Even as consumers slowly climb out of the economic morass of the last few years, the men's luxury watch business — in which a single timepiece can easily sell for five figures or more — is still responding to the turmoil, emphasizing a kind of stealth luxury, a return to classic styles and the notion of brand heritage.

Luxury fashion cycles through trends at lightning pace every six months. But the complicated, technical nature of timepieces — which can have as many as 700 moving parts — means changes in the watch market move at a comparatively glacial pace, taking from 11/2 to almost eight years.

One of the most noticeable manifestations of the low-key, don't-look-too-flashy approach has been in color, according to retailers of the high-end horological devices who attended the annual international BaselWorld Watch and Jewellery Show in Switzerland this year.