Business News The 2026 GPHG: Rexhep Rexhepi Wins The Aiguille d'Or For The RRCHF

Editor's Note: Jamie here, and what a night last night was here in Geneva. While I was up the back taking photos at the GPHG, Andy was up the front reporting live. Congrats to all the winners - we got pretty close with our predictions/favourites, but as always, there were a few pleasant surprises...

The 2026 Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG), the watch industry's top awards show, where the best and brightest watchmakers from around the globe are showcased, just wrapped up in Geneva, with Rexhep Rexhepi taking home the top prize, the "Aiguille d'Or" Grand Prix, for the RRCHF Chronograph Flyback.

The ceremony marked the first outing under new GPHG jury president Wei Koh, and it was mostly in English for the first time to appeal to a more international audience. Hosted by Stéphane Bern and Arianne Alcorta, the ceremony awarded prizes across a host of categories celebrating achievements in watchmaking during the year and throughout the industry's storied history.

It was a big night for Chopard, which took home four prizes in total (including two for Ferdinand Berthoud), and for Audemars Piguet, which grabbed two prizes, including the Iconic Watch Prize for its Royal Oak RD#5, as well as LVMH's La Fabrique du Temps housed brands, including LVMH and Daniel Roth, taking a couple of prizes.

For the grand prize and most important win - essentially 'watch of the year' among those entered - the jury chose Rexhep Rexhepi's RRCHF Chronograph Flyback. The watch made a huge splash when it was revealed, and Rexhep was kind enough to walk us through it and give us an up-close look. The young watchmaking phenom said he was expecting a win this evening, but the top prize was a surprise and an unexpected dream.

"This watch really represents the passion that I have for watchmaking," he said as he accepted the award. "I just wanted to do a chronograph, something thin and that I could wear," he added.

Editor's Note: Truly a worthy winner for a young watchmaker at the height of his power, if there was any doubt that Rexhep Rexhepi is now one of the greats, this Aiguille d'Or should dispel it.

Chopard took the 'Time Only' prize with its L.U.C. 1860 in Aeruse Blue. In his acceptance speech, Chopard's Karl-Friedrich Scheufele noted the award came on the 30th anniversary of the maison's manufacture in Fleurier. The elegant timepiece bested strong offerings from Bulgari with its new Octo Finissimo 37mm as well as Naoya Hida's NH Type 8A.

Editor's Note: I'm a big fan of this Chopard, but this was a stacked category - I could've equally seen this go Bulgari, Naoya Hida or Laurent Ferrier's way. Surprisingly, the LF Classic Origin Beige was the only entry in precious metal in this category.

Daniel Roth and the exquisite Extra Plat Rose Gold Skeleton won in the Essential category, beating strong competition from AP's new Neo Frame and MB&F's SP One Platinum.

La Fabrique du Temps co-founders and master watchmakers Michel Navas and Enrico Barbasini accepted the prize. In their acceptance speech, Barbasini took a moment to recognise their colleagues at fellow LVMH brand Zenith, who are facing potentially significant layoffs. Editor's Note: This earned a solemn but large round of applause on the night.

This one was a bit of a surprise, with watchmaker Mathieu Cleguer taking home the award for his Inspiration One. The timepiece is a standout because of its unique escapement developed by Cleguer, who previously worked at Rexhep Rexhepi's Akrivia. I met Cleguer on the eve of the awards and can confirm he's a great guy who takes his watchmaking very seriously.

Cleguer beat out some serious competition, including Czapek's popular Time Jumper as well as pieces from Behrens x Vianney Halter, Urwerk x Ulysse Nardin and Lederer.

Blancpain took the "Mechanical Exception" prize for its Grande Double Sonnerie. It's an amazing minute repeater with a price to match, which James went in depth on when it debuted. The prize and the piece confirm that Blancpain can still produce extraordinary high horology to compete with the best.

Editor's Note: A validating win for Blancpain, I feel, as the Grande Double Sonnerie received surprisingly little attention upon its release. It's a monster of a watch, and it's great to see BP doing high complications again.

Hodinkee US' Senior Editor Mark Kauzlarich awarded the Gemset category, briefly sharing how he was introduced to horology through his grandfather's pocket watch and noting the beauty and elegance of sharing a passion for watchmaking. Piaget took the prize for its Swinging Pebble, with CEO Benjamin Comar thanking the jury and event organisers for moving the event to Saturday night to get him out of the house!

Editor's Note: A cracking piece - Mr Comar noted how the dial comes from the same piece of stone as the rest of the watch, and how it's a real challenge to machine that dial section out to maintain the consistent pattern of the stone.

Another win for Chopard with the Ferdinand Berthoud FB 2TV. It features a flying one-minute tourbillon and a chain-and-fusée transmission, and it clearly wowed the jury against stiff competition.

The Chronograph was, in many ways, the most competitive category of the night, and Parmigiani Fleurier took the prize for its surprising and elegant PF Tonda Chronograph Mystérieux. The watch looks like an elegant three-hander until the chronograph mechanism is engaged and more hands reveal themselves to track seconds and minutes.

Parmigiani CEO Guido Terreni thanked his team, including brand founder Michel Parmigiani, and joked that the Tonda Mystérieux is likely the first watch to prompt owners to say, 'Do you want to try my chronograph?'

Editor's Note: One of my favourite watches of the year, the Chronograph Mystérieux is sublime. I sat next to Mr Terreni at the GPHG dinner after the ceremony, who noted that although Parmigiani had finalists in multiple categories, he was glad that the Chronograph Mystérieux was the watch they won with last night.

