The women's watches that stood out in 2013 all had a special something hidden up their sleeve. Mirroring the jewellery industry, colour reigned this year, with vibrant dials making a big impression. Louis Vuitton's Tambour Bijoux Secret collection and an inspired Pomellato-Parmigiani Tonda watch collaboration gave birth to two beautiful stone dials in lapis lazuli and turquoise, while DeLaneau's understated Rondo Transluscent watch shimmered with glossy layers of colour, achieved using guilloché enamelling.
Scarlet and neon-pink straps gave Jaeger-LeCoultre's Grande Reverso Ultra Thin and Dior's La Mini D the edge this year, and we fell hard for Hermès' Arceau le temps suspendu with a classic Hermès orange strap and diamonds around the bezel.
Patek Philippe launched the eternally elegant Calatrava Ref. 7121, a mechanical masterpiece whose hand-wound movement can track the Moon's phases with such precision that it needs correcting only once every 122 years. And Louis Vuitton, a relative newcomer to the world of haute horlogerie, caused a stir when it was shortlisted for the Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Geneve in the ladies' complications category with its first tourbillon movement for women. Hats off to Louis Vuitton for the Tambour Monogram Tourbillon - one of the most feminine tourbillons we have ever seen.
Chaumet's new Liens watch, which cleverly weaves in the 'X' motif so beloved of the maison, became an instant design classic. And no 'best of' list would be complete without two iconic watches that were relaunched this year: the surreal Cartier Crash and Blancpain's all-white and seriously cool Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe dive watch.
