As the year approaches the end and as we spend time with family and friends on vacation, it’s time to think again this year and share the watches worn by most of the AblogTowatch teams this year. As our wonder, we all brought new pieces into our collection and rediscovered the beauty and joy of our old pieces. The following watches have been found to be facing your wrist more than any other wrist, and have helped us define the year of the watch when we experienced it. I’d love to hear about the most worn watches in the comments. Have a great holiday season.
Ripley Sellers: Garmin vivoactive 5
Given that this is a completely watch-only website, I would like to say that the watch I wore most in 2024 is an interesting mechanical piece that represents my personal preferences and lifestyle. But if I’m completely honest, I’ve actually found that way on my wrist almost every day for the past year with Garmin’s vivoactive 5 smartwatch. In addition to waking up every morning using a vibration-based alarm, I go on a run every day. This means that even if Garmin wears another watch that day, he still receives a minimum of several hours of wrist time.
He also admits that he doesn’t even bother to worry about Garmin’s straps. Since October 2023, I have simply rocked the biological volume of my stock straps five almost every day. I marinated it completely with my sweat. After more than a year of daily wear, the gorilla glass crystals are scratched and the outer surface of the strap is worn to a degree that it becomes shiny. However, the watch itself is still strong and will continue to accompany me on my daily runs and outdoor adventures in 2025.
Jake Witkin: IWC Mark XVIII
Every year, I grow as a watch collector and enthusiast, even if my collection doesn’t grow at the same speed. Things rarely remain the same, but as life goes on and I spend more time on a particular clock, they are more likely to stick. This year and for the second year in a row, my IWC Mark XVIII has been my most worn watch. It was certainly a close race with others, but looking back on my years, scrolling through my list library of my photo library, IWC was on top again. It’s the first watch you grab when you’re not sure what to wear when you’re on your wrists around the world for work or family events, or at nightstand trips or upright as a tabletop clock. It was the perfect watch for me, and in almost every situation I’m in myself, 2024, I got a few more scars and, more importantly, a lot of stories along the way. You wouldn’t be surprised if you took the crown in 2025.
Mike Razak: Nodus Sector Sport Two-Tone
This year I took a scientific approach and actually tracked the wear. I downloaded an app with a simple interface (I’ve heard of people tracking wear in spreadsheets, but that seemed like too much work), and added all the watches, including placeholders for review watches. Naturally, the review piece has dominated the wrist four times this year. However, Nodus Sector Sports concluded the competition for my permanent collection. And I meant that I was rimmed: I wore it again than my Rad Captain Cook, which I most wore last year. When I first got my Nodus Sector Sport in late 2023, I didn’t expect to get a huge amount of wrist time, but the two-tone bronze and steel ended up working on both the bracelet and many straps. The watch proved to be a great all-arounder in its own right, and I regularly chose it on my trip (in addition to the other two or three watches of course). And since you asked, my most proud watch nerd moment of the year was when my wife packed more watches than she had recently traveled.
David Bredan: Vulcain Cricket President 36mm Alarm Watch
I often need the full packaging to wear my watch for a long period of time. What is it for me? Comfort, readability, fun (looking, functional, or meaningful aspects), cool movements. The Vulcain Cricket President 36mm works well in all aspects except for readability. The four sticks on the dial do not give peak reading time. What’s interesting is that I didn’t expect cricket to stick for a long time, but it’s really growing into me. I love the fact that the caseback reveals the unique movement layout and functionality that displays the hammer of the alarm desperately. And I can mess around with many of the features of the pusher and crown without knowing exactly what I’m doing. I love it in the way it is small and elegant and connects it to the historic Barcain cricket. This is a meaningful re-release that is fun and comfortable to wear 77 years after launching the world’s first alarm watch with an impressive mechanism.
Shawn Lorenzen: Chopard Mille Migliaref. 8915 BRG
I’m not boned about the fact that I was a car guy long before I got into the clock. And my ongoing car romance informs me of my preferences for watches more than most people. With that in mind, as long as I’m a watch lover, I had a huge soft spot in the Chopard Mirmilia series. When a friend in the industry pointed out this reference 8915 BRG for auction earlier this year, I couldn’t miss the opportunity to finally add it to my collection. This is not only a racing chronograph that is virtually full of characters, but also a chronograph that is extremely comfortable for everyday wear thanks to the construction of the titanium case. A mix of contemporary (for releases at least in 2008) and classic European sports car design cues, refined presentations and a glossy British Racing green dial makes this stylish and sporty wear in a variety of situations. Local cars have accompanied me everywhere this year from the heart of London’s West End, but the charm hasn’t started to disappear at all for me.
Edley: Jaeger-Lecoultre Polaris World Time Chronograph
As long as I’m a collector, I was looking for the perfect World Timer Watch. In fact, my first proper luxury watch purchase was the IWC pilot WorldTimer Ref. 326201 from a local seller on eBay. I didn’t know what I was doing about the distance from lug to lug, and that particular watch is objectively too large for my wrist. Like many relationships in my past, I tried to make it work longer than I have, but in the end reality began and that clock and I had to say goodbye to my sadness. (IWC pilot WorldTimer, it wasn’t you, it was me.)
Worldtimers is, without a doubt, one of the most difficult watches to work. Fitting information from 24 cities into the dial while maintaining readability and impressive case size is no easy task. Achieving one attribute usually means sacrificeing another attribute. Not so with Jaeger-Lecoultre Polaris World Time Chronograph. I’ve been keeping my eyes peeled for the past few years, but I couldn’t find it in a decent condition or price (the watch debuted in 2018). This all changed when I came out on the forum this spring. After some messages and about a week, the watch was on my wrist and has hardly been apart since. It’s truly one of the best world timers. That 44mm case size certainly isn’t a day, but I hardly notice it because it’s a relatively compact 50.5mm lug-to-lug, let alone that it’s made of titanium. Adding the stellar Polaris design language and the Bicompax 12-hour vertical clutch chronograph, the Jaeger-LecoultrePolaris World Time Chronograph is as close to world-time perfection as possible. The watch was accompanied by six countries and many time zones in 2024. We look forward to adding even more remote destinations over the next few years.
Ariel Adams: A colorful solar-powered watch
When I think about watches, I wore the most in 2024, but considering the frequent changes to what’s on my wrist, I couldn’t think of a particular model. The two trends and the interesting struggles that come with them are similar to the experience of adorning the watch in 2024. The first struggle was to find enough opportunities and clothing to wear a brightly colored watch in the wild. The charm of a tool watch toy cast in a child-friendly shade is delightful to my heart, but it is a concept that disrupts practical reality. What are you going to wear with this bright green watch? How do you plan to remove this purple dial when there’s not much purple in your wardrobe? The interesting contrast between practical everyday reality and my interest in wearing a bright watch was a continuing trend in my watch this year.
My second struggle for me in 2024 was how I was charging all the light watches I was wearing. I love that high-end solar watches are now so many things from Casio to Tag Heuer, but you still need to make sure they have plenty of sunlight. I’m a famous nightmare and often spend a few days in the sunlight without going outside as long as these solar watches need it. Certainly they can charge in any light, but it’s really in the sunlight that a brightly driven watch gets plenty of “juice”. That said, some brands recommend exposing their watches to 3-5 hours a day in the sunlight! I need to try to understand better in 2025 how to blend my interests with the solar watches.
Now it’s your turn. Chime underneath the comments and tell us what watch you’ve worn the most this year!
