I once wrote for a high-minded editor who instructed me never to use the word “trend” because it didn’t apply to luxury watches. The theory was ostensibly based on the notion that each luxury watch is so unique and special that it is impossible to lump even two of them together in the same category. “They are not fashion watches.” I thought it was a crap theory even then. There are so many obvious trends in the watch world that it’s impossible to overlook them, and it’s fun to track them. It’s true that a trend in luxury watches is less likely to be as industry-wide as it was in fashion watches. But it doesn’t take 50 similar watches to make a trend (that would be tedious): If three watch brands do a jumping hour in a some new way (see below), we can call it a trend because it’s so distinctive. Fifteen launches with blue dials in one year? That’s a trend. Here are a few trends that dominated wrists for 2025, most of which are likely to continue into 2026.
1. Metiers/finish:
You could argue this has been a trend since 2005 when mechanical watchmaking, having been fully resurrected from the ashes of quartz, moved onto the next stage: perfecting the finish by reviving the traditional crafts associated with high watchmaking. By now, the metiers have been refined by companies that train their own craftspeople and invest in full workshops on site. There are maybe five or six brands at the top of this game that really stand out. Here are two of them, and examples of their work.
Engraved gold case of the Armillary Tourbillon – Myth of the Pleiades, from the Vacheron Constantin Les Cabinotiers “The Quest” collection.
Patek Philippe Ref. 5738/50J-011 “Yellow-Crested Cockatoo,” with a dial in cloisonné enamel and miniature painting on enamel. From the 2025 Rare Handcrafts collection, an annual collection that included 78 metiers pieces this year.
2. Color
Long, long ago, in the ’90s, when quartz was still prevalent and fashion watches ruled the market, the movements were all essentially the same, so watches were mostly by the use of bright colors. “Colorways” became an important part of marketing new collections. Makers of mechanical watches differentiated their collections by not using color, asserting their more dignified presence with traditional neutral dials and black numerals. The luxury players, having since all but destroyed the quartz fashion watch market, are now having more fun by exercising their freedom to use color in all its splendor and silliness. A pink Miss Piggy watch anyone?
This hot pink tribute to the hottest Muppet is not only on trend with the color explosion in luxury watches, but demonstrates that the Swiss watch industry isn’t afraid to have some fun. It’s a subtle rendition: a spyhole on the caseback reveals a fetching portrait of Miss Piggy.
Rolex has been infusing color into its Oyster Perpetual collection for the past few years, proving that it is about more than tough-guy sports watches. This 28 mm OP with a lavender lacquer dial, contains an automatic movement with silicon hairspring.
3. Chronometry
Nothing is more accurate than quartz, which, when it hit the market in the 1960s, ended the chronometry competitions that rated mechanical watches in Switzerland and Besançon, France. Mechanical watchmakers are now once again fiddling with escapements, mainsprings and gear trains to eke out gains in accuracy and reliability down to the fractions of a second. This often means reviving and improving upon legendary mechanical movements from the past, as these two makers have done.
Zenith G.F.J with its bright blue lapis and mother-of-pearl dial, brickwork details and hero movement, was the sensation of the 2025 Watches and Wonders and went on to win a GPHG award in the Chronometry category. Caliber 135 is one of the legendary movements that won multiple prizes in the famous observatory chronometer competitions held in Neuchâtel and Geneva, Switzerland. It was the star of that era, with five consecutive first prizes. This watch contains a refurbished version of that movement.
The Urban Jürgensen UJ-1 celebrates the miniaturization of Derek Pratt’s (technical director of Urban Jürgensen from 1982 to 2005) Oval Tourbillon pocket watch with cage-mounted remontoir d’égalité in a series-production wristwatch. It was adapted by co-CEO Kari Voutilainen for a wristwatch.
4. Ladies
Ladies’ watches have moved beyond pink flowers and gold butterflies, as watchmakers extend their understanding of women’s preferences. This includes the realization that classic design and chronometrically superior movements can appeal to a woman as equally as to a man. The female aficionado really does exist.
The Patek Philippe Twenty~4 collection started as a quartz watch in 1999, but was redesigned in 2018 and given an automatic movement. This year, it gets its first perpetual calendar complication, Ref. 7340/1R, which is long overdue. As a fashion statement, the green dial is right on trend and looks great with the rose gold case and bracelet.
The A. Lange & Söhne 1815, a classic three-hand, is Lange’s purist expression of the brand and of watchmaking. It has long been a male collector’s fave and, now, finally, it is available in a 34mm version, with a newly developed, scaled-down manual-wound movement with the usual superb Lange finishing.