Also seriously competitive, the 'Calendar and Astronomy' category went to Audemars Piguet's 150th anniversary pocket watch, beating out entries from Berneron, Bovet, Krayon, Parmigiani and Christian van der Klauuw.

Accepting the prize, AP CEO Ilaria Resta said the challenge she gave her team with this timepiece was to bring the pocket watch into today's world. It's a "complicated watch in a compact format. We didn't want it to be a nostalgic watch. It is a piece that should live in everyday life," she said.

Editor's Note: Another non-wristwatch winner on the evening. It truly is the year of the pocket watch...

My kind of watches, the 'Sports' category win went to Grand Seiko for its Spring Drive U.F.A. Ushio 300 Diver. A more compact diver for the brand, the watch made a splash when it debuted at Watches and Wonders this year.

Fending off stiff competition from the likes of Laurent Ferrier, Hermès, IWC, and H. Moser & Cie, the jury rewarded Grand Seiko for producing a practical, wearable sports watch. In his acceptance speech, Seiko President Akio Naito thanked everyone who "supports Grand Seiko with their passion".

Editor's Note: A no-brainer in this category. A robust 300m diver that's also accurate to ±20 seconds a year? Amazing stuff. Strictly speaking, the Sports category is pretty broad, defined as "watches linked to the world of sport, whose functions, materials, and design are suited to physical exercise," but I'm glad a proper sports watch won this.

The Jewellery category had some wild and gorgeous pieces, with Chopard and its striking 'Mystery Nut' taking the top honours. Caroline Scheufele, accepting the award, said she often draws inspiration from nature in designing Chopard's jewellery pieces and was picking nuts in her garden that morning, hoping they would bring her luck. It certainly did.

The category 'Artistic Crafts' offered a wide slew of examples of craftspeople demonstrating their mastery of techniques including enamelling, lacquering, engraving, guilloché, marquetry, and skeleton-working.

Somewhat unexpectedly, Louis Vuitton took the prize for its Tambour Taiko Arty Automata. Jean Arnault, the head of Louis Vuitton watches and LVMH's watch unit more broadly, said of this timepiece, "We did something crazy this time," noting small details, including the eyelashes that move slightly on the dial.

Another super-competitive category, the Petite Aiguille is open to watches priced between CHF 4,500 and CHF 10,000. Otsuka Lotec took top honours for its No. 8 - not a huge surprise, as the industrial-inspired pieces from the Japanese brand have been turning heads with collectors. Here's Hodinkee Japan's Masaharu Wada's introduction and great photos of the winner.

Open to watches priced below CHF 4,500, the 'Challenge' category went to the Baltic x SpaceOne Seconde Majeure, produced with Théo Auffret of Auffret Paris and Guillaume Laidet. It's a statement that French watchmaking has truly arrived. Editor's Note: This felt like a particularly worthy win.

If clocks are your thing, there were some wild (and pricey) examples up for the prize in this category. The best mechanical clock prize went to La Vallée for its Cosmo, an extraordinary object d'art from the Italian company based near Lake Como. The Cosmo bested stiff competition, including the De Bethune collaboration with Louis Vuitton plus entries from L'Epée and Chopard.

Editor's Note: This thing is insane. I sat next to Luciano Sasso, La Vallée's head of R&D at the GPHG dinner after the ceremony, and his passion and genius for this kind of horology was truly inspiring. He explained that working with hand-blown Murano glass for this piece required him to invent no less than three different cutting devices in order to make it work... And that's before we start talking about the movement. I hope this GPHG gives La Vallée more of a profile; they deserve it.

The jury awarded this honour to Dominique Renaud for the Pulse60, his innovative watch design that runs at 1 Hz. The watch features a massive balance, an unusual escapement design, and a surprisingly approachable price from one half of the famed Renaud and Papi duo.

Editor's Note: This is my favourite watch release of 2026, and I'm so glad that Renaud won a prize for it. I was sad that it didn't win the Complication prize, and elated when it got the nod later in the ceremony. The Horological Revelation prize is intended to honour a notable creation by a young brand, independent watchmaker, or rising talent in the watch industry: technically, the Dominique Renaud brand is young, but the man himself is hardly a rising talent, having been a major influence on the industry for decades... Nevertheless, a worthy winner.

Audemars Piguet's RD#5 was likely a contender for the Aiguille d'Or, so it shouldn't surprise anyone that the most extreme, innovative, and advanced version of AP's most iconic watch won the prize. Mark's in-depth technical and practical deep dive is a must-read. Editor's Note: Stay tuned for more on this one in Hodinkee ANZ Vol. 2, which is going to print as this article goes live!

Konstantin Chaykin's impossibly thin ThinKing was nominated in the Mechanical Exception prize as well, so it was great to see the Russian watchmaker's boundary-pushing work recognised. Editor's Note: It's nothing if not audacious. Read Thor's interview with Chaykin about the creation of this watch here.

Another win for Chopard: the Ferdinand Berthoud contribution to the Naissance d'une Montre project, organised by the Time Æeon Foundation.

Editor's Note: Chopard's Karl-Friedrich Scheufele, when accepting the award for this one, noted that this is the prize Ferdinand Berthoud himself would've appreciated the most, considering his lifelong quest for accuracy. I thought that was a nice touch.

Finally, some worthy recognition for Patek's travelling Watch Art Exhibition. The latest edition just wrapped up in Milan - more on that here. Long-time Patek executive Jasmina Steele accepted the award on behalf of the legendary brand and president Thierry Stern and his late father Philippe Stern, who passed away earlier this year and was recognised in the In Memoriam on the evening.