The watch industry does not lack for occasions to celebrate itself, but 2026 arrives with an unusual convergence of anniversaries (Oyster at 100! Nautilus at 50! Big Bang at 20!), ambitions and genuine technical firsts that gives this year’s fair a particular energy.
Across the brands gathered in Geneva this April, the recurring question is not what is new but what is possible. The result is new releases that balance heritage with genuine technical progression, using milestone anniversaries not as nostalgia, but as a platform for meaningful design and mechanical evolution.
Here, explore GRAZIA’s take on some of the most standout releases of the year.
Rolex
2026 is not a typical year for Rolex. One hundred years after the launch of the Oyster—the world’s first waterproof wristwatch—the brand has structured its entire Geneva showing around a centenary narrative. Across seven releases, the throughline is clear: heritage referenced, materials pushed, and a strengthened Superlative Chronometer certification that adds magnetism resistance, reliability and sustainability to its existing criteria.
Oyster Perpetual 41 (100th Anniversary Edition)
At a glance: A commemorative Oyster Perpetual 41 in yellow Rolesor, featuring an Oystersteel case and bracelet complemented by a yellow gold bezel and winding crown. The slate dial carries the inscription ‘100 years’ at 6 o’clock—in place of the usual ‘Swiss Made’ marking—and the crown is engraved with the number 100. Rolex’s signature green appears on the dial text and minute track border.
Design detail: The yellow gold crown and bezel are a deliberate callback to early Oyster case elements from the 1920s and 30s, when gold accents were common on the brand’s dress-sport watches. It’s a subtle historical reference that rewards those who know it.
GRAZIA’s take: The most symbolically loaded piece in the 2026 lineup. Rolex rarely leans into anniversaries with this kind of directness—the centenary dial text is unusually explicit for a brand that typically speaks through material and form. It also debuts the strengthened Superlative Chronometer certification, making it a milestone reference in two respects.
Oyster Perpetual 36 “Jubilee Dial”
At a glance: A 36mm Oyster Perpetual with a multicoloured lacquer dial featuring the ‘Jubilee’ motif—the letters of ‘Rolex’ arranged into a decorative pattern drawn from the brand’s archival graphics. Ten individual colours are applied sequentially by pad printing (where a soft silicone pad picks up ink from an engraved plate and presses it onto the dial), with each pass requiring precise alignment.
Craft note: Ten-colour pad printing on a watch dial is genuinely complex—each colour must cure and be re-registered before the next is applied. The risk of rejection at any stage is high. For a brand that produces at Rolex’s scale, committing to this process is a meaningful statement about dial-making investment.
GRAZIA’s take: Rolex has been steadily expanding its dial artistry credentials—enamel, meteorite, gem-setting—and this sits in that tradition but with a more playful, graphic register. The timepiece also arrives during a broader luxury market moment where bold colour and pattern are back in favour across fashion and accessories.
Oyster Perpetual 28 & 34
At a glance: Two full gold Oyster Perpetuals—a 28mm in yellow gold with a green stone lacquer dial, and a 34mm in Everose gold with a blue stone lacquer dial. Both feature satin-finished bracelets and natural stone hour markers at 3, 6 and 9 o’clock: a first in the OP line.
Craft note: Natural stone hour markers—as distinct from applied metal indices—require cutting, polishing and setting at a very small scale. Sourcing consistency across production is the main challenge. Rolex notes this as a first for the brand, not just the OP family.
GRAZIA’s take: Rolex pushing the OP range into full precious metal territory with elevated dial work is an interesting repositioning move. The OP has historically been the entry point; these two references edge it toward the jewellery watch segment.
Datejust 41
At a glance: A Datejust 41 in white Rolesor—featuring the Oystersteel case with white gold fluted bezel and crown—is paired with an ombré green lacquer dial that graduates from deep at the centre to lighter at the rim. The date window reads clearly against the ombré edge, creating a visual contrast Rolex describes as the dial’s defining feature.
Design detail: The ombré effect on a lacquer dial demands careful gradient control during application — achieving a smooth transition without banding or colour breaks at the watch’s small scale is technically demanding. The result here reads cleanly in press images, with the green deepening credibly toward centre.
GRAZIA’s take: Green is doing a lot of work across the 2026 lineup, and it’s clearly deliberate. The fluted bezel and white Rolesor combination is a classic Datejust configuration; the ombré dial is the only new variable. A safe but well-executed update for a reference that sells in volume.
Day-Date 40
At a glance: A Day-Date 40 in Jubilee Gold—an entirely new 18-karat gold alloy developed in-house that carries tones of yellow, warm grey and soft pink simultaneously. The case and President bracelet are made from this alloy and paired with a light green aventurine dial.
Materials note: Rolex has developed proprietary gold alloys before—Everose Gold (2005) and Rolesor combinations—but Jubilee Gold appears to be more complex in its colour behaviour, shifting between warm and cool tones depending on light. The in-house development and production of a new gold alloy is a significant materials engineering effort; Rolex states it is entirely produced at their Geneva facility.
GRAZIA’s take: The Day-Date is Rolex’s most prestigious reference, and introducing a new gold alloy here rather than in any other line is deliberate positioning. Jubilee Gold gives the collection something no competitor can offer directly. The aventurine dial pairing—a stone that catches light unpredictably—doubles the effect of a case that already shifts in appearance. Quietly one of the most ambitious pieces in the lineup.
Bvlgari
In only its second year at Watches and Wonders, Bvlgari is already one of the show’s most architecturally distinct presences. The 2026 showing is organised around a single creative idea—the art of shape—expressed across a new Octo Finissimo family, a record-breaking tourbillon in platinum, a jewellery-watch capsule that revives the maison’s gold-and-steel language, and the first appearance of Bvlgari jewellery at the fair.
Octo Finissimo 37
At a glance: The Octo Finissimo shrinks from 40mm to 37mm, which required a full case redesign and an entirely new movement. The in-house BVF 100 calibre measures 2.35mm in height and 31mm in diameter, delivering a 72-hour power reserve. Four versions launch simultaneously: sandblasted titanium, satin-polished titanium, yellow gold, and a Minute Repeater in sandblasted titanium powered by the BVF 362 calibre.
Movement highlight: Despite being 0.12mm thicker than the movement in the 40mm version, the BVF 100 achieves a 20 percent reduction in overall volume—made possible by three years of development work on Bvlgari’s Piccolissimo and Solotempo ladies’ movements. The bridges and mainplate carry radiating Côtes de Genève (Geneva stripes), a more technically demanding finishing motif than standard straight Geneva stripes. The octagonal screws have also been reprofiled to suit the smaller case architecture.
Design detail: The bracelet introduces a push-button clasp and a new screw-fastening system at the case junction—engineered to work across different materials and finishes without compromising the flush integration the Octo Finissimo is known for. At 65 grams total, it is notably light on the wrist.
GRAZIA’s take: The move to 37mm is explicitly positioned as a universality play—Bvlgari’s language for a watch that works across genders, wrist sizes and contexts without the 40mm’s more assertive presence. But this is not a compromise: it required a new movement built from scratch and a full architectural rethink. The Minute Repeater variant in sandblasted titanium—a material specifically chosen for its acoustic resonance—is the version most serious collectors will pursue. The 40mm is still available for those who want the full technical expression; the 37mm is Bvlgari’s bid for everyday presence.
Octo Finissimo Ultra Tourbillon Platinum
At a glance: The world’s thinnest flying tourbillon—first established with the titanium version in 2025 at 1.85mm total thickness—is now realised in platinum, with both case and integrated bracelet in the metal. A skeletonised dial introduces blue accents as a signature of this limited series, alongside a galvanically treated mainplate and a steel ratchet wheel. The bracelet combines satin-brushed and polished finishing.
Materials note: Platinum is among the most demanding materials for ultra-thin watchmaking—its exceptional density and resistance require dedicated tooling and finishing techniques distinct from those used for titanium or gold. Achieving the same 1.85mm thickness in platinum as in titanium is not a given; the two materials behave very differently under machining and polishing. That the record holds in platinum is the technical achievement here.
