Patek Philippe Ref. 5227G Calatrava, $37,300, Patek Philippe at Tiffany & Co., 212-605-4036 F. Martin Ramin/The Wall Street Journal (watch); Illustration by Brian Levy


Earlier this year, during Baselworld, the watch industry's annual confab, Omega unveiled the De Ville Trésor, a manually wound, exceptionally svelte timepiece based on a model it first produced in 1949. Bear in mind, this is a fair whose other highlights included Louis Vuitton's Escale Worldtime, about $67,500, which gives you the hour in 24 time zones simultaneously and has a kaleidoscope-like dial, and Bulgari's Ammiraglio del Tempo (that translates to "admiral of time"), about $395,000, which has a minute repeater and a detent escapement, a complication rarely found on wristwatches.

By comparison, the Trésor, $13,800 in yellow gold, is hushed and humble, its face scrubbed clean. It doesn't keep track of the phases of the moon or what time zone you happen to be in, and probably wouldn't draw a second glance from a non-aficionado, but its movement is a brilliant piece of watchmaking expertise. Also this year, Rolex, whose sporty chronographs tend to hog the limelight, released the Cellini Time, a starkly classic, three-handed, time-only watch.

"I think elegant dress watches are at the moment coming through a very strong revival," said Alexander Schmiedt, managing director of watches at Montblanc. "You had a time until 2007, 2008, where [a watch] couldn't be bigger. The bigger, the louder, the better. And now we are back to a lot of classic, refined and slim [timepieces]." Mr. Schmiedt reported that Montblanc's Star Classique line, which made its debut, in 2012, as an even more minimal version of the 1997 Classique series, was one of the brand's most successful launches since it began making watches 17 years ago.

Clockwise from top left: Patek Philippe Ref. 5227J Calatrava, $35,400, Patek Philippe at Tiffany & Co., 212-605-4036; Antea 365 A10 Watch, $943,; Star Classique Date Watch, $2,475, Montblanc, 212-223-8888; Slimline Automatic Watch, $2,495,; Carrera Calibre 5 Automatic Watch, $2,900,; Patrimony Platinum Watch, $33,700, Vacheron Constantin, 877-701-1755 F. Martin Ramin/The Wall Street Journal

Watch-enthusiast website Hodinkee has been waving the flag of time-only simplicity for the past several months, and a post about the Trésor De Ville prompted raves from its readers. "People are still freaking out over it," said Benjamin Clymer, the site's founder and executive editor. "They think it's the most beautiful thing."

As for the shift from complicated to simple, Mr. Clymer said, "It sort of goes along with the whole vintage revival, which, in many ways, is about the search for pure design." Indeed, the quest for simplicity and elegance is partly retro-skewed. Eagle-eyed watch-spotters and fans of classic midcentury men's fashion zeroed in on the elegant Omega Seamaster De Ville that Don Draper wore in the last season of "Mad Men." And certain popular dress watches are slightly tweaked versions of timepieces that were launched decades ago, like Patek Philippe's Calatrava ($37,300 in rose or white gold, $35,400 in yellow), based on a design from 1912, and Vacheron Constantin's Patrimony watch ($33,700 in platinum), first seen in 1955 and retooled in 2004 with more assertive lugs and a larger beveled bezel.

Extreme Time-Telling

There are absurd and amusing creations on both ends of the watchmaking spectrum

So Simple It Might Make You Late for Work

This handless watch, based on the sundial, tells time nearly to the minute—but only after you learn how to use it. Abacus Watch, between $179 and $295,

F. Martin Ramin/The Wall Street Journal (2)

So Complicated It Can Win You the Jackpot

Part of Christophe Claret's Gaming series, this watch can orchestrate a 52-card game of poker, while the back offers roulette. Oh, it also tells time. Christophe Claret Poker Watch, $193,000, Wynn and Company Watches, 702-770-3411

The Clean Camp

Three high-powered watch purists: (from left) Joe Biden who owns Vulcain's Cricket; chef Eric Ripert, who owns Vacheron Constantin's Patrimony in platinum; and former GE CEO Jack Welch who owns Patek Philippe's Calatrava. Getty (Biden, Ripert, Welch)

Both exemplify why such mechanical pieces are no less deserving of attention than something that wears its achievements on its sleeve. When it was launched, Vacheron's Patrimony was, at 1.6mm, the thinnest mechanical movement ever made.

