Just Because Our Favourite Watches From The 2026 GPHG Finalist List

This weekend Geneva will play host to the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève for the 26th time. For the uninitiated, think of it as the Oscars of watches, with prizes given out across categories, as well as the highly coveted 'Best in Show', or the Aiguille d’Or Grand Prix. 

Notably, the ceremony will be conducted in English (as opposed to the traditional French) for the first time ever, and prizes have been reorganised into categories, evolving from the previous approach of a gendered split. Both these changes are to broaden the appeal of the GPHG, and to reflect the maturing diversity of modern watchmaking.

The ceremony kicks off on 07 November at 6:30 PM CET (or 08 November 4:30 AM AEDT for the Australian die-hards), and you can tune in to the livestream on gphg.org.

To pique your interest further, Jack Shepherdson and Nick Kenyon have shared their picks from each category, and you can see the full list of nominees here. 

JACK: Bulgari Octo Finissimo 37mm - Scaling down a watch is never as straightforward as it sounds, always a battle of translating proportions that were never intended for their new scale. With the Octo Finissimo 37mm, Bulgari have taken one of the most architectural designs in contemporary watchmaking and shrunk it to a new scale, which has not only opened it to new wrist sizes but created a new presence on the wrist. Smaller, lighter, expertly satin-polished, and now with an improved movement architecture that retains the microrotor. What’s not to love?

NICK: Chopard L.U.C “30th Anniversary” 1860 Chronometer - I’ve long been a fan of Chopard’s L.U.C 1860, simply because if I wanted a dress watch that could easily double as a regular daily wear, there’s not much out there that’s better than this as far as case dimensions, dial proportions and attention to detail in all the right places. This tribute to 30 years of “Chopard Manufacture” Fleurier takes it up a further notch with that hand‑guilloché Areuse blue dial, which works in just about any setting I can think of, while still being powered by the Poinçon de Genève and COSC-certified L.U.C Calibre 96.40-L with 65 hours of power reserve.

JACK: Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF Minute Rattrapante Arctic Rose - Parmigiani Fleurier is continuing to show that the well of watchmaking compilations hasn’t run dry, and executes its creative thinking in an effortlessly simple way. The Minute Rattrapante’s minute countdown function is incredibly useful, ergonomically clever but visually simple, and the Arctic Rose dial with a hand guillochéd Grain d'Orge pattern brings a splash of colour. The rose gold crown and crown-set pusher complement the dial excellently.

NICK: Grand Seiko SBGZ011 Masterpiece Collection - This was one of the releases I couldn’t stop thinking about when I first saw it in the metal at Watches & Wonders this year - an achievement in the context of five uninterrupted days where I saw hundreds of new watches. If you’d described a 45GS case without its famous razor-sharp case lines to me, I’d probably be sceptical from imagination alone, but Grand Seiko has turned it into a hand-engraved masterpiece that somehow still preserves the shape of the case, while arguably catching the light better thanks to the thousands of tiny graver marks. Plus, the movement is a great example of what the brand’s Micro Artist Studio is capable of, not only as the thinnest Spring Drive calibre in the catalogue, but with some of the best finishing I’ve seen this year.

JACK: Ulysse Nardin x URWERK UR-Freak - If a single word came to mind that described both the Ulysse Nardin Freak and URWERK, it would be ‘busy’ - but in a good way; their impressive complexity is why we love them both. So if you told me you were bringing both their mechanically-driven design languages together in a collaboration watch, it would evoke two words to describe it: ‘very busy’. The resulting watch is impressively cohesive, and embodies in equal parts both the Freak’s combination of floating balance wheel/hour hand with URWERK's wandering satellite hour display. Mechanically, it's a combination of both these unique movements and meshes beautifully, whilst respecting what makes each of the original watches unique - like the Freak’s signature crownless design, meaning the UR-Freak is set by rotating the lockable bezel and wound by rotating the caseback.

NICK: Czapek & Cie Time Jumper - Jump hour watches are the hottest thing since sliced right now, but that doesn’t mean a particularly well-executed example doesn’t deserve its flowers, and that’s exactly what Czapek has here. I’m a big fan of the stainless steel case and white gold guilloché half-hunter cover over the dial, but what I particularly like is the new Calibre 10.01 that allows the hours to be read via two separate rotating discs (rather than the typical jump or wandering hour wheel).

