titanium bracelet he still didn’t feel like he was wearing much of anything, and because the Fifty Fathoms was, upon its release in 1953, a military-derived tool for civilians. The vibes of the titanium model are 100 percent in keeping with those important post-World War II historical roots. As for the size, Blancpain is responding to requests for a more reasonably proportioned Fifty Fathoms, which the 45 mm is not for those of smaller build. Also, the movement is beautiful, with a solid-gold rotor (for a-magnetism, in fact) plated in dark-gray rhodium to preserve the toolish look of this amazing dive watch. It’s available on rubber, NATO nylon, sailcloth or titanium bracelet—but go for the bracelet, as my buddy so wisely did.
Size: 42 mm x 14.2 mm
Water resistance: 300 meters
Movement: Caliber 1315 with date complication and 5-day power reserve
Price: $19,300 on bracelet -
Omega Speedmaster Moonwatch Professional With White Lacquer Dial
Image Credit: Omega I’m not really a “Speedy guy,” but when I tried this one on recently it blew my proverbial hair back. For me, it’s all about that gorgeous white lacquered dial, a first for the Speedmaster, and hopefully not the last. The touches of red, Omega insists, are meant to help this chronograph resemble the astronaut suits of the early NASA era, and while that may not reign among the most important features of this highly technical timepiece, it may be those little red bits that set this watch apart from the otherwise mostly monochromatic Speedmaster Moonwatches, of which there seem to be a dizzying number on offer. Omega has truly sorted out its Speedmaster bracelets, and the Co-Axial escapement inside the caliber 3861 movement is among the many high-tech features on view through the crystal caseback. I don’t often condone a clear caseback on a tool watch, but this one is totally appropriate.
Size: 42 mm x 13.2 mm
Water resistance: 50 meters
Movement: Caliber 3861 manually wound chronograph with Co-Axial escapement
Price: $8,100 -
Singer Reimagined Divetrack
Image Credit: Singer I didn’t think the dive watch could be improved upon, expanded in functionality or even designed differently, and perhaps the last company on Earth I’d have imagined doing just that was Singer, the custom builder of Porsche 911 platforms into million-dollar four-wheel masterpieces. And yet here it all is: the Divetrack. I don’t want to go too far into it, or you’ll never finish reading this article, but know that this watch is a chronograph that times not only your dives on the ultra-legible minute track, but also your surface intervals on the central 24-hour timing scale, which extends for hours until it’s safe for you to fly again after diving. If you want to tell the time of day, you’ll be looking at the side of the case against your wrist where this secondary info is relegated to a compelling ultra-wide aperture. It’s a huge watch, but titanium, and therefore light. This is really a mechanical dive computer, so I can roll with the girth, for sure. There will only be 25 made.
Size: 49 mm x 19.67 mm
Water resistance: 300 meters
Movement: AgenGraph 24-hour auto-winding chronograph
Price: $93,800 -
Tudor Black Bay 58 18K on Bracelet
Image Credit: Tudor I know, it’s another green and gold sport watch. Call it a trend! For some die-hard Rolex fans, Tudor has no business flying north of the mid-$5,000 price point, but Tudor disagrees. At $32,000, Rolex’s little sibling is starting to punch up and hard with the new Black Bay 58 with a solid, yellow-gold bracelet. I wish this watch photographed (or 3-D-modelled) better, because in person that green is magical—not as mossy as it seems, but, yes, mossy, and not as loud as it seems, but not totally subdued either. It’s like one of those 1970s Mercedes greens that seems like five different colors at once. But what really sets this watch apart is the abundance of brushed gold, which downplays this timepiece in the best possible way. For those who don’t know, Tudor’s T-Clasp expansion system for the folding clasp is widely considered to be nearly as good as—perhaps better than—Rolex’s brilliant Glidelock system. Further enhancing this yellow gold bracelet is Tudor removing the polarizing faux rivets from the links, which smooths things out in the most satisfying way. Now if we can just get the brand to do that to all the Black Bays.
Size: 39 mm x 12.7 mm
Water resistance: 200 meters
Movement: Caliber MT5400 COSC auto-winding mechanical (no date)
Price: $32,000
Authors
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Allen Farmelo
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