GRAZIA’s take: The titanium Ultra Tourbillon won the Aiguille d’Or at the GPHG last year—the most prestigious individual prize in independent watchmaking. Issuing a platinum edition the following year, limited to ten, is a collector’s play rather than a commercial one. Platinum has a specific meaning in high watchmaking: it signals the apex of a series, a material that asks more of the maker and delivers more to the wearer in terms of rarity and finish quality. At ten pieces, it will be absorbed immediately.
Serpenti Tubogas Studs Capsule
At a glance: A Serpenti Tubogas capsule collection that introduces pyramidal stud elements—drawn from Bvlgari’s jewellery archive—onto the coiled Tubogas bracelet. There are four limited-edition iterations: one in full yellow gold with a carnelian dial and diamond-set studs, and three in bicolour gold-and-steel with mother-of-pearl, sodalite, and malachite dials respectively. Rose gold and steel are used in the latter three, with the rose gold studs diamond-set on the malachite version.
Craft note: The Tubogas technique—precise winding of fine metal bands—has been a Bvlgari signature since the 1940s and is technically demanding at any scale, more so when integrating differently shaped stud elements at regular intervals without disrupting the bracelet’s flexibility. The gold-and-steel combination, a Bvlgari aesthetic statement since the 1970s, adds a material contrast challenge to an already complex construction.
GRAZIA’s take: This sits at the intersection of Bvlgari’s two roles—jeweller and watchmaker—more explicitly than most of their pieces. The dial stones—carnelian, sodalite, malachite—read as jewellery dials rather than watch dials, which is the intent. In a market where jewellery watches often feel like an afterthought, Bvlgari makes them the main event.
Serpenti Aeterna
At a glance: The Serpenti Aeterna continues its evolution with new colourways in 2026. The existing rose gold version—fully pavé-set with 122 coloured gemstones including rubellite, emerald, sapphire, Paraíba tourmaline and tsavorite in round, brilliant, princess, pear and oval cuts—is joined by a first-ever yellow gold version featuring white diamonds along the bangle edges and a white mother-of-pearl dial. The hexagonal openwork scales on the interior of the bracelet are retained across both.
Craft note: The numbers behind the rose gold version are significant: 225 hours of development, 185 hours of stone selection and preparation, over 60 hours of setting. Stone selection at this level—sourcing 122 gems for rare and consistent nuance across cuts and species—is a high jewellery discipline, not a watch industry one. Bvlgari is applying the standards of a place Vendôme atelier to a wrist-worn object.
GRAZIA’s take: The yellow gold version is the more wearable of the two—the restraint of white diamonds against yellow gold reads as a jewellery bangle with a dial rather than a fully committed high jewellery statement. Both versions are designed to stack and combine with other Bvlgari bracelets, a brilliant commercial consideration as much as an aesthetic one.
Van Cleef & Arpels
Van Cleef & Arpels arrives at Geneva 2026 under the theme ‘Poetry of the Heavens’, a celestial narrative that runs coherently across every piece in the showing. The Moon is the central motif: present in a new Poetic Complications timepiece, carried through two Extraordinary Dials watches, and subtly referenced across the jewellery watches. Enamel is the connecting craft, with the maison deploying champlevé, grisaille, plique-à-jour and a patented new setting-in-enamel technique across multiple pieces. This is a showing where artistic craft is doing as much work as mechanical innovation.
Midnight Jour Nuit Phase de Lune
At a glance: A 42mm white gold Midnight case housing two overlapping complications: the existing Jour/Nuit day-night display, and a new astronomical moonphase. The dial is made from black Murano aventurine glass, designed to look like a night sky. A gold Sun and a mother-of-pearl Moon move across the dial on a rotating disc, disappearing behind a curved horizon. A second disc gradually changes the Moon’s appearance over its full 29.5-day cycle. A button on the case activates a short animation that reveals the Moon’s current phase.
Movement highlight: The on-demand animation is the technical achievement here—triggering an additional full rotation of both discs without disrupting the accuracy of the ongoing moonphase display required accounting for changes that must occur during the animation itself. There’s a reason why this took four years to develop.
Craft note: The black Murano aventurine glass was developed in collaboration with VCA’s Innovation Department to achieve a specific bronze-toned shimmer that evokes the night sky. It’s made in Murano by heating glass with minerals at very high temperatures, then cooling it slowly for a month before cutting it into thin pieces. The caseback continues the theme, showing the Moon’s surface in white gold and a view of Earth in enamel.
GRAZIA’s take: The maison has used moonphases since 1929 and introduced the Jour Nuit display in 2008. This watch meaningfully builds on both. The animation isn’t just decorative—it solves the problem of reading the moonphase when it’s hidden. It is the horological centrepiece of the 2026 showing and the most technically ambitious piece in the lineup.
Midnight Heure d’ici & Heure d’ailleurs
At a glance: A 38mm rose gold timepiece housing a fully redeveloped automatic movement with a 65-hour power reserve, displaying two time zones via jumping hours—Heure d’ici (local time) in the upper window, Heure d’ailleurs (second zone) in the lower—alongside a retrograde minute hand. When the hand reaches 60 on the graduated scale, it snaps back to its starting position as both hour displays jump forward simultaneously. A single crown controls winding, time-setting and adjustment of both time zones.
Craft note: The amber-brown enamel dial is the standout element and a significant technical achievement. VCA’s Geneva enamel workshop developed a colour that replicates the dichroism of rubies—appearing warm or cool depending on the light—using a mirror-polished gold background to heighten internal reflections. The dial combines two enamel finishes in one surface—something adapted from glassmaking and used here in watchmaking for the first time.
GRAZIA’s take: The jumping hour/retrograde minute combination is a mechanism with strong visual impact—the snap-back of the minute hand and the simultaneous jump of both hour windows creates a moment rather than a passive display. Paired with an enamel dial of this complexity, this watch balances technical interest with decorative craft.
Lady Rencontre Céleste & Lady Retrouvailles Célestes
At a glance: A pair of Extraordinary Dials watches telling the legend of Vega and Altair (Zhinu and Niulang)—star-crossed lovers separated by the Milky Way who reunite once a year. Lady Rencontre Céleste (the meeting) is in white gold with sapphires, depicting the couple hand-in-hand behind diamond-set plique-à-jour clouds, with a grisaille enamel background and a diamond Moon. Lady Retrouvailles Célestes (the reunion) is in rose and white gold with pink sapphires, the figures standing arms outstretched before a mauve sapphire crescent, connected by sculpted white gold birds across the dial. The Summer Triangle asterism—Altair, Vega and Deneb—is engraved on the caseback of both.
Craft note: Four enamel techniques are used here. Champlevé involves carving and filling metal with enamel; grisaille creates depth and shading; and plique-à-jour allows light to pass through translucent enamel like stained glass. The fourth technique—setting in enamel—is a new VCA patent: precious stones fixed directly in plique-à-jour enamel with no metal components, creating a weightlessness that heightens the stones’ light behaviour. Two years of research and development produced this patented process.
GRAZIA’s take: The Extraordinary Dials collection is where VCA focuses on storytelling through decorative art. The Vega-Altair legend—known across Chinese, Japanese and Korean cultures as Qixi, Tanabata and Chilseok respectively—is a considered choice for a maison with a significant Asia-Pacific audience. The patented setting-in-enamel technique is the genuine craft news here: the ability to set diamonds directly in enamel without metal prongs or bezels is a technical leap that will likely appear across future VCA pieces.
Ludo Secret
At a glance: A jewellery watch inspired by a 1949 design. The yellow gold bracelet is composed of mirror-polished briquette links, hand-assembled and adjusted in a flexible mesh. Sapphires set in crescent motifs across the gold surface conceal a white guilloché mother-of-pearl dial, revealed by simultaneous pressure on both sides of the jewellery buckle. A baguette-cut sapphire marks 12 o’clock.
