Smaller case sizes – an average 39mm diameter for the 500 or so models presented at Watches and Wonders Geneva 2024 – suggest an increasingly porous gender divide. Alongside this, the trend is clearly to release a same model in a range of sizes that will appeal to men and women alike. Not that watchmaking has lost its "feminine touch", evident in the bejewelled watches crafted by brands whose expertise extends to high jewellery and whose mastery of the métiers d'art, gem-setting foremost among them, never fails to astound. 

This is sumptuously illustrated by Chopard's High Jewellery, as well as its L’Heure du Diamant line, and by Piaget's High Jewellery Aura, along with its Limelight Gala range. Cartier takes a walk on the wild side with its Animal Jewellery Watches (animals are inherent to the brand's design language), while Beauregard's Jardin d’Hiver set, composed of six Lili Bouton watches, strikes up "an artistic dialogue between the World of Gemstones and the Art of Time." Not forgetting, of course, Van Cleef & Arpels and its Extraordinary Dials. The Lady Arpels Jour Enchanté and Lady Arpels Nuit Enchantée conjure up a fairytale scene through a combination of enamelling techniques enhanced with delicate gem-setting. 

Such extraordinary technique is grounded in creativity, which the collections unveiled in Geneva weren't lacking. Cartier, once again, is a shining example - almost literally with its Reflection bangle watches. They draw on the savoir-faire of the Parisian firm's watchmakers and jewellers. The bold architecture of the cuff blends an openworked design, sculptural lines and defined edges with gold polished to a reflective sheen. Hermès also brings original thinking to the women's watch segment. Its new Cut watches are midway between a circle and a round shape. Sharp angles and crisply drawn lines, the balanced proportions of the satin-brushed and polished case, the gleam of its clean-cut edges, the crown between 1 and 2 o'clock and the embossed dial font add to the character of this new women's watch line, designed for daily wear. 

Chanel is another brand taking an original view of time. Its Couture O’Clock capsule collection draws inspiration from Mademoiselle Chanel's Rue Cambon atelier and from the tools she would have used as a seamstress, such as thimbles, scissors and pincushions, with creations that deftly blend watchmaking, jewellery and artistic crafts. They include an automaton clock and watch, a J12 with a rotating dial, watches with "secret" dials, worn on long chains, a bobbin-shaped cuff watch, a Première Charms Couture and a Code Coco Couture, among others. "Couture O'Clock illustrates the overlapping of two worlds, Haute Couture and Haute Horlogerie, both of which impose the highest standards," says the director of the Chanel Watchmaking Creation Studio, Arnaud Chastaingt. "I like to say that only one word separates them. They have much in common, from the perfect silence of the ateliers to the notion of time: a material for some, an imperative for others." 

Vacheron Constantin has also embraced the world of couture with two watches in its Égérie collection, each an artistic collaboration with Haute Couture designer Yiqing Yin. One is a unique-piece concept watch named Égérie The Pleats of Time, for which Yin worked with master perfumer Dominique Ropion to create a bespoke fragrance. Encapsulated in the embroidered strap, it releases tiny bursts of fragrance with each movement of the wrist. Yin has designed a Haute Couture dress especially to accompany the watch. She explains how "each of us has our own technical and emotional language. I’m convinced that the key to creativity lies in taking risks and being willing to step out of one’s comfort zone to ensure perpetual reinvention. We must be prepared to lose ourselves for a while in order to discover what we don’t yet know." 

The offering of women's watches is not composed entirely of exceptional or one-off creations. Over time, brands have expanded their iconic collections with women's watches which have become established in their own right, forming a clearly marked territory which brands enrich, year after year. Baume & Mercier, for example, has introduced a new Riviera with a diamond-set bezel; Piaget has done the same with its Polo; Hublot's Spirit of Big Bang is given a carpet of precious stones, while Rolex's famed Cosmograph Daytona appears as two new versions in white gold, with diamond indices on a natural mother-of-pearl dial and more diamonds on the bezel. In a similarly sporting vein, Tudor's Black Bay Chronograph adopts a rose-tinted dial. Meanwhile, Patek Philippe's Aquanaut Traveltime contains a quartz movement in a rose gold case. 

And there is more. Women on the move could be tempted by a Happy Sport from Chopard. Explorers have the option of a Bremont TerraNova 38mm. Deep-sea adventurers will want the Aquaracer Professional 200 Solargraph from TAG Heuer. And for those who dream in colour, the Nomos Glashütte Tangente 38 comes in 31 different shades. For watchmakers, women's wrists are prime real estate.