JACK: Konstantin Chaykin ThinKing Mystery - It’s the thinnest mechanical watch ever created - need I say more? Well, there is a lot more going on in the ThinKing Mystery, primarily those mystery subdials; sapphire discs driven by the rims, which suspend the hand displays seemingly in mid-air. The ultra-thin mainspring is a newly patented creation without the conventional top and bottom walls, retained by a reinforced bridge and the underside of the caseback itself. We’ve watched the record for thinnest mechanical watch change hands a few times in recent years, but Konstantin Chaykin has brought their own design flair and additional mystery-watch complexity to an already incredibly complex challenge, and managed to put it into a series-limited production. Top stuff.

NICK: Blancpain Grande Double Sonnerie ref. 15GSQ 3613 55B -  The Grande Double Sonnerie from Blancpain is a technical antidote to the clean lines and negative space of the Villeret Ultraplate novelties we saw earlier this year, arriving as the most complicated watch the Le Sentier-based watchmaker has ever made. Comprising more than 1,100 components and the result of 21 patents over eight years of development, it’s not a small watch at 47mm x 14.5mm, but considering it’s capable of telling you the hours, minutes, seconds, date, day, month, and year (all as a perpetual calendar), as well as chiming functions and a power reserve indicator, its size makes plenty of sense. Plus, if you’re spending CHF 1.7 million, you don’t want to forget it's on your wrist.

JACK: Piaget Swinging Pebble - If you want proof of Piaget’s mastery of high jewellery, lapidary (that’s the fancy word for stone polishing and cutting), and goldsmithing, let me direct you to the Swinging Pebble.  Yes, it’s quartz-powered, but the real story is the natural stones shaped into a necklace-pendant hybrid timekeeping device. Each pebble is crafted from a single slice of stone that Piaget’s gemologists pick for its veining and colour, before organically shaping, polishing, and carving out a space for the watch to be nestled within. The dial, ringed with set diamonds, is chosen to match the pebble, and in the case of the blue and brown pietersite stone, the whole ensemble is mounted into a diamond-set white gold bail before being hung around the neck from a sinuous, twisted, white gold chain.

NICK: Piaget Swinging Pebble - Alternative time-telling methods are very much in vogue at the moment (of which jump hours are a part) and if you’re looking for the chicest corner of this broader trend, Piaget has it well and truly covered with watches like the Swinging Pebble. Offering a nod to similar Kimono pocket watches it produced in the early 70s, there are three different references, each cased in a different hardstone. Genuinely wonderful stuff.

JACK: Louis Vuitton Escale Worldtime Flying Tourbillon -  La Fabrique du Temps, Louis Vuitton’s watchmaking division, is continuing to excel under the leadership of Jean Arnault, but what really impresses me is their ability to combine exceptional watchmaking complication with playful, globetrotting, Art of Travel savoir-faire. Yes, the central flying tourbillon is stunning, and required a ground-up rethink of the calibre's architecture, but it’s caged by the Louis Vuitton Flower and ringed with a hand-enamelled world-time display that pairs 24 flags with a major city. Topped off with riveted lugs reminiscent of the corner brackets on vintage LV trunks, and you’ve got a watch that’s begging you to take it to see the world.

NICK: Sylvain Pinaud 30s Tourbillon - Pinaud is one of those independents whose work I find myself rooting for, and the 30s Tourbillon is exactly why. Rather than the usual once-a-minute cage, he’s built a tourbillon that turns in just 30 seconds, paired with zero-reset seconds that snap back to twelve the moment you pull the crown, and the sort of hand-finished detail that does little for accuracy on paper but plenty for the pleasure of ownership.

JACK: Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF Chronograph Mystérieux - This is the second Parmigiani Fleurier in my GPHG picks this year, and it’s not the last. The Chronograph Mystérieux is another genuine innovation from the brand, hiding a secondary gold handset beneath the time-telling hands, ready to be instantly deployed to twelve with a press of the chronograph pusher to start timing, centrally configured. In essence, a chronograph that's only visible when you need it, appearing like a time-only watch when not, all actuated with an automatically-wound monopusher architecture. It’s this sort of watchmaking innovation executed with visual clarity that's keeping my eyes glued to Parmigiani Fleurier.

NICK: TAG Heuer Monaco Evergraph - The Monaco has been one of TAG Heuer’s most important collections for decades, making it all the more impressive the brand decided to rebuild it from the ground up in 2026. It’s not every day such an instantly recognisable watch gets an entirely new sub-collection, but the Evergraph reworks the Monaco’s chronograph mechanism around new bistable components formed by LIGA, reducing service intervals and improving accuracy.