Craft note: The Ludo bracelet—created in 1934 and one of VCA’s most enduring design signatures—was conceived as a trompe-l’œil piece echoing a belt. The secret watch mechanism is entirely hidden within this construction: no obvious case, no visible crown, no hint of timekeeping function until the buckle is pressed. The sapphire selection process for this piece is particularly exacting—the stones are carefully selected and arranged in graduated sizes to create a smooth, radiant effect.
GRAZIA’s take: Secret watches are a signature of the maison, where hiding the dial is part of the design. This piece draws directly from historical models, and in this case the archive reference genuinely adds meaning rather than just nostalgia.
Perlée 23mm
At a glance: A small 23mm white gold Perlée watch bordered by a double row of meticulously polished golden beads—the collection’s signature detail. The dial is Murano aventurine glass in midnight blue, given a radiating guilloché treatment described as an innovative technique applied to aventurine for the first time in this collection. The case edge and flange are diamond-paved. The time-setting mechanism is hidden on the back, and the watch comes with interchangeable straps.
Craft note: The aventurine glass dial is Murano-produced: glass heated to 1,200°C with mineral ore to create the deep blue sparkle, cooled for a full month, broken and then cut into thin layers—a process shared with the Midnight Jour Nuit Phase de Lune dial, though here the material is blue rather than black and receives a guilloché treatment that adds more texture and light reflection to the surface.
GRAZIA’s take: The Perlée line is one of the brand’s more accessible watch families, and this particular version elevates the dial material significantly with the aventurine glass and guilloché combination. The cosmic blue of the dial aligns it with the 2026 celestial theme without requiring a complicated movement to carry the narrative.
Chanel
This year, Chanel presents one of its largest watch lineups to date: 41 pieces across six collections. All are designed at Place Vendôme and produced at the brand’s manufacture in La Chaux-de-Fonds. The central figure this year is Gabrielle Chanel herself, appearing in different forms across the collections—sculpted, pixelated, and reimagined as a playing card. The overall theme reflects Chanel’s core contrast: black and white, ceramic and diamonds, fashion and watchmaking.
J12 Superleggera
At a glance: The Superleggera—first shown in 2005—returns in its most pared-back form yet. Matte black ceramic case and bracelet, black lacquer dial with a dual finish: brushed at the centre, azured (snailed) at the borders. The bezel ring is satin-finished hardened steel on top with a blackened steel base carrying very tight gouges. The date is indicated by a red arrow at 4 o’clock—the only colour on an otherwise all-black watch. The bracelet combines brushed and polished surfaces, and the movement is visible through the caseback.
Movement highlight: Caliber 12.1 is produced by Kenissi, the Swiss manufacture co-owned by Chanel, and carries COSC chronometer certification. The ~70-hour power reserve and 200m water resistance place it squarely in the sports watch category despite its ceramic construction.
Design detail: The azured border on the dial—a snailed circular finish that graduates toward the edge — is an unusual choice for a sports watch, typically reserved for dress pieces. Here it creates a subtle depth in the all-black palette that rewards close inspection. The red date arrow is the Superleggera’s only visual break in the black palette.
GRAZIA’s take: First introduced in 2005, the Superleggera returns here in a more minimal form. It also supports Chanel’s push toward a 42mm case size as part of the J12’s unisex identity. Small details—like the textured bezel and steel construction—set it apart from standard models.
J12 Golden Black
At a glance: This release comes as a pair: a smaller 28mm quartz model and a larger 42mm automatic. Both are in black ceramic with gold-toned details on the dial. The larger version has a rotating bezel and a visible gold-coloured rotor through the caseback. Both feature COSC-certified Kenissi movements: high-precision quartz in the 28mm, Cal. 12.1 (~70h power reserve) in the 42mm. The 42mm is 200m water-resistant; the 28mm 30m.
Design detail: The gold-plated oscillating mass visible on the 42mm caseback—matched to the dial indexes—is a detail that repays those who look. The two sizes use different bezel constructions: fixed on the 28mm, rotating on the 42mm, but both carry the same gold-and-black visual language. The contrast between warm gold plate and cold black ceramic defines the entire collection.
GRAZIA’s take: By offering both sizes together, Chanel reinforces the J12 as a unisex watch. The gold accents soften the sporty feel, making the design more jewellery-like without using solid gold.
J12 Bleu
At a glance: The J12 in matte blue ceramic—debuted as a limited series in 2025—enters the permanent collection in two sizes. The 38mm carries Caliber 12.1 (approximately 70 hours power reserve, hours/minutes/seconds/date), while the 33mm carries Caliber 12.2 (approximately 50 hours, hours/minutes/seconds).
GRAZIA’s take: The difference between Cal. 12.1 and 12.2 is worth noting: the larger watch gains a date function and roughly 20 additional hours of power reserve. The transition from limited to permanent is the headline here: moving this model from limited to permanent signals that the blue ceramic was successful. It also shows Chanel’s commitment to expanding beyond its traditional black and white palette.
Monsieur Lion Tourbillon Black Edition
At a glance: A 42mm matte black ceramic and steel case housing Caliber 5.1—Chanel’s in-house manually wound flying tourbillon. The black openwork dial reveals the movement, centred on the flying tourbillon at 6 o’clock. At the heart of the cage: a laser-engraved titanium lion’s head plate, 151 components, 28 rubies, variable inertia balance with shock protection. The watch is manually wound and limited to 55 pieces.
Movement highlight: Caliber 5.1 is made entirely in-house by the Chanel Watch Manufacture itself. The flying tourbillon has no upper bridge, making the lion sculpture fully visible. The engraving is done with extreme precision so it doesn’t affect performance.
GRAZIA’s take: This watch represents the foundations of Chanel’s Haute Horlogerie capabilities. The lion motif, used in all its in-house movements since 2016, is placed directly inside the mechanism here, making it both decorative and structural.
Mademoiselle Privé Bouton Lion
At a glance: Two secret watches—a ring and a long necklace—in which time is concealed beneath a sculpted Chanel button—a lion’s head in yellow gold on an onyx base, surrounded by a circle of diamonds and framed by a yellow gold chain border.
Craft note: The lion’s head sculpture—carved in yellow gold, requiring eight hours per piece—is the centrepiece of both items. The chain decoration surrounding the dial and the stone-setting across the necklace’s length are cited by Chanel as specific demonstrations of the manufacture’s jewellery expertise. These are not watch cases with chains attached; the construction is closer to high jewellery with a quartz movement inside.
GRAZIA’s take: The Mademoiselle Privé Bouton Lion are jewellery objects that incidentally tell time, rather than watches that happen to be jewelled. The ring and necklace format takes the secret watch off the wrist entirely, which makes them stand out even within the secret watch category.
Noeud de Camélia
At a glance: Five secret watches built around the camellia—Chanel’s founding flower—in bow (noeud) form. Each conceals a tiny black lacquer dial (10mm diameter) beneath a camellia sculpture. The dial is revealed by lifting the central flower. The collection ascends from grosgrain leather bracelets embroidered by Maison Lesage to a pièce unique entirely paved with over 3,300 diamonds. All pieces carry high-precision quartz, hours and minutes only, 30m water resistance.
GRAZIA’s take: The Noeud de Camélia is Chanel’s most architecturally ambitious watchmaking project in 2026. The collection spans from an accessible (by Chanel standards) embroidered leather cuff to a pièce unique with a 5.23-carat Asscher-cut diamond as the dial cover—a range that is unusual even in haute joaillerie watchmaking. The Asscher cut, with its hall-of-mirrors interior reflections, is a deliberate choice for an object whose entire premise is concealment and revelation: the stone both hides and announces what lies beneath. The Lesage embroidery on the limited-to-20 version brings couture craft directly into the watchmaking object in a way that is specific to Chanel and unavailable to any other watchmaker.