5. Racing Machines
Formula 1 racing is hotter than tennis and football now, certainly in terms of watch sponsorships. Several brands are getting in on the action by sponsoring teams, race organizations, and individual races. TAG Heuer is of course top of mind since it is now official Timer for F1, a sponsorship previously held by Rolex. H. Moser & Cie is sponsoring the Alpine F1 team, along with driver Pierre Gasly. IWC made the watch that Brad Pitt wears in Apple TV’s summer hit F1, and Richard Mille has long sponsored McLaren and Ferrari F1 teams, with several special editions designed for drivers, teams or races.
The TAG Heuer Formula 1 Solargraph is one of several limited editions celebrating this year’s commencement of TAG Heuer’s F1 Sponsorship and Official Timer status.
The H. Moser & Cie Streamliner Alpine Drivers Edition is a skeletonized version of the sophisticated chronograph developed by Moser’s partner, high-end movement maker Agenhor. The V-shaped bridges evoke the triangulated suspensions of single-seater cars, the rotor (which you can see on the dial side) echoes the lines of an Alpine A110 wheel rim, and the central bridge is shaped like a driver’s helmet.
6. Jump Hour/Guichet
Ticket window watches seemed to be everywhere this past year. Cartier’s revival of its Tank à Guichets (inspired by a ticket window) was the hit of Watches and Wonders. Louis Vuitton’s Tambour Convergence got the ball rolling in January and included this spectacular pavé version. It was followed by the Chopard L.U.C Quattro Spirit 25, the Beda’a Eclipse, and Bremont’s variation, the Terra Nova. It’s a lovely look that leans into the sleek, minimalist aesthetic of the jump hour.
Cartier Privé Tank à Guichets
The Cartier Privé Tank à Guichets was first introduced in 1928, and still looks fresh a century later. The mechanical digital time display is the same as the original, but the new one is powered by a new hand wound movement with a jumping hour and a dragging minute display.
The Louis Vuitton Tambour Convergence, with a jump hour and dragging minutes, is not a revival but is vintage-inspired, an “homage to the montres à guichet.” The in-house automatic movement displays dragging hours and minutes through beautifully sculpted and beveled windows on the dial. The all pavé version is a work of art.
7. Revivals
It’s hard to think of a brand that hasn’t reached into its archives over the past five years to revive an example of some great design from the past. And you don’t have to be as old as Vacheron Constantin to do it. Louis Vuitton resurrected the Monterey this year, a funky ’80s-era watch that stormed the secondary market in 2024.
The Monterey was Louis Vuitton’s first watch and, since it hails from 1988, it contained a quartz movement. The design, however, was distinctive. A collaboration with Italian architect and designer Gae Aulenti, it had a pebble-shaped case with no lugs, and a crown at 12 o’clock to commemorate early pocket watch design. Those features are preserved in the new model, which is upgraded with automatic movement and grand feu dial.
The Arnold & Son Constant Force Tourbillon 11 commemorates the friendship and collaboration between two great 18th century watchmakers: Abraham Louis Breguet and Englishman John Arnold. The architecture of the movement in the Constant Force Tourbillon 11 is inspired by the movement of the first tourbillon created by Abraham-Louis Breguet in 1808, which was partly based on a chronometer movement designed by John Arnold. It has a grand feu enamel dial, yellow gold case, a constant force mechanism visible on the dial, along with a hacking seconds indicated by a blued anchor.
8. Wild Things
Most of the newer brands, unbound by an inherent signature aesthetic, are free take a walk on the wild side for design inspiration. They often team up with contemporary artists, including grafitti artists and tattoo professionals, and even with other watch brands. Offbeat designs and modern interpretations of traditional watchmaking are their strength. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t. Here are two examples that do.
The Hublot MP-17 MECA-10 Arsham Splash Titanium Sapphire is Hublot’s second collaboration with contemporary artist Daniel Arsham. The organic shape is inspired by flowing water, and the defining feature is a striking splash-shaped opening on the dial. It contains a manual-wind movement that can be seen through the dial opening and sapphire caseback. Materials include titanium and rubber and transparent sapphire components. Certainly not a design to be found in any archive anywhere.
The Urwerk x Ulysse Nardin UR-Freak is a collaboration between two of the most creative independent practitioners of contemporary watchmaking. It fuses Urwerk’s signature wandering hour satellite concept with the Ulysse Nardin Freak’s rotating carousel escapement. The 44mm case is deep anthracite gray sandblasted titanium. It is accented by Urwerk’s emblematic electric yellow Pantone 395 C, a color that highlights the satellite pointers, minute markers and the fitted rubber strap.
