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The Best Bucket List Watches That Came Out in 2023

New references, crazy complications and unexpected designs.

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By Johnny Brayson and Zen Love

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This story is part of our end-of-year series This Year in Gear, rounding up the most notable releases of 2023. For more stories like this, click here.

Being a watch enthusiast can be challenging sometimes because so many amazing watches cost an absurd amount of money. In 2023, the top luxury brands didn’t pull any punches when it came to their new references, crazy complications, unexpected designs and just flat-out gorgeous timepieces dropping nearly every week. We’ve managed to whittle down the year’s fantastic output to the following 10 grails, which we’ve dubbed our bucket list watches for 2023.

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Bulova Jet Star

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Bulova first introduced the Jet Star in 1973, and the bold, angular dial design quickly became iconic. Now, the brand is bringing back this classic style with a half a century’s worth of innovations. Behind the vintage face lies Bulova’s Precisionist movement: a mechanism that vibrates at 262kHz and is so meticulously made it’s accurate to five seconds per month. The watch is finished off with a date window, sweeping seconds hand and luminescent detailing.

Learn more about the Bulova Jet Star here.

Rolex Cosmograph Daytona ‘Le Mans’

In part underpinning much of Rolex’s status today (and, arguably, even the popularity of modern watches in general) is the so-called “Paul Newman Daytona.” Rolex had been holding back for years, but it finally released a modern tribute to the famous reference 6263 with a reverse-panda colorway, complete with an “exotic dial” design and everything. Announced for the 100th anniversary of the 24 Hours of Le Mans race (in which Paul Newman participated in 1979), it includes the tachymeter bezel’s “100” in red — and a custom chronograph movement that counts up to 24 hours instead of the usual 12.

Learn more about the Rolex Cosmograph Daytona ‘Le Mans’ here.

Vacheron Constantin Overseas Moon Phase Retrograde Date

Easily the star of the show from Vacheron Constantin this year was this combination of some of the traits and features the brand is best known for. In the brand’s most crowd-pleasing collection, the sporty Overseas, this model features retrograde date and moon phase displays (it’s right there in the name), but it all comes together (with that striking blue dial) in a way that’s approachable but also displays Vacheron’s high sense of refinement.

Learn more about the Vacheron Constantin Overseas Moon Phase Retrograde Date here.

Girard-Perregaux Laureato Aston Martin Edition

Girard-Perregaux has a precedent of using ceramic and of working with Aston Martin, and the brand put both to good use here. Seeing a watch case and bracelet in full ceramic in a color other than black, white or gray is rare, which is what makes this automotive-themed version of GP’s sporty Laureato such a head-turner. The watch commits to a fully monochromatic “British racing green” look that’s quite fitting for the Aston branding, and it stands as one of the best watch/car brand collabs we’ve ever seen.

Learn more about the Girard-Perregaux Laureato Aston Martin Edition here.

Blancpain Fifty Fathoms 70th Anniversary Act 3

Despite being the oldest extant watch brand with a history dating back to 1735, Blancpain was largely unknown outside the watch enthusiast community prior to this year. But then the Blancpain x Swatch Fifty Fathoms collab happened, and suddenly, the haute horological brand was on everyone’s lips. Taking advantage of the extra attention, Blancpain followed up Swatch’s Bioceramic diver with this stone-cold stunner: A modernized take on a vintage mil-spec Fifty Fathoms in bronze gold to celebrate 70 years of the OG dive watch. It’s the best-looking and perhaps most wearable modern Fifty Fathoms and has us excited to see what the brand has in store for 2024.

Learn more about the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms 70th Anniversary Act 3 here.

IWC Ingenieur

Everybody kind of knew IWC had to do it, and it did: The brand finally brought back the most distinctive version of the IWC Ingenieur from the 1970s, as designed by the one-and-only Gerald Genta. As just about everyone else has been jostling for position in the increasingly crowded integrated bracelet luxury sports watch genre over the past few years, IWC had one of the OGs in its back catalog lying in wait to reclaim the throne. The resurrected version is perfectly sized at 40mm and thin at 10.8mm, and it’s powered by an in-house movement.

Learn more about the IWC Ingenieur here.

Patek Philippe World Time 5330G-010

Purple watches were seemingly everywhere in 2023, but none were more desirable than this plum-colored Patek, which the brand unveiled for its “Watch Art” Tokyo 2023 exhibition over the summer. In addition to the gorgeous and unexpected (for Patek) color, this white gold stunner also has something that no other Patek World Time reference does. Outside the 24-hour and world cities rings of the dial, there’s a third ring showing the date, making this the first Patek World Time with a date complication.

Breguet Type XX

In 2023, Breguet brought back the Type XX as the latest in a long line of historically appropriate tool watches that the brand originally made for the military in decades past, beginning in the 1950s. Available in “military” and “civilian” versions, they’re remarkably down-to-earth for a prestigious company that typically operates in the haute horlogerie space, but are still ultra-cool. Both feature 42mm cases and in-house automatic movements with the flyback chronograph feature that characterizes the Type XX watches, both historical and in many modern interpretations.

Learn more about the Breguet Type XX here.

Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean Dark Grey GMT

There are so many great lines of Omega’s Seamaster — the Diver 300M, the Aqua Terra, The Ploprof, the Seamaster 300 — that the Planet Ocean sometimes gets lost in the shuffle. But it’s worth remembering that the PO is meant to be Omega’s most premium dive watch, and the Dark Grey GMT serves as a good reminder of that. The watch touts a case made from Silicon Nitride ceramic, which is twice as light as the Zircon ceramic used in most watches, while the crown, bezel, dial and even the Master Chronometer movement are all crafted from lightweight titanium.

Learn more about the Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean Dark Grey GMT here.

Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Tribute Chronograph

At first glance, this member of JLC’s Reverso Tribute family looks like the rest of the classically-styled line. But the two small chronograph pushers flanking the crown clue you in that there’s more going on. Flip around the case, and you’ll find the watch’s second dial as a skeletonized beauty featuring a clock face along with a chronograph seconds display and an impressive retrograde 30-minute counter, all housed in a stainless steel case.

Learn more about the Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Tribute Chronograph here.

Audemars Piguet Code 11.59 Ultra-Complication Universelle RD#4

Out of the Swiss luxury watch brands known as the “Holy Trinity” — Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin and Audemars Piguet — AP is arguably the one that frustrates watch nerds the most. From its overreliance of the Royal Oak in its catalog to its confusing collabs with Marvel, AP draws about as much ire as it does praise these days. So it was awesome to see the brand flex its horological muscles in 2023 with this, the most complicated watch in the 148-year-old history of the maison. The Ultra-Complication Universelle RD#4 boasts 22 horological complications, including a split-seconds flyback chronograph, a perpetual calendar, a highly advanced moonphase, multiple chiming functions and many more impressive features.

Learn more about the Audemars Piguet Code 11.59 Ultra-Complication Universelle RD#4 here.

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