Coco Game Capsule
At a glance: A 14-piece collection inspired by games like chess, cards and pixel graphics. Gabrielle Chanel appears throughout as the Queen: as a gold sculpture, a pixelated avatar, a playing card figure and a seconds hand. The pieces span from the Haute Horlogerie (the Gabrielle Watch and J12 X-Ray with in-house movements) to accessible limited editions (Boy·Friend, Première and Code Coco with quartz movements).
Craft highlights: Several pieces in the collection involve complex techniques. The J12 X-Ray’s sapphire crystal movement components required 1,600 hours of machining for this edition alone. The pixelated Mademoiselle carbon seconds hand on the J12 Coco Game Haute Horlogerie took 10 months of development to laser-cut at the weight tolerances demanded by a seconds hand. The ‘tweed setting’ on the Gabrielle Watch—replicating woven fabric texture in diamond-set gold—required multiple experienced setters and months of testing to achieve a consistent woven effect at watch scale.
GRAZIA’s take: This is Chanel’s most playful collection this year, but also one of its most technically demanding. It combines high watchmaking with a strong visual idea that’s easy to understand. The J12 X-Ray and the Gabrielle Watch sit at the apex of what the Chanel Manufacture can produce; the Boy·Friend and Première versions bring the gaming theme to a broader audience. The pixelated Mademoiselle running around the dial as a seconds hand is the image that truly stays in our mind.
Hermès
Hermès arrives at Geneva 2026 with a tightly focused programme built around a single technical idea: skeletonisation. Two new openworked movements—one for the sporty H08, one for the Arceau Samarcande—continue a direction the maison has been building since its 2022 GPHG-nominated Slim d’Hermès Squelette Lune. The theme is framed internally as “mysterious mechanisms”, and the two pieces interpret it very differently: the H08 Squelette as a graphical, modern sports watch, the Arceau Samarcande as a precious, equestrian-inflected minute repeater.
H08 Squelette
At a glance: The H08—introduced in 2021 and steadily expanded since—receives a skeletonised movement for the first time. It keeps its 39mm cushion-shaped case in black-coated titanium with a ceramic bezel. The dial is openworked, revealing the movement while maintaining the bold, graphic look the H08 is known for. Large Arabic numerals filled with luminous material provide contrast, and the watch comes on a rubber strap in several colours.
Movement highlight: The H1978 S is built entirely from titanium—an unusual choice for a movement architecture, typically reserved for cases and cases alone. Hermès has chosen the material specifically for its lightness and strength, and for visual coherence with the H08 family’s titanium case. The oscillating weight echoes the shape of the case itself—a detail that connects movement architecture to exterior design in a way that reveals deliberate thought rather than decorative afterthought. It offers 60 hours of power reserve and a standard 4Hz beat rate.
Design detail: The open-worked dial reads as architectural rather than decorative—vanishing lines and interlocking bridges create strong geometric depth without becoming visually cluttered. The blue numerals version is the more striking of the two: the Super-LumiNova in that shade intensifies the contrast effects against the dark titanium movement and creates a graphic quality that is specific to the H08’s design language.
GRAZIA’s take: The H08 has been one of Hermès’ most successful modern watches. This version adds technical interest without changing its identity. A full titanium movement is rare at this level, and the consistent use of materials gives the watch a cohesive feel.
Arceau Samarcande
At a glance: A new complication for the Arceau—Hermès’ 1978 Henri d’Origny-designed round case with its signature asymmetric stirrup-inspired lugs. The 38mm case comes in white or rose gold housing a new in-house skeletonised movement, Caliber H1927 S, with self-winding micro-rotor and minute repeater. The dial is made of crystal and cut into the shape of a horse’s head, revealing the movement underneath. The caseback shows the full mechanism, including the repeater hammers and a decorated micro-rotor.
Movement highlight: Caliber H1927 S is designed and produced exclusively for Hermès—the “custom-made” designation is meaningful here, distinguishing it from movements shared across brands or sourced from third-party suppliers. A minute repeater with micro-rotor winding is mechanically complex: the repeater mechanism must operate reliably without interfering with the self-winding system, and the micro-rotor configuration keeps the movement slim enough to suit the Arceau’s refined proportions. The finishing visible through the caseback—particularly the bead blasting alongside mirror polishing, chamfering and circular satin—represents multiple applied techniques on a single movement, each demanding different tools and skills.
Craft note: The Saint-Louis crystal dial cut into a horse-head shape is the defining visual detail: Saint-Louis is one of France’s oldest crystal manufactures (founded 1586), and its use as a dial material rather than a decorative element is unusual. The horse-head aperture is both a functional opening to the movement beneath and a piece of equestrian iconography that connects the Arceau to Hermès’ equestrian roots. The engraved rotor continues this theme.
GRAZIA’s take: A minute repeater with an in-house exclusive calibre places the Arceau Samarcande firmly in haute horlogerie territory—a significant step up from the H08 Squelette and a statement about Hermès’ watchmaking ambitions at the top of the range. The combination of a chiming complication with a crystal dial cut into a figurative shape is specific to what Hermès does: the technical and the poetic are given equal weight. The Arceau’s asymmetric case remains one of the most architecturally distinctive in the category; the minute repeater makes it one of the most mechanically substantial as well.
Piaget
If there’s one thing Piaget has always believed, it’s that a watch is first a piece of jewellery. This year, the maison makes that argument stronger than ever—with stone dials on everything from an everyday sports watch to the world’s thinnest mechanical watch. Ornamental stones have been part of Piaget’s identity since 1963, and in 2026 they’re the connective thread running through every collection on show.
Polo Signature & Polo 79
At a glance: Piaget’s signature decorative detail—the gadroon, those small rippling incisions hand-etched around the bezel—takes centre stage across the 2026 Polo range. When the original Polo launched in 1979, fully forged in gold and worn by everyone from Andy Warhol to Ursula Andress, the gadroon was what made it recognisable from across a room. This year it gets the full family treatment. A new white gold Polo 79 arrives with a sodalite dial—a blue-grey stone with a quietly mineral quality—marking the first time this material has appeared in the contemporary Polo line. The Polo Date, meanwhile, is reframed as a couple’s watch: a diamond-set 36mm with an interchangeable beige rubber strap, and a 42mm in khaki green, both with silver dials that nod to the 1979 originals. Six further blue-dial versions round out the range in steel and rose gold, with bracelet and strap options.
GRAZIA’s take: The gadroon sounds like a minor detail until you see what it does to a watch in person. Each incision is made by hand, and the interplay of polished and textured surfaces gives Piaget pieces a depth and personality that’s hard to put your finger on—but immediately felt. The addition of stone dials brings Piaget’s jewellery heritage into the collection more strongly.
Sixtie on Strap
At a glance: Last year the Sixtie arrived as one of the most striking new watch shapes of 2025—a trapezoid case that recalled Jean-Claude Gueit’s 1960s jewellery watches, where the line between a timepiece and a bracelet had genuinely blurred. This year it evolves: same pink gold case, same gadroon-etched bezel, but now on a deep blue alligator strap rather than an integrated bracelet. The blue of the strap makes the warm pink gold pop. Two dial options are available: a silvered surface with golden Roman numerals for a cleaner, more classical look; or blue quartz stone, where each dial is one-of-a-kind because the natural stone determines its final appearance.
GRAZIA’s take: Moving to a strap accentuates the case shape in a way the bracelet doesn’t, and the blue quartz dial version carries something genuinely rare: a surface that cannot be exactly replicated anywhere else. Natural quartz is notoriously difficult to cut this thin without breaking, which means every stone dial that makes it through is a small triumph.
Swinging Pebbles
At a glance: In 1969 Piaget introduced the Swinging Sautoirs—watches that didn’t live on the wrist at all, but swung from a gold chain, existing somewhere between jewellery and sculpture. For 2026, they return as the Swinging Pebbles, and the concept goes one step further: the entire pendant—the case, the dial, the watch itself—is carved from a single piece of stone. The movement is hollowed out from the inside and sealed within. Three stones are available: tiger’s eye with its warm golden shimmer, verdite in deep forest green, and pietersite—a rare stone with swirling fibres of blue, gold and brown that makes each piece genuinely unique. Each hangs from a hand-twisted gold chain made entirely within the maison.
