The three watches Andrew wore most in 2024 are…

Andrew McUtchen

Editor’s note: we couldn’t have all the members of the writing team share what their most worn watches of 2024 were without getting the boss to share his picks! Out of all the members of the Time+Tide team, Andrew likely tries on more watches than any of us – and with him always on the move between Australia, Switzerland, the UK and further afield, it’s hard for even us to keep track of what’s on his wrist. Thankfully, with all of us slowing down a bit over the Australian summer, Andrew was able to take a pause and share with us what made the cut.

Cartier Tank Louis Cartier ‘Animated Dial’

This watch was a result of two Time+Tide team members and their evil influence. Firstly, Pietro, who owns the platinum version of this watch with a blue animated dial and seeing this frankly tiny watch on his very masculine and muscular wrist… Somehow, the contrast of a petite rectangular watch on a rugby player’s physique was perfect and elegant and very compelling. So, I started to search for a Tank and Russell – in his wily ways – identified a Tank Louis Cartier in rose gold with a grey dial from the same collection as Pietro’s. However, for me, I think this model is an even better execution of the look, with the warm tones of rose gold contrasting with that anthracite grey. Rose gold and grey is a deadly combination in any occasion, and this is proof of it.

The thing about this watch that is most endearing, and I would say endlessly eye-catching, is the way that the mosaic-like dial flashes and blocks depending on the angle of the light that hits it. You will see a certain configuration of the pattern on one angle, and then you’ll shift slightly and see a different configuration of the pattern, which just is always fun to do. Size-wise, it’s been no secret that I’ve struggled to make peace with a watch of this size, but it probably is the most thrilling watch in my collection to put on, despite its diminutive proportions. And every time I do, I find myself looking at it just an unreasonably large amount of the time.

It is, for me, the most difficult watch to dress to in my collection – but I think I’m just overthinking now! Because, as was discussed in my video with Justin Hast, it doesn’t need to change what I wear. If it’s worn with confidence and with conviction, it makes everything that you wear make sense. So I love it. I wear it on a Molequin strap – a taupe suede strap – and it’s just the perfect complement to this.

TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph Skipper in rose gold

My second most worn watch of 2024 would be the TAG Heuer Skipper in rose gold. The love affair with this watch began in April at Watches and Wonders in Geneva. When this was in my ‘Kiss, Marry, Kill’ for the fair, I couldn’t get over the synergy between the rose gold and its really lush royal blue dial. Combine that with those more saturated sorbet colours on the regatta counter, and you have the most lush, perfect mix. Given that I knew at that point that we were going to have a big year with TAG Heuer with the imminent release of the Sundowner, I felt warm and fuzzy about spending more than I expected on a gold watch.

Not only that, but a gold watch with a regatta timer! That was unexpected. But this is the beauty of being the sort of collector that just purely buys with their heart almost all of the time, and very rarely with their brain. This is proof of that. It’s a spectacular watch. I look forward to trying it on different straps. It’s currently being worn on the OEM padded fabric strap, but I can see that this could work on a NATO, it could work on integrated rubber… I might even start a petition to get TAG Heuer to do a solid gold bracelet for this watch to just step it up even more; that would be super baller.

Norqain Wild One Turquoise

Another watch that was worn a lot in 2024 was the Toledano & Chan B/1 – but I mentioned that in Teddy Baldassare’s video as well as our own, so I’m going to cheat and add a fourth watch to the mix! This watch should come as no surprise: it’s Mark Wahlberg’s favourite, the Norqain Wild One in turquoise. This has a funny story. I was wearing this watch at the Australian Open in January, and Matt Ebden, the Australian doubles player and I, were chatting over the grandstand – him on the court after a big win. We were chatting after the game, and I handed my watch down to him from the stands, and he took that and wore it and didn’t take it off until he’d won the Australian Open Men’s doubles championships, which propelled him to No. 1 in the world.

At the end of the tournament, I just gently asked if I might have my watch back at some point, to which he replied, “I’m writing to you from a plane, I’m on my way back to Perth, this one stays with me” – so that was the end of that! No harm no foul: I was invited to a tennis clinic with Stan Wawrinka in Megève with Norqain in the middle of the year, and at that event, I was presented with a replacement turquoise Wild One and a big thank you for connecting Norqain with another great tennis ambassador. It’s a cool story, but really, it’s the watch that I wear to the gym. I wear it for weeks on end without even realizing I’m wearing it, and it definitely deserves a place in my most worn watches of 2024.