Watches & Wonders 2026 Highlights
Watches & Wonders never really starts on day one. It creeps in during the weeks before, gathering pace with every early release.
This year, Rolex, TAG Heuer, Zenith and Vacheron Constantin have already shown their hand, and keeping up has felt like a losing battle. It’s now just past 11pm on the eve of the show, and the releases are still coming. I won’t be there this year, which stings more than I’d like to admit, so I’ll be doing it the only way I can, scrolling, digging, and picking out my favourites from afar.
So instead of trying to cover everything, I’m focusing on what stood out most to me.
Vacheron Constantin’s Historiques American 1921 ticks an awful lot of boxes for me. There’s an effortless charm to it, the kind of piece that quietly sets the tone for what’s to come.
A 40mm pink gold case with a textured, silver-toned dial sets the stage, punctuated by vivid blue Arabic numerals and matching 18K gold hands that lift the whole composition. The finishing plays a clever game of contrast, with a circular satin-brushed outer track offset by a snailed small seconds register, adding depth and a touch of visual intrigue. Tying it all together is a dark blue calfskin strap, gently patinated with a subtle gradient that lends an extra dose of quiet sophistication.
A subtle change, but one well recieved.
IWC have dropped the Pilot’s Venturer Vertical Drive and boy is it cool. This one feels like a proper bit of space-age kit. A tool watch rethought from the ground up, not just tweaked, but genuinely rebuilt for life beyond Earth.
The usual rules don’t apply here. There’s no crown to fiddle with, which at first feels odd, until it clicks. Everything is controlled through a rotating bezel system that’s still under patent, and it actually makes a lot of sense once you picture trying to use a traditional crown in a full space suit. There’s even a rocker switch on the side of the case, letting you hop between functions, winding, setting home time, mission time, all with a satisfying, slightly gadget-like feel.
It’s not just clever for the sake of it either. The case, made from white zirconium oxide ceramic and Ceratanium, keeps things light but seriously tough, ready for extremes that go well beyond your average desk dive. Oh do I want one of these, alas until I get the matching space suit, it will have to wait.
Laurent Ferrier have extended their Sport range with the Traveller Sport. A 42mm brushed titanium case with anthracite slate grey dial. Offering a dual time zone where the hour can be advanced or retarded by an hour at a time, by a simple button press, so no more disturbing the set time.
The dial grabs your attention, with the central cross, minute track and small seconds, whist the two apatures at 9 and 3 offer intreague. The 9 o’clock is your home time, whilst the 3 o’clock is your date. The satin brushing of the dial, is perfectly balanced with the mirror polishing of the edges, giving a cohesive feel.
The iconic onion crown, together with the integrated bracelet, pull the design together. Its Manufacture calibre, the LF275.01 automatic, offers over 72 hours of power reserve, allowing plenty of time to admire it. A watch for travellers built for accuracy and longevity, and one to keep alook out for in the wild.
H. Moser & Cie keep pushing boundaries and exciting collectors worldwide. Back in the late 1980’s I had a pair of Reebok Pumps, cutting edge and way ahead of it’s time. Reebok have collaborated with them to produce something quite interesting, a pump powered watch. The Streamliner Pump is available in a quartz forged fibre black or white 40mm case. Inside, a titanium inner shell acts like a protective capsule for the movement, helping deliver 10 ATM water resistance while also securing the integrated rubber strap in place.
Pressing the orange pump button, winds the movement, and activates the power reserve indicator. A single press, will deliver over an hour of power, impressive.
The HMC 103, is on show through the display case-back, and offers a full array of refined architecture to feast your eyes on. This is true innovation and daring from a brand that manufacture some of the stunning watches. Hats off to them for this one, a true delight has unfolded.
Norquain continues its trajectory of success, with the Freedom Chrono Enjoy Life “Sprinkles” Edition. A colourful extension of the successful “Ice Cream” that blew up last year. This time with a similar colour palette, but gone has the white dial with coloured subdials.
This new version, uses the same 316L stainless steel brushed 40mm case, with the two chronometer pushers either side of the crown. The dial is having its own party, with a base baby blue or pink (depending on option) with a splattering of sprinkles in 4 colours, pink, blue, green and yellow.
Powering this is the Norquain N19 calibre automatic chronograph movement, offering 62 hours of power reserve, enough for several ice creams with as mant sprinkles as you can take.
This is definitely a watch for the sunshine, and this will brighten up the gloomiest of days. Norquain continues to enjoy the party, and rightly so, as they spread a little bit of fun for us to enjoy.