GRAZIA’s take: The Swinging Pebbles are the most deliberately unconventional things Piaget is showing this year—objects that communicate time by inviting you to pick them up and turn them over in your hand, not glance at your wrist. In a fair dominated by sports watches and precision engineering, there’s something pleasingly subversive about a watch that is, first and foremost, a beautiful stone on a chain. The pietersite version is the standout: it’s a genuinely rare material with a visual drama that photography can’t fully capture.
Jaeger-LeCoultre
At Geneva 2026, Jaeger-LeCoultre presents its collection under the theme “The Valley of Inventions,” a reference to the Vallée de Joux where the brand was founded. The idea highlights both technical innovation and traditional craftsmanship. The eight new pieces cover a wide range—from highly complex tourbillons to artistic enamel work—showing both sides of what the brand does best.
Master Hybris Inventiva Gyrotourbillon À Stratosphère
At a glance: The debut piece of JLC’s new Hybris Inventiva series—a line reserved for singular, genuinely groundbreaking complications that have spent years, sometimes decades, as secret prototypes within the manufacture before being revealed.
Movement highlight: This first Hybris Inventiva watch houses the Gyrotourbillon À Stratosphère: a triple-axis tourbillon in which three titanium cages rotate simultaneously along three different axes, each at its own speed—20, 60 and 90 seconds per rotation respectively. The effect is that the movement’s regulating organ covers 98 percent of all possible positions, giving gravity almost no opportunity to affect the watch’s precision. The 189-component tourbillon weighs just 0.78 grams. Housed in a 42mm platinum case with a guilloché and blue enamel decorated movement, the calibre is finished so lavishly—with 16 different techniques including guillochage, lacquer and enamel—that the movement itself functions as the dial.
GRAZIA’s take: JLC has been building multi-axis tourbillons since 2004, with each generation of the Gyrotourbillon pushing further. This sixth generation—a tourbillon within a tourbillon within a tourbillon—is the culmination of 22 years of continuous development, and the result of a research process so internal that almost no one at the manufacture knew it existed. The name comes from the stratosphere, the calm upper layer of the atmosphere where jets cruise undisturbed by turbulence—a fitting metaphor for a mechanism engineered to be as unaffected by the outside world as possible.
Master Hybris Mechanica Ultra Thin Minute Repeater Tourbillon
At a glance: Calibre 362—introduced in 2014 and still the world’s thinnest automatic movement combining a minute repeater and a flying tourbillon—returns in a new Hybris Mechanica version that opens up the entire movement to view. The trick is partly skeletonisation, but more unusually, three of the movement’s structural bridges are made from transparent sapphire crystal rather than metal—meaning the parts that normally block the view are now invisible. The open-worked dial is reduced to a white gold ring running around the edge, leaving the full complexity of the 593-component movement exposed. Assembly alone takes seven weeks. The pink gold case is just 8.25mm thick, which is remarkable for a watch that chimes the time on demand and houses a flying tourbillon.
GRAZIA’s take: A minute repeater chimes the hours, quarters and minutes on demand—a mechanism requiring more than 180 components on its own, and one that normally demands significant case height to accommodate its hammers and gongs. Combining that with a flying tourbillon in a self-winding movement barely thicker than a pencil is an integration problem that most watchmakers don’t attempt. JLC first solved it in 2014; this new Hybris Mechanica version is the definitive visual expression of that achievement—everything exposed, nothing hidden. The sapphire bridges are the key innovation: using transparent structural components to reveal the mechanism without compromising its integrity took significant engineering.
Reverso One — La Vallée des Merveilles capsule
At a glance: The first release in JLC’s new La Vallée des Merveilles capsule series—an ongoing programme celebrating nature through the maison’s Métiers Rares artistic crafts. Three new Reverso One watches, each limited to 20 pieces, look to Hawaii and Japan for their subject matter. All three carry mother-of-pearl dials on the front and elaborate hand-crafted scenes on the reversible caseback, the Reverso’s defining feature. Powered by the manually wound Calibre 846 with 50 hours of power reserve.
Craft note: All three use Grand Feu champlevé enamel and fine miniature painting, with additional techniques layered in depending on the design. The two hibiscus models depict an Akialoa bird using up to nine metal oxide pigments, with colours built through repeated enamel firings. The red hibiscus version is particularly complex, requiring multiple layers at carefully controlled temperatures to prevent the colour from degrading. The Sakura model adds further variation, combining enamel and painting with gem-setting that mixes diamonds and blue sapphires to recreate reflections on water—marking the first time the maison has used coloured stones in this technique.
GRAZIA’s take: The La Vallée des Merveilles capsule is JLC’s answer to the question of how to keep the Reverso—one of watchmaking’s most enduring designs—feeling alive and relevant after nearly a century. The Sakura’s mixed-stone snow-setting—sapphires and diamonds together for the first time at JLC—is our personal favourite, but all three pieces are extraordinary miniature paintings that happen to tell the time.
Reverso Tribute Enamel — Hokusai Waterfalls
At a glance: Since 2018, JLC has been working through Hokusai’s eight-print series A Tour of the Waterfalls of the Provinces, reproducing each image as a miniature enamel painting on the caseback of a Reverso Tribute. These four 2026 pieces complete the series—the final chapter in a collaboration between a 19th-century Japanese woodblock master and a 21st-century Swiss enamel atelier that has unfolded across eight years. Each of the four watches is limited to 10 pieces and carries a unique guilloché dial pattern on the front, with the Hokusai painting revealed when the case is flipped.
Craft note: The enamellers work from 14 layers minimum, each fired at 800°C, and reproduce Hokusai’s original bokashi gradient shading and the Japanese captions in the cartouche—at a scale of just 2cm². Each of the four 2026 pieces pairs a different guilloché pattern with a corresponding interpretation of Hokusai’s compositions—the herringbone for Aoigaoka’s rushing cascade, the wavy pattern for Kiyotaki’s silken flow—creating a coherence between front and back that rewards close attention.
GRAZIA’s take: The Hokusai Waterfalls series has been one of the most sustained acts of artistic commitment in recent watchmaking—eight years, eight prints, eight pairs of guilloché dials, eight unique enamel paintings. The completion of the series in 2026 gives it a narrative closure that most limited editions lack.
Cartier
At Geneva 2026, Cartier presents its collection under the theme “Watchmaker of Shapes.” The idea is simple: each case shape requires its own specific craftsmanship. As a result, the lineup is intentionally diverse, ranging from stone dials and revived designs to jewellery watches and high-complication pieces. Across everything, the focus is on form and how it’s made.
Roadster
At a glance: The Roadster—first launched in 2002 and discontinued since—returns with a full redesign. The original borrowed its visual language from automotive design: speedometer-style dial, conical crown, headlight-shaped date magnifier, rivets and screws. The new version sharpens all of that without losing the identity: cleaner proportions, more integrated crown, four new rivets on the bezel, and a dial that retains the circular striated pattern, rail track and Roman numerals but adds stamped appliqué relief and transferred detail. It comes in two sizes and multiple materials, with interchangeable straps and bracelets.
GRAZIA’s take: The original Roadster was Cartier’s sports watch proposition in the early 2000s, and it had a strong identity before being quietly discontinued. Bringing it back now—with sharper proportions, 100m water resistance and the QuickSwitch system—is a read of the current market: there’s appetite for a recognisable Cartier sports watch that isn’t the Santos. Whether the Roadster can establish itself in that role is the interesting question. The two-movement, two-size, three-material strategy gives it commercial range from the start.
