The watch industry has always been associated with a degree of conservatism – and rightly so. This is a sector run by heritage luxury houses whose stories often span centuries. They are deeply invested in safeguarding craft traditions and collectively tend to eschew novelty in favour of design icons from their archives. Still, the best brands have always made room for creativity and there was a bigger appetite for rule-breaking than usual at this year’s Watches and Wonders fair in Geneva, where there was plenty of experimentation and humour on show. The reason for the mood shift? The global state of affairs calls for some light-heartedness and escapism – or, at least, that was how it was explained to me.“It’s about having an optimistic view of the world,” says Catherine Rénier, the CEO of Van Cleef & Arpels, pointing to the house’s new watch depicting lovers kissing on a bridge. “The technique is always at the service of the story.” At Piaget, bold ornamental stones and one-of-a-kind sautoirs from the 1960s and 1970s recalled stories of Yves Piaget, a fourth-generation member of the founding family, encouraging his team to propose new ways of wearing time and “do what had never been done before”. This instruction resulted in dials within cuff bracelets and necklaces. “It was a period of revolution, liberation and freedom of expression,” says Stéphanie Sivrière, Piaget’s creative director, discussing the rising popularity of the brand’s mid-century designs that marry the arts of high jewellery and watchmaking. “We try to hold onto that spirit.”