Artya, are a brand that produce some of the craziest watches, and none stands out more than the Double Cônillon 12H/6H. A double inclined tourbillon, one at 12, the other at 6, all housed in a clear sapphire case.
The idea behind this is achieve a kinematic average of rate errors in order to smooth out the gravity-induced errors across positions, chronometric optimisation at 360 degrees. Hopefully that makes sense, as this is more of a marvel of engineering and a waych that can beadmired from every angle. There is no hiding behind a steel case, its all on show for us the take in and amire.
This is apparently a world first, and one I would struggle to explain, but regardless, this has to be one of the most eyecatching watches available, and I’m sure the price reflects that.
Ulysse Nardin latest drop, the Super Freak, does exactly what it says on the tin. 35 patents, rolled into a single watch, with a double tourbillon and gimbal-driven seconds display. The 44m white gold case, houses the performance, and uses the bezel to to adjust the time and is wound through the caseback and Grinder system.
The blue multi-layed Nanisital hour disc, floats above the movement. Time telling is carried out via the central bridge carrying the regulating organ. It rotates once per hour to indicate the minutes, while the disc indicating the hour completes a full rotation every twelve hours.
Powering this mechanical marvel, is the UN-252, with 511 individual parts, performing each task in precise perfection. Two flying tourbillons, each inclined at ten degrees and rotating in opposite directions. Both complete a full revolution every sixty seconds and are mounted on a shared bridge that also serves as the minute indicator. Up close it looks like a minitaure Terminator nano bot, simply breathtaking.
Corum fascinate me as a brand, and the Heritage Golden Book took me by complete surprise. They have decided to bring this back to the spotlight. The book opens to reveal a blank outer page, with a printed inner dial, inscribed with a quote from Ernest Hemmingway.
It seems small at 29mm x 36mm, and has a grade 5 titanium case with the cover of the book in 5N 18k gold.
Powering it is the CO157, a hand wound 2 hander movement, which to be honest, is all it needs.
This is not an everyday watch, but will be one that sparks conversations, and that is partly what watch collecting is about. Sharing an interest, showing others something they may never had seen before, and I doubt you’ll ever see one of these in the wild either.
A. Lange & Söhne, seem to redefy our expectations. The Lange 1 Tourbillon Perpetual Calendar “Lumen” is something very special indeed. With a 41.9mm platinum case, this already starts off on another level.
A semi-transparent dial allows an insight into the mechanical world beneath. During daylight, its stunning, but at night, when the “lume” sings, its breathtaking. The luminescence from the hours, minutes, seconds and date all combine as if backlit.
The perpetual calender displays the month on a peripheral ring, the day by a retrograde display and date through the oversize apature. The leap year appears in a small window at 6 and moon phase at 7.
If left running, you wont need to adjust it till the next secular year in 2100. The rear of the watch for me is as stunning as the dial, where you can see the tourbillon hard at work. It’s by far one of the most striking watches out this year.
Chopard has long been on my wish list, and this model may take the sports watch place. The Alpine Eagle 41 XPS Mountain Glow has the Lucent Steel case that we all know and love. There are no changes to the case, however the bracelet has had a slight redesign, with a more definable taper and an added micro-adjust, allowing a huge 5mm of growth.
The new champagne Mountain Glow dial really pops, perfectly showcasing the eagle eye iris motif. The white gold hands and hour markers provide a crisp, well-judged contrast.
A COSC certified L.U.C 96.40-L caliber keeps the watch ticking and a 22-carat yellow gold micro-rotor, stands out against the decoration with both striping and anglage. With a Geneva Seal completing the picture, the Alpine Eagle is still still so underrated and needs to be apprected my more.
There’s been a flood of press releases to sift through and, on the whole, Watches and Wonders 2026 feels like another clear success. I’m taking it all in from behind a desk rather than on the ground in Geneva, though that’s something I’m steadily working towards.
It does raise a question around expectations. Should we temper them when it comes to new releases? Brands are, in theory, listening to what collectors want, yet many remain firmly anchored to their heritage. The result is often a reworking of existing models rather than anything genuinely new.
Meanwhile, it’s the independents that seem to be making the real noise, pushing boundaries while the bigger players appear a little too comfortable. That might sound harsh, but it’s hard not to feel a twinge of disappointment when a brand I genuinely admire, like Tudor, delivers something that feels a touch underwhelming. This is a company with a century behind it, and perhaps this was a moment that called for a little more bravery.