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On the Friday night of Watches and Wonders week in Geneva, a swirl of competing events vied for collectors’ attention. The insiders, however, appeared to converge on a single time slot—and a single address. From 5 to 7 p.m., the place to be for the likes of Phil Toledano, cofounder of Toledano & Chan; Mike Nouveau, a.k.a. “King of WatchTok”; and Eric Ku, cofounder of the auction site Loupe This, was Coffee Up, a café and enthusiast hub in central Geneva. The draw: a party celebrating Loupe This’s new partnership with the Patek Philippe resale platform Collectability.

“People always ask, ‘How do I buy a Patek Philippe for under $5,000?’ This is the answer to that,” Collectability founder John Reardon told Robb Report. “Starting very soon, you’re going to be able to click on Collectability or on Loupe This and see Collectability’s Patek Philippe watches on offer, priced mostly under $30,000.”

When we stopped by, the crush of collectors eager to speak with Reardon and Ku created a ready-made focus group. It was an ideal vantage point for real-time feedback on which of the week’s new releases truly resonated.

Below, a sampling of what we heard at Coffee Up—and from a few collectors we caught up with later.

Fred Savage, founder of Timepiece Grading Specialists: Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF Chronograph Mystérieux

“Sometimes people work so hard to show you how hard they’re working and Parmigiani does the opposite. Whether it’s their GMT, or the new Mystérieux chronograph, or even the layout of the perpetual calendar they introduced last year, it’s all about looking effortless and simple. There are so many incredible watch brands that are beautiful, but they’re showing you all the effort. ‘Look how hard we’re working. Look at all the effort we’re putting in.’

“I love what Parmigiani is doing because they’re reinventing the chronograph, they’re reinventing the GMT, they reinvented the perpetual calendar—at least the layout—but they’re doing it in a totally understated way. And I think that’s what really embodies luxury and skill. You can say that about a singer or an actor or a painter. It should look effortless. And the people that really work hard to show you how hard they’re working, to me, is less compelling.”

Eric Ku, cofounder of Loupe This: Audemars Piguet Établisseurs Galets

The Établisseurs Galets watch from AP was “my favorite thing at the show. It has a shaped movement—it’s really nerdy of them to make a completely new movement for an obscure ladies’ watch that they’re going to make very few of. And then the bridges on the movement are shaped like pebbles. It was really cohesive and well thought-out.

“The whole idea of that Établisseurs line with the three ladies’ watches is about doing cool things the old way, with different craftsmen collaborating. That’s a really great project to show off a proud watchmaking tradition. And clearly it’s not motivated by financial reasons.”

“At Cartier, an unexpected piece that my wife and I both really liked was the Grain de Café, a ladies’ watch based on a Jeanne Toussaint design motif inspired by coffee beans. That was so amazing, especially when you touched it.”

“Zenith knocked it out of the park for me. They launched a line called G.F.J. last year which won the chronometry prize at the GPHG. It’s like this little sub-brand and they’re building it around the Calibre 135. And they’ve now done one in a full-gold bracelet with a bloodstone dial. It sounds like it’s red, but it’s actually green with red flecks in it. That was great. But the better one was a 20-piece limited edition in a tantalum case. It has a black onyx dial with natural diamond indices and a mother-of-pearl subdial. Tantalum is really tricky to work with. It’s very sticky. It kind of destroys your tools. And so seeing that was great. No notes. It’s stunning. And very much my vibe.”

Giancarlo Rosselli, founder of The Watch Society: IWC Schaffhausen Big Pilot’s Watch Perpetual Calendar Ceralume (among others)

“The Ceralume from IWC was incredible. I just love lume and you could see that from space. I also loved the new releases from Zenith, but what I really loved was their new clasp, on their sport models. I’m a big Moser fan—the Pump watch, to me, a kid of the ’90s, early 2000s, I love the Pump [sneakers]. I still have them. And I love that watch.

“Everything Vacheron did, they knocked it out of the park. The Ultra-Thin—having that on the wrist was incredible. I’m a huge fan of the Dual Times and putting them in titanium, that was incredible. I love what Bernhard Lederer is doing as an indie. They came out with the CIC in 39 mm in racing green a couple months back, and I was able to see it in the flesh that week. Having a chance to talk to Bernhard himself—he’s a legend.”

Asher Rapkin, cofounder of Collective Horology: Armin Strom Minute Repeater Resonance 12:59 and Niton Prima

“At Watches and Wonders, two watches that stayed with me were not necessarily the biggest releases, but the ones that nailed their respective briefs. The Armin Strom Minute Repeater Resonance 12:59 is almost absurd on paper: a resonance watch, a Westminster minute repeater, and then a second chiming mode based entirely on the watchmaker’s understanding of how collectors like to share the pleasure of a minute repeater. In person, the complexity felt simple and integrated rather than forced. It represents serious high watchmaking and a major step forward for Armin Strom.

“The Niton Prima also stuck with me. Here is a revived Geneva-based manufacture coming back not with a generic heritage watch, but with a very specific point of view: a jump-hour display rooted in the brand’s 1928 history, a shaped, modernist, in-house caliber bearing the Geneva Seal, and proportions that feel elegant while still significant on the wrist. It has the restraint of a period object without feeling like a reissue.

“Both watches reminded me that the most interesting releases are often the ones that do not fit neatly into the dominant fair narrative.”

Stephen Pulvirent, founder and principal, Rime & Reason: Bulgari Octo Finissimo 37