Four or five years ago, visitors to watch industry shows would be immersed in the spectacular. Groundbreaking new technologies, daring uses of material, increasing appearances of precious stones and even higher price tags were the norm, and show attendees would come home gushing about the latest and the greatest. More recent showed have brought things to a more sustainable level of grandeur. Unique pieces and highlights would share the limelight with watches that were much more likely to appear in showroom displays. This year's Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie (SIHH) shows us the best of different worlds. This year, the support for general watchmaking fell by the wayside as the lure of big money attracted most attention. Many pieces will attract newer enthusiasts, first-time buyers and even the more sophisticated looking for something more basic. The heralding of brand history continues with some special heritage pieces, but there is a good amount of focus on elements that help retail sellers keep their consumers happy. At the same time, watchmaking continues to push the envelope, either for the industry or within a respective organisation. These special editions no longer dominate but, rather, take their place as a front for the brands. Officine Panerai offers an excellent look into how a traditional watchmaking company is preparing for the future, while handling the present and making the most but not too much of the past. Panerai made its mark with Italian navy divers, and this year it highlights its heritage of submersible watches with the new Special Edition Luminor Submersible 1950s models, available in titanium and ceramic, as well as its second use of bronze. These watches celebrate its history, but advance its in-house movements. "The Panerai collection of this year's SIHH 2013 has a strong image towards our commitment to the world of sailing and the sea," says Jean-Sebastien Gerondeau, Panerai managing director, Asia-Pacific. "This not only reflects on our new family of in-house movements in the field of chronographs - [the] P.9100 calibre and the new Submersible range of watches - but also on the setup of our booth and the atmosphere within the thematic room - [the] Submersible." Gerondeau calls this first-ever production pocket watch by Panerai "a testimony to the skills and expertise of the master watchmakers of Neuchatel and technological excellence by Officine Panerai". Another look at the industry is provided by Cartier, the powerhouse name behind the Richemont group and the SIHH itself. A few years ago, it introduced the Calibre de Cartier, a relatively simple, masculine watch that quickly became its best-selling men's wristwatch. It continued to push boundaries elsewhere with new technologies and practices. This year, it took its mastery of the flying tourbillon and combined it with the idea behind its more mystifying historical pieces, the "Mystere" watches with hands that had no visible attachments to anything. Another famous jeweller and watchmaker went for aural enchantment rather than visual confusion. Piaget built on its abilities to produce ultra-thin movements and combined that with music with the Emperador Coussin Automatic Minute Repeater. Ralph Lauren Watch and Jewellery came into the world a few years ago as an haute horlogerie beginner, and this year it presented a collection that seemed to point out how it was going to be different. The RL67 Automotive Chronograph is available in titanium with a dark green resin and the elm burl wood inspired by Mr Lauren's classic cars, a piece that evokes the image and atmosphere of his vintage Land Rover safari truck in the lobby quite well. Its talking piece for the 2013 SIHH was the RL67 Safari Tourbillon, with a gunmetal case and a wonderfully textured and shaded leather strap. The watchmaking world has undergone change over the past few years, perhaps most important of which is that it actually thinks of the world. By producing models that appeal to a wider audience, watchmakers are going in new directions and developing new friends and fans. This year's SIHH, in being less dramatic than before, may have been just the thing needed to point to the future.