Santos-Dumont
At a glance: Three new large Santos-Dumont models are introduced, including one with a very thin obsidian stone dial. The obsidian is volcanic stone from Mexico—its iridescent surface comes from tiny air bubbles trapped inside, making each dial unique. At 0.3mm thick it sits on the edge of breakage during cutting and polishing, comparable in fragility to glass. The yellow gold bracelet is a separate craft story: inspired by Cartier’s 1920s made-to-measure metal bracelets, each link is 1.15mm thick, arranged in 15 rows for a total of 394 individually machined and assembled elements. The result moves against the skin with a textile softness.
Movement highlight: All versions use the hand-wound Caliber 430 MC, a slim and simple movement suited to the watch’s thin profile.
GRAZIA’s take: Obsidian at 0.3mm is a material almost no watchmaker attempts at dial scale. Pairing it with a bracelet that required this level of link precision in a single watch is an unusual doubling-down on craft difficulty. The Santos-Dumont is one of the most historically significant shapes in watchmaking—Cartier made the original in 1904 for aviator Alberto Santos-Dumont. This version carries that legacy with understated confidence: Roman numerals, visible screws, blue cabochon crown, and a bracelet that moves like fabric.
Baignoire — Clou de Paris
At a glance: The Baignoire bangle—first reimagined in 2023—receives the clou de Paris treatment this year. The hobnail motif, part of Cartier’s vocabulary since the early 1920s, runs continuously from bangle through case to dial in monochrome gold, creating an unbroken architectural surface.
Design detail: The pattern is moulded into the gold rather than engraved, keeping each raised detail consistent across the curved shape. The push-buttons on the clasp are crafted to blend into the bracelet’s curve rather than interrupt it. Hand polishing—done entirely by hand—brings out the brilliance of each facet. Two versions are available: a plain golden dial, and a diamond version with 100 snow-set brilliant-cut diamonds on the dial and inverted pavilion-set diamonds on the case, totalling 271 diamonds.
GRAZIA’s take: This is a jewellery-first watch where texture and surface are the main focus. The clou de Paris sounds decorative until you consider what maintaining a consistent pyramid motif across a curved oval bangle actually requires. Moulding rather than engraving to preserve the motif’s volume is the technical choice that makes the continuity possible.
Myst de Cartier
At a glance: A new jewellery watch rooted in Jeanne Toussaint’s sculptural 1930s pieces—the creative directrice who shaped Cartier’s most flamboyant era. The Myst de Cartier is defined by its alternating curves, a domed crystal, and a geometric pavé dial framed in onyx with triangular hour markers.
Design detail: Black lacquer spots are hand-applied one by one by craftspeople at the Maison des Métiers d’Art in Switzerland; the bracelet uses bead-set diamonds in varying sizes to create perspective and volume across a curved surface. Two versions are available: yellow gold with lacquer and 634 diamonds, and an all-diamond white gold version in which the same curves and volumes appear and disappear depending on the angle of the light. No clasp—the watch slips onto the wrist on an elastic construction that required extensive R&D to make it reliable.
GRAZIA’s take: The no-clasp construction is the functional novelty—making a diamond jewellery watch that slips onto the wrist like a bangle, with the stones and lacquer sections strung on an elastic core, is an engineering problem as much as a jewellery one. The all-diamond white gold version takes the original idea and removes its only colour contrast, leaving a monochrome object whose form is defined entirely by light reflection. It’s a strong concept carried through to both versions.
Tortue
At a glance: A redesigned version of the Tortue, one of Cartier’s classic shapes. The case is softer and more rounded than before, available in small and mini sizes. Versions include plain gold and diamond-set options, with coloured straps.
Design detail: The design updates the Tortue’s classic codes carefully—Roman numerals are kept, but the guilloché dial pattern is replaced by an embossed motif. The rail track becomes a line of dots (a reference to a 1922 Cartier watch), and Cartier’s secret signature is hidden within the stroke of the Roman numeral X.
GRAZIA’s take: The Tortue is one of Cartier’s most beloved connoisseur shapes—first created in 1912, it occupies a distinctive place in the collection precisely because of its refined curve. This full redesign is a considered evolution rather than a cosmetic update: rounder proportions, a new dial texture, and subtle historical references layered in for those who look.
Tortue — Baguette Diamond & Panthère Métiers d’Art
At a glance: Two high-end versions of the Tortue. One is set with baguette-cut diamonds in platinum for a clean, refined look. The other features a detailed panther motif in enamel across both the dial and case, available in white or yellow gold.
Craft note: The panther version uses champlevé enamel in many shades, built up through multiple firings. The design extends from the dial onto the case, creating a continuous image. Additional enamel layers create a “rain” effect over the scene.
GRAZIA’s take: The panther has been a Cartier symbol for over a century. Here, it’s used in a more immersive way, covering much of the watch rather than appearing as a small detail.
Cartier Privé 10th Opus Triptych
At a glance: To mark the 10th edition of the Cartier Privé series, the brand presents three watches together: the Crash, Tortue and Tank Normale, all in platinum with burgundy accents.
Movement highlight: The Crash Squelette is making headlines for good reason. A skeleton movement designed not just to be open, but to look as though the same force that bent the case has pulled the movement itself out of shape — bridges hand-hammered into Roman numerals that lean and distort — is a concept that works visually and technically. The Tortue Chronographe Monopoussoir with Cartier’s thinnest chronograph movement at 4.30mm, and the Tank Normale in a seven-row platinum bracelet echoing 1934, provide two more layers of historical depth to the anniversary triptych. The platinum-and-burgundy colour code unifies three very different watch shapes with quiet authority.
GRAZIA’s take: This is a celebratory collection bringing together some of Cartier’s most recognisable shapes—the Crash Squelette is certainly our top pick.
Patek Philippe
Patek Philippe’s 2026 lineup is one of its biggest in years, with 20 new references plus four Nautilus anniversary pieces. The focus is on meaningful “firsts”: sunrise and sunset in a wristwatch, a new alarm system, the first automaton in modern times, and the first grand complication in the Cubitus collection. Alongside these, there’s a full range of updated complications and refined dress watches that covers every tier of what Patek does.
Celestial Sunrise & Sunset — Ref. 6105G-001
At a glance: A new interpretation of the Celestial—Patek’s sky-chart watch—that adds the manufacture’s most ambitious new complication of the year: a display of the times of sunrise and sunset for Geneva, an indication that changes continuously throughout the year. The 47mm white gold case is bold, with an X-shaped caseband, and inside is an updated movement with over 400 components. The dial shows a rotating sky chart, moon phases, date, and the new sunrise/sunset display, all on sapphire disks. A second crown is used to adjust the astronomical functions.
Movement highlight: The key feature is how everything stays in sync. A patented system lets you adjust the time, date, and sunrise/sunset together when switching between Summer and Winter Time. It’s a complex problem solved in a very simple way: one corrector, one action.
GRAZIA’s take: This is the first time Patek has put sunrise and sunset into a modern wristwatch — something it previously only did in historic pocket watches. The combination of technical ambition and a more modern case design makes this one of the most forward-looking pieces in the collection.
Cubitus Perpetual Calendar Skeleton — Ref. 5840P-001
At a glance: The Cubitus—launched in 2024—gets its first grand complication with a perpetual calendar in a 45mm platinum case. The movement is square to match the case, and fully skeletonised with a clean, horizontal structure that echoes the design of the dial.
Movement highlight: The movement is finished entirely in monochrome rhodium — a first for Patek — with only blue screws for contrast. The moon phase is also special, using a large, highly detailed moon disk with realistic texture.
GRAZIA’s take: Designing a square perpetual calendar isn’t just aesthetic — it requires rethinking the entire movement layout. Combined with the stripped-back, modern finishing, this feels like a clear statement about where the Cubitus collection is going.
Automaton “The Crow and the Fox” — Ref. 5249R-001
At a glance: Inspired by a pocket watch conceived by Louis Cottier in 1958—now in the Patek Philippe Museum and never sold—this is the manufacture’s first automaton wristwatch in modern history and the first of its kind in the regular collection. The dial, in Matara brown opaline rose gold, carries ten hand-engraved and hand-chased appliques in rose, yellow and white gold depicting the fable of The Crow and the Fox by Jean de La Fontaine.
