Once a year, the horological world descends on Geneva for Watches and Wonders. It is a week where trends are set, appetites are whet and the timepieces that will generate column inches for the year ahead are finally seen in the metal.
There was much to love at Patek Philippe. A gorgeous Ellipse with a green dial, a refined Calatrava Travel Time 24 Hour Alarm and a Cubitus with a pseudo-skeleton dial. Rather than stripping everything away, Patek Philippe has opted for horizontal cut-outs that reveal slices of the movement, like glimpses through Venetian blinds. The real standout, however, is the Celestial Sunrise and Sunset. Its genius lies in tracking the changing times of sunrise and sunset across the year, indicated by two lower hands and read against the same outer ring used for the date.
Three of the 20 new references introduced by Patek Philippe at W&W 2026: Calatrava Travel Time 24h Alarm Ref. 5322G, Sunrise and Sunset Ref. 6105G, and Cubitus Skeleton Perpetual Calendar Ref. 5840P.
Creative calendars were a clear theme, nowhere more so than at IWC, which introduced its new ProSet perpetual calendar movement, one that can be set backwards as well as forwards. In practical terms, this may only benefit the most frequent travellers, but its technical ingenuity is undeniable. The system relies on a stacked “Program Wheel” that consolidates all calendar functions. It comes in several iterations, though the Big Pilot’s Le Petit Prince in white ceramic with a deep blue dial stands out.
Roger Dubuis was not to be outdone. For the first time, it combined its Quatuor complication, featuring four balance wheels set at 90-degree angles working in pairs to counter gravity, with a perpetual calendar. The result is a dizzying composition: calendar indications concentrated at the centre, while the balance wheels animate the periphery. Limited to just eight pieces, it is as rare as it is complex.
L-R: IWC Big Pilot’s Watch Perpetual Calendar ProSet Le Petit Prince (detail engraving on the caseback); Roger Dubuis Excalibur Quatuor and Vacheron Constantin Overseas Dual-Time Cardinal Points (indicated on the caseback).
Vacheron Constantin also embraced the travel theme with the Overseas Dual-Time Cardinal Points. Lightweight thanks to its titanium case, it carries a subtle industrial edge through the Titalyt treatment. It is an easy, wearable addition to a collection that has quietly become a benchmark for understated elegance.
That same “if you know” sensibility continues at Parmigiani Fleurier, which has been in remarkable form under CEO Guido Terreni. This year’s highlight was the Tonda PF Chronograph Mystérieux. At first glance, it appears to be a simple three-hand watch. Engage the pusher at seven o’clock and the illusion dissolves: the hands jump to 12 and begin functioning as chronograph counters, while rose-gold hands beneath continue to track civil time. It is playful, intelligent and beautifully executed.
At Hublot, things are rarely what they seem. Celebrating 21 years of the Big Bang, the brand used the Spirit of Big Bang to push material experimentation further. Highlights included setting diamonds into sapphire and the use of osmium, whose reflective properties create the illusion of a surface set with microdiamonds. It is as much material science as watchmaking.
L-R: Hublot Spirit of Big Bang Impact; Parmigiani Tonda PF Chronograph Mystérieux; and Audemars Piguet Établisseurs Galet.
Audemars Piguet’s return to Palexpo after its 2019 departure was equally distinctive. Beyond the expected Royal Oaks and Code 11:59s, the focus was on its Établisseurs collection, reviving the historic model of distributed craftsmanship. The Galet, a gold and stone timepiece inspired by the water-smoothed stones of the Vallée de Joux, exemplifies this approach. Created with jeweller Nadia Morgenthaler and case makers Théo Massouatis and Pablo Brenlla, it shows how looking beyond Le Brassus can yield something genuinely fresh.
Chanel continues to occupy its own space, blending haute horlogerie with couture and a knowing sense of play. The Coco Game Collection captures this perfectly. A chessboard set, already sold, features a figurine of Mademoiselle as Queen, concealing a watch within a necklace hidden in a drawer. The standout, though, is the pixelated rendering of Mlle on the seconds hand of a J12, crafted in carbon fibre light enough not to affect timekeeping.
L-R: Chanel J12 Coco Games in ceramic (matte black, glossy white). Bvlgari Octo Finissimo 37mm in yellow gold.
Bvlgari stepped away from record-breaking and instead refined its Octo Finissimo in a new 37mm case. This was no simple reduction. Every element, from movement to barrel to bridges, was reworked. A minute repeater remains, because even in restraint, Bvlgari does not abandon complexity.
The fair now extends well beyond Palexpo. Geneva itself has become part of the event. De Bethune presented its DB25Vxs Silver Moon, a refined evolution of its earlier DB25L, while Urwerk unveiled the UR-101 Diamond Sky, combining its signature satellite display with high jewellery, set against a field of 214 diamonds.
L-R: Urwerk UR-101 Diamond Sky, a limited-edition resurgence of the brand’s first-ever model from 1997; and De Bethune DB25Vxs Silver Moon, which distills De Bethune’s signature celestial poetry into a smaller, 40.6 mm format.
It is this fusion of tradition and experimentation that defines Watches and Wonders today. A meeting point of craft, design and imagination. Until next year.
Author: Laura McCreddie-Doak
A more detailed version of this review will be published in the 2026 edition of I-M TIME, on sale with the summer issue of I-M Inquisitive Minds.
You can discover other novelties from Watches & Wonders 2026 in our article, Who Cares About The Time?
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