However, Vacheron CEO Juan Carlos Torres's description of typical Patrimony buyers diverges from the stereotype of the high-powered executive who routinely picks up five- and six-figure watches. "They are people who appreciate lines, aesthetics," Mr. Torres said. "A lot of art people, architects, musicians, fashion designers—I cannot tell you who—are asking for this watch. It isn't only about social status. It's about intellectual status. It's totally different."

That sentiment is echoed by Patek Philippe's U.S. President Larry Pettinelli. "Our customers aren't usually trying to show the world that they've made it," he said of the Calatrava. "Most people don't recognize our watches from 10 feet away unless they're collectors."

The buyer who doesn't want the bragging rights of a highly complex toy and isn't agog at technical marvels clearly has different priorities. Jason Perri, the chairman of beauty app Glamsquad, falls into that camp. He wears a clean, sporty Rolex Submariner sans date. "It's a good-looking watch that doesn't look like a dinner plate," he said. "I've seen guys take their watches off to reveal the glass back with an impossibly complicated thicket of gears and then you hear about the minute repeater and how it costs $100,000. Most of us are thinking, I'd rather roll up in a [Aston Martin] DB7 Vantage and a Swatch." Like-minded observers dismiss guys whose watches are riddled with unused features as poseurs. "If you scuba dive, it's advisable to have an instrument that tells you how long you've been under, but to only have the gear makes you look silly," said Fredrik Carlström, founder of Austere, a Scandinavian design shop in Los Angeles. Mr. Carlström owns a few watches, including a vintage dress Jaeger-LeCoultre on a black alligator strap that he tends to wear only for formal occasions.

Even complicated-watch fans are starting to acknowledge the absurdity of certain gizmos, according to Sol Meller, president of Feldmar Watch Company, a retailer in Los Angeles "I think clients still appreciate the designs of the heavier, bulkier pieces, but they're saying they don't need the extras," said Mr. Meller. "They don't need a tachymeter"—a complication that measures the speed the wearer is moving over a given distance. "They'd rather have something that fits under their sleeve."

Another advantage of time-only watches can, of course, be their relatively affordable prices. A solid entry option in the dress category is Montblanc's Star Classique, which goes for $2,475 (with a metal bracelet). Then again, since watches like these are the antithesis of trendy, there's a case for making a smart investment in, say, a Calatrava or a Patrimony. "Vacheron and Patek have been around through plagues and wars," said Hodinkee's Mr. Clymer. "The watches they made still look great to this day."


Isn't time enough? Not when watchmakers are constantly seeking the next breakthrough in mechanical art

WHILE SOME MAKE the case for simple watches over those with superfluous tachymeters and moon phases, complications will never cease to have their ardent supporters, of which I—as an horological expert who's written about watches for The Wall Street Journal since 2003 and authored two books on the subject—am one.

Watchmaker extraordinaire Kari Voutilainen at work Ralf Baumgarten

Who needs complex features that go beyond telling time? Well, it's not about necessity. Complications are an expression of "the better angels of our nature," of the urge for more knowledge and the desire to perfect and improve what we have invented. New complications are always being created, like the first altimeter and barometer to be made for a mechanical on last year's Breva Genié 01. The development of complications embodies the same irrepressible human spirit that took mankind from the Wright brothers' flying machine to jets.

The most intriguing complications are those known as astronomical. The more intricate ones keep track of equinoxes, solstices, seasons, signs of the zodiac and the changing date of Easter. Astronomical complications can connect a watch to other worlds, displaying the planetary orbits or sidereal time (that is, time told by the position of a bright, charted star). The most popular one shows the phases of the moon.

Then there are chronograph complications, which measure intervals of time like stopwatches. The business of constructing these demands knowledge of watchmaking, physics, engineering, geometry, mathematics and metallurgy. Strap on a chronograph and you are wearing one of the supreme achievements of mechanical art. Press a button to start the complication and you can feel the whirl of its wheels on your wrist.

Skeptics aside, some complications really can make a watch more useful. Repeater watches, which chime the hours and minutes with tiny hammers and gongs at the push of a button, were a necessary function when only candles dimly lit our nights. Today, the orderly, gentle sound of repeaters offer aural respite from the noise of modern life and come in handy when you can't find your cellphone during a blackout.

Another complication, a secondary time zone, is relevant for any frequent flier. Wherever you are in the world, glance at a watch with two time zones and you'll get an instant snapshot of both your local time and the time back home—convenient if you want to phone the office or the family at home.

Sure, simple is beautiful, but I'll keep my world of complications and sheer wonder.

—Michael Clerizo