Movement highlight: Time is not displayed permanently—it is shown on demand. Press the push-piece at 2 o’clock: the fox raises its paw to indicate the hours from 0 to 6, then raises its muzzle for hours from 7 to 12. Hold the press and the minute hand—a titanium rod tipped with a hand-engraved wedge of cheese—drops from the crow’s beak to display the minutes on a graduated scale. Release the push-piece and both hands return to rest. The only continuously moving element is a diamond-set star at 6 o’clock indicating small seconds—confirming the movement is running.
GRAZIA’s take: This is less about telling time and more about storytelling. It’s rare for Patek to do something this playful — and rarer still for it to integrate narrative so directly into the mechanics.
Perpetual Calendar Minute Repeater — Ref. 5374/400P-001
At a glance: One of the most precious pieces in the 2026 programme: a perpetual calendar with minute repeater in platinum, its dial in Balinese mother-of-pearl—a specific variety prized for its distinctive shimmer—set with Paraíba tourmaline, one of the rarest and most expensive coloured gemstones in the world. Limited to eight pieces owing to both the mechanical complexity and the scarcity of qualifying stones.
GRAZIA’s take: This is the brand at the intersection of its highest watchmaking and jewellery ambitions.
Nautilus 50th anniversary — limited editions
At a glance: The Nautilus turns 50 in 2026—50 years since Gérald Genta’s design launched in steel. Patek’s response is four limited editions, all stripped back to hours and minutes only, all powered by the ultra-thin Cal. 240 (2.53mm) with a mini-rotor engraved “50 1976–2026”. No complications, no added dials—just the Nautilus design at its purest, in the most precious materials Patek offers. Delivered in a presentation case with a cork exterior, recalling the original 1976 Reference 3700 packaging.
Movement highlight: The Cal. 240 at 2.53mm keeps the case at 6.9mm, which is the slimmest the anniversary Nautilus has ever been. The platinum 38mm ref. 5610/1P reviving the medium Nautilus size is the most historically resonant of the three wristwatches—the 38mm format is where the Nautilus began for many collectors, and its return in platinum for the anniversary is a considered nod. The desk watch is the genuine surprise: a Nautilus that has never been seen in this format, with an 8-day movement and diamond-set dial, limited to 100 pieces. It is an object rather than a watch, and the most collectible piece in the anniversary range.
GRAZIA’s take: The decision to produce all three wristwatches with hours and minutes only—foregoing date, complications and even seconds—is a deliberate statement that the 50th anniversary is about the design, not a new feature.
Hublot
Hublot’s 2026 programme is structured around the Unico movement as its central engine, with a strong anniversary narrative running through almost every release: 20 years of the Big Bang, 20 years of All Black, 15 years of Magic Gold, and 10 years of Impact Bang. The result is a line-up that reads less like isolated launches and more like a retrospective of the brand’s modern identity—technical materials, openworked design, and highly visible mechanics.
Big Bang Reloaded
At a glance: The Big Bang Reloaded is a full redesign of the openworked Big Bang Unico. It keeps the 44mm case but reorganises the dial so the chronograph mechanism is easier to read: the column wheel and clutch are now visually highlighted, the date has been moved, and the counters are redesigned. The case uses a two-part bezel to separate materials more clearly, while the skeleton dial adds depth. On the back, a new openworked rotor with a cut-out H signature makes the movement even more visible. All versions use the in-house HUB1280 Unico flyback chronograph with 72 hours of power reserve and come with two interchangeable straps using the One Click system.
Movement highlight: The key change is visibility. Hublot has deliberately “colour-coded” and repositioned the chronograph architecture so the user reads the mechanism rather than just the time. The movement is no longer hidden behind design.
Big Bang Reloaded Kylian Mbappé
At a glance: The first watch developed in direct collaboration with Kylian Mbappé, eight years into his Hublot ambassadorship. White ceramic and King Gold—white for clarity, gold for ambition, in Mbappé’s words. The King Gold bezel is engraved with his personal mantra “Trust Yourself” at 6 o’clock. The number 10 in King Gold is prominent on the dial, celebrating his squad number.
Design details: The matte anthracite ruthenium skeleton dial is accented in white, with yellow and gold highlights marking the column wheel and flyback function. The case back shows the full Unico architecture. Two straps aer available: King Gold-toned Velcro fabric, and a black-and-white rubber strap with the KM logo discreetly engraved along the inner surface.
Big Bang Reloaded Usain Bolt
At a glance: A 200-piece edition marking 15 years of Usain Bolt’s Hublot partnership and the 10th anniversary of his Rio 2016 triple Olympic gold.
Design details: The design is built around personal codes: the lightning bolt-shaped chronograph second hand echoes his trademark victory pose; between 6 and 8 o’clock the numerals 6-5-8 read as 9.58 when inverted—his 2009 100m world record; Jamaica’s green and yellow highlight the column wheel and flyback markings. The caseback is the most striking detail: authentic soil from Bolt’s childhood training ground in Jamaica is suspended between two sapphire crystals inside a lightning bolt-shaped compartment, encapsulated and compressed within sapphire. The bezel is engraved with his mantra “Anything is Possible, Don’t Think Limits”.
Big Bang Impact One Million
At a glance: Marking the 10th anniversary of the Impact Bang’s fragmented diamond motif, the Big Bang Impact One Million takes the concept to its logical extreme: 500 diamonds (~44.6ct) in a dynamic vortex arrangement around a central flying tourbillon. The flying tourbillon—skeletonised and supported from one side only, with no upper bridge—appears for only the second time in Hublot history (after the 2024 Murakami edition).
Movement highlight: The setting alternates baguette and fancy-cut diamonds in radiating patterns using both invisible and closed-set techniques to create a three-dimensional vortex effect. The 45mm polished 18K white gold case carries 323 baguette-cut diamonds across the case and caseback alone. The movement, Cal. HUB9015, delivers a 120-hour power reserve—five full days. Hundreds of hours of setting work, with every gem requiring individually adapted channels given the variety of cuts and sizes.
GRAZIA’s take: Hublot has produced million-dollar watches before, from the 2007 One Million $ Big Bang through to a $5 million fully diamond watch. The Impact One Million earns its position in that lineage through the flying tourbillon, which intensifies both the technical and visual stakes considerably over a standard set movement. The vortex of diamonds radiating outward from the tourbillon is a coherent concept rather than a maximalist accumulation—the setting technique and the geometry of the Impact Bang motif give structure to what could otherwise read as decoration for decoration’s sake.
Spirit of Big Bang Impact — three limited editions
At a glance: Ten years after the Big Bang Impact Bang (2016) introduced its fragmented diamond motif—shards radiating from a central point, interlocking fancy-cut diamonds in precise geometric tension—the Spirit of Big Bang (Hublot’s 42mm tonneau case) receives the same treatment in three distinct expressions. All three share the HUB1770 skeleton automatic caliber with moonphase at 6 o’clock and Big Date at 1 o’clock. The fragmented motif extends from the dial through the bezel, with each applique hand-positioned to micron-level precision.
Design details: Setting diamonds directly into sapphire is the technical headline—sapphire is one of the hardest materials on Earth, and machining it to accept individually sized gems of varying cuts, without fracturing it, required new tooling and processes developed specifically for this project. The result is a case where the gems appear to float within the transparent structure rather than sitting on a metal surface. The osmium version is the most unusual material proposition: Hublot has been the only watchmaker to use crystallised osmium since 2014, and its natural bluish iridescence in combination with sapphire produces a colour effect that cannot be replicated in any other material combination.
