Why wait so long? Out of respect for exclusivity, or at least what we perceive as exclusivity? Perhaps, yet there is vast untapped potential in the simplest of watches; models brands' creative teams sweat blood over. Although there is nothing new about offering a particularly popular model in multiple versions, most of the time these were released over a number of years. Now they come as a single drop. No more short and sweet: variety is as important as originality and brands are pulling out the stops with variations on a theme that extend not just to dial colours or straps but now include movements, too.

At Nomos Glashütte, it's all about colour. At Watches and Wonders Geneva 2024, the brand unveiled a new collection of its iconic Tangente 38 Date in 31 colourful renditions, each a 175-piece limited edition in honour of 175 years of Glashütte watchmaking. In its press release, the brand insists on the importance of bringing "the joy of mechanical watches" to as many people as possible, hence its decision to price these limited editions at less than the standard model. These kaleidoscopic watches will, it hopes, bring "individuality to the wrist and diversity to the world of fine watchmaking." In a similar vein, Hublot introduces coloured ceramic in novel shades on its Big Bang Integrated Time Only while Cartier revisits its Santos and Santos-Dumont with fresh colours as well as materials, not forgetting the launch of a dual-time model.

Raymond Weil provides another eloquent example of this "more the merrier" approach with the introduction of 11 new references of its neo-vintage Millesime, winner of the Challenge prize at the 2023 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève. These new variations run the gamut of possibilities, from sizes to colours, from materials to movements, with three-hander, chronograph and moon phase options. A similar profusion came from Bremont, which was making its Watches and Wonders debut. Established by brothers Nick and Giles English in 2002, the brand is in the process of internationalisation and is marking out a new direction. Rather than gradually roll out its new Terra Nova field watch collection, the British firm chose to release multiple models from the start, offering three distinct case sizes, several colour options and functions such as date display, chronograph and power reserve, culminating in the Tourbillon Dual Time. Among the many others we could name, Oris, with the Aquis Date, and Baume & Mercier, with the Riviera, have shown that they know their multiplication tables.

Keeping pace, the vast majority of brands have developed their own system for swapping out straps. Hermès is one of them. Cut, its new women's watch, plays with the language of geometry through simple circular shapes. Cased in steel or in a two-tone combination of steel with rose gold, with the option of diamonds on the bezel, it comes on an integrated bracelet that can be switched for a rubber strap from a palette of eight shades, underscoring the watch's versatile nature. Meanwhile, Czapek & Cie looks to dials to ring the changes on its new Promenade collection, with guillochage and Grand Feu enamel variations. Taking the principle of personalisation to the extreme, some brands offer online configurators that invite customers to take control of their watch's design. Norqain's Wild One of 1 is fully customisable, down to the mechanical movement. This 11-step process offers an astounding 3.5 million possible configurations.

At the opposite end of the scale, brands are regrouping models into capsule collections on a common theme. This can be a colour - think of the rich green that Vacheron Constantin has brought to its Overseas range or the forest green dials of Montblanc's 1858 0 Oxygen – or an inspiration. The most striking example of the latter has to be Chanel's Couture O’Clock capsule collection, with watches that play with elements borrowed from the brand's couture heritage and Coco Chanel's atelier on Rue Cambon. A reminder that variety will always be the spice of watchmaking.