Big Bang Joyful Steel Purple
At a glance: A new purple addition to Hublot’s Joyful collection—a 33mm steel watch whose bezel is set with 36 hand-selected and individually set amethysts. The gemstones are sourced for identical quality, colour and size, then cut, polished and hand-set—a process whose exactitude belies the accessible price point. The white dial is clean and uncluttered. Two interchangeable One Click straps: white rubber with a purple central insert, and a second in plain white rubber. The Joyful collection now spans five colours: purple, sky blue, apple green, pink and orange.
GRAZIA’s take: The Joyful series is Hublot’s clearest statement of intent toward a younger, more colour-led audience—and it’s the brand’s most accessible entry point with a natural gemstone bezel. The amethyst sourcing and hand-setting process is the same as used on much higher price-point pieces; the difference is in the stone choice, case material and movement rather than the craft of the setting itself.
A. Lange & Söhne
Lange’s 2026 presentation is deliberately compact: just two watches, but each sits at a different pole of the brand’s philosophy. One is a fully luminous grand complication that pushes visibility and complexity to an extreme. The other is a restrained, highly legible annual calendar in a compact case size that feels almost conservative by modern standards. Together, they show Lange’s usual approach: technical overstatement contained within very strict design discipline.
Lange 1 Tourbillon Perpetual Calendar “Lumen”
At a glance: The Lange 1 Tourbillon Perpetual Calendar “Lumen” combines two of Lange’s most complex mechanisms—a flying tourbillon with stop seconds and a perpetual calendar—inside the brand’s asymmetric Lange 1 layout.
Design detail: The 41.9mm platinum case houses a sapphire dial that is partially transparent, allowing UV light to charge luminous elements beneath it. Every key indication glows: the outsize date, day-of-week, moon phase, and all calendar displays, each with a different intensity so the hierarchy of information remains readable even in the dark. The calendar is arranged in Lange’s familiar off-centre geometry: outsize date at 12, subsidiary seconds and moon phase below, and the retrograde day display aligned on the same vertical axis. The months are shown on a peripheral ring, and all indications jump instantaneously when they change. The moon phase includes a day/night disc that rotates continuously, showing a sunlit sky by day and a starry sky at night. The movement is visible through the dial, turning the whole watch into a layered display of mechanics and light.
Movement highlight: The Cal. L225.1 is a 685-part self-winding movement that is fully assembled twice by hand. The tourbillon includes stop seconds, and its bridge is black-polished and hand-engraved. The rotor is made from black-rhodiumed gold with a platinum mass for winding efficiency. A diamond endstone in a screwed gold chaton sits at the centre of the tourbillon—a direct reference to Lange’s historical pocket watches.
GRAZIA’s take: This is Lange taking its most classical design language and inverting it for night use—a grand complication designed to be understood after dark, not just admired in daylight.
Saxonia Annual Calendar
At a glance: A new Saxonia Annual Calendar—Lange’s first annual calendar in the Saxonia family—in a compact 36mm case in white or pink gold, powered by an entirely new self-winding movement.
Design details: The 36mm case in white or pink gold keeps proportions compact, with a total thickness of 9.8mm. The dial is arranged for clarity: outsize date at 12, day at 9, month at 3, subsidiary seconds at 6, and a moon phase at the bottom of the dial. Despite the number of functions, the layout is highly ordered. The subdials are slightly recessed and decorated with azurage finishing that creates subtle light variation. The baton markers have been redesigned with a more sculptural profile, adding depth without disrupting the clean structure. The white gold version is paired with a silver dial; the pink gold version uses a grey dial that shifts the tone toward warmth without losing contrast.
Movement highlight: The Cal. L207.1 is a newly developed 491-part self-winding movement created specifically for this watch. It includes a platinum rotor for winding efficiency and a moon phase mechanism accurate to 122.6 years before correction is needed. The annual calendar automatically accounts for 30- and 31-day months, requiring adjustment only once per year at the end of February. Through the caseback, the hand-engraved balance cock remains the visual focal point, continuing Lange’s tradition of visible artisanal finishing.
GRAZIA’s take: Where the Lumen is about spectacle, the Saxonia Annual Calendar is about restraint; a full calendar complication expressed in one of the smallest, most wearable modern Lange cases.
IWC Schaffhausen
IWC’s 2026 collection revolves around two directions: serious engineering upgrades to the Ingenieur line, and emotionally driven storytelling through the Le Petit Prince series. A third thread runs through both — new material innovation, especially luminous ceramic (Ceralume) and space-grade design thinking.
Ingenieur Tourbillon 41 — Ref. IW345901
At a glance: The flagship of IWC’s 2026 Ingenieur programme: a flying tourbillon in a gold case and integrated bracelet, 41mm, with a dark olive green Grid dial. At 6 o’clock sits a flying tourbillon, fully visible without an upper bridge. The case follows the classic Genta-inspired Ingenieur design, but in a more sculptural, precious execution.
Movement highlight: Inside is an in-house automatic movement with a flying tourbillon and an 80-hour power reserve. The tourbillon can be stopped for precise setting, and key components are made from low-friction ceramic to improve durability and efficiency.
GRAZIA’s take: IWC has been building the Ingenieur back up since 2023 in a methodical way—automatic first, perpetual calendar next, now the tourbillon as flagship. The Genta design in gold with a complication this significant is a statement that the Ingenieur has fully re-established its position as a serious luxury sports watch, not just a design revival.
Ingenieur Automatic 35
At a glance: A smaller 35mm Ingenieur in steel, available in two versions: a blue dial model and a diamond-set bezel version. It keeps the same integrated bracelet design but in a more compact form.
Movement highlight: Both versions use a reliable automatic movement with a display caseback. The diamond version introduces jewellery elements to the Ingenieur line for the first time in this generation.
GRAZIA’s take: The 35mm Ingenieur with a diamond bezel is IWC’s clearest statement that the Genta design can carry jewellery credentials without losing its sporting character. The blue dial version is the more historically resonant addition—blue dials have been part of the Ingenieur’s identity for nearly 60 years and their introduction to the 35mm brings that continuity to the most wearable size in the current lineup.
Big Pilot’s Watch Perpetual Calendar Ceralume — Ref. IW505801
At a glance: Ceralume—IWC’s proprietary luminous ceramic, developed by engineering division XPL in collaboration with RC Tritec—makes its production debut here after last year’s concept watch. It combines a full perpetual calendar with a bold pilot-style case and rubber strap.
iMovement highlight: The case material itself contains luminous pigment, so the entire watch charges and glows. Inside is a 7-day perpetual calendar movement with dual-moon phase display.
GRAZIA’s take: Ceralume is the most technically interesting new material IWC has introduced in years: the challenge of homogeneously distributing Super-LumiNova pigments through a ceramic matrix (two materials with different particle sizes that resist mixing) required a dedicated manufacturing process invented specifically for this. The result is a material that functions like a light-storage battery in watch case form. Pairing it with the perpetual calendar—IWC’s most complex and signature complication—makes the Ceralume debut as significant a watch as possible within the collection. This is one of IWC’s most experimental watches—not just a complication upgrade, but a completely new way of thinking about materials and visibility in watch design.
Le Petit Prince 20th anniversary editions
At a glance: IWC has collaborated with the heirs of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry for 20 years, producing blue-dial Pilot’s Watches dedicated to The Little Prince that have become one of the most recognisable special-edition series in the industry. The blue dials are immediately recognisable and the literary association carries across cultures in a way that most partnership watches don’t.
Design details: For the anniversary, seven watches span three collections and case sizes from 34mm to 43mm. The deep blue sunray dial is the unifying element across all; gold-plated hands and the Little Prince illustration—on tinted sapphire casebacks or engraved on steel backs—are the signature details.
GRAZIA’s take: The 20th anniversary gives the series a meaningful milestone, and the white ceramic chronograph and the first-ever Portofino addition are the two most newsworthy pieces within it. The Portofino is particularly well-considered: the day/night disc at 6 o’clock, showing the Little Prince standing on the moon, is a detail that connects directly to the narrative of the book without being illustratively obvious about it.
This story first appeared on GRAZIA Singapore.
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