JACK: Parmigiani Fleurier Toric Perpetual Calendar 30th Anniversary - The Toric Perpetual Calendar is a great example that Parmigiani Fleurier is more than just clever complications. They can execute with restraint and simplicity, yet finish to an extraordinary degree. The 18-carat rose gold dial features a hammered finish that’s uninterrupted except for the applied and minimalist logo and subdials at 4 and 8, ringed with a coin-edge bezel all in a clean 40mm rose gold case. The movement is in-house, manual wind, and is hand-guillochéd with a Clou de Paris and Filet sauté finish that makes me question if I’d wear it dial or movement side up - each is as beautiful as the other.

NICK: Audemars Piguet 150 Heritage Pocket Watch - For its 150th, Audemars Piguet could have made another Royal Oak and called it a day, but instead it decided to take the direct opposite route and build this remarkable 50mm platinum pocket watch. Beyond the split-seconds flyback, flying tourbillon, grande and petite sonnerie and minute repeater, the proper party trick is in the hinged caseback, where you’ll find a Universal Calendar set by rotary selector from 1900 to 2099, which tracks solstices, equinoxes and nine cultural and religious celebrations from Easter to Diwali.

JACK: IWC Schaffhausen Big Pilot's Watch Perpetual Calendar Ceralume - This year's Sports category was by far my hardest to pick, but similar to the Parmigiani Fleurier sweep, it came down to mechanical and material innovation. The IWC Big Pilot Perpetual Ceralume brings two new innovations to the table: the new perpetual calendar ProSet builds on the Kurt Klaus original from 1985, which was the first perpetual controlled entirely through the crown (no case correctors), but it could only be set forward. ProSet means you can now go forward and backwards. Throw in IWC’s new Ceralume - now available to more than just Lewis Hamilton - debuting on an IWC production watch and delivering a lumed dial, lumed ceramic case and lumed strap.

NICK: Grand Seiko Spring Drive U.F.A. Ushio 300 Diver - Grand Seiko fans have been asking for a more modestly sized dive watch for years, and the 40mm Ushio finally delivers it with the brand’s fresh take on the collector-favourite VFA (Very Fine Adjusted) references that were only made between 1969 and 1972. This is the U.F.A. (Ultra Fine Accuracy) Spring Drive movement, rated to ±20 seconds a year rather than a day, and in addition to a smaller case size, owners will also get to enjoy a tapered bracelet with a micro-adjust mechanism in the clasp.

JACK: Piaget Flowing Curves Cuff Watch - The second time Nick and I have picked the same pieces, and they’re both Piagets. The reasons I picked the Flowing Curves Cuff are similar to my choice of the Swinging Pebble; Piaget is again showing they are the masters of extravagant, audacious, avant-garde, and creative jewellery watches. The organically shaped, amorphous white gold links are set with diamonds and huge Australian black opals, chosen for their contrasting blue and green fires. The dial itself is set into another opal, and just like the Swinging Pebble, although it’s quartz, the craftsmanship and creativity it takes to bring a piece like this to life is arguably as impressive as a mechanical watchmaking feat.

NICK: Piaget Flowing Curves Cuff Watch - Piaget has been making cuff watches since the 1960s, but this Flowing Curves reference is a reminder that today, very few brands know how to sculpt gold quite like it does. The whole piece pours around the wrist in unbroken curves, with an Australian black opal dial almost disguised among more than a dozen other opals set into the case and bracelet.

Jack: Bulgari Serpenti Misteriosi - The Serpenti Misteriosi is everything that defines Bulgari: miniature mechanical watchmaking, exceptional micro-lacquering, extraordinary design and glamorous showmanship. The dial, housed in the mouth of the Serpent, sits above the smallest round mechanical movement on the market, and is hidden out of sight until the mouth is opened. The mixture of patterned and solid-coloured lacquered scales over the rose gold body is beautifully executed.

Nick: L.Leroy Vox Temporis - L.Leroy is a name more people should know, and the Vox Temporis is the perfect example of why. The time is read by a single hand for the hours, while the minutes can be chimed on demand by a minute repeater, with a flying tourbillon ticking away under an officer’s-style caseback that brings a touch of 18th-century inspiration to the package.

JACK: Otsuka Lotec No. 8 - To build a unique, adaptable and memorable design language can take a big brand multiple decades, though Otsuka Lotec, a team of about half a dozen, have managed to do it in just fourteen years. Design inspiration for the No. 8 comes from music mixing consoles, resolving as a jump-hour with retrograde minutes and a running-seconds subdial. Look closely at the shape of the steel and red time indicators, and you’ll see the mixing console DNA. Power comes from a Miyota 90S5 automatic base calibre, but an in-house module sits above it that uses some seriously impressive microengineering, including the smallest ball bearing in the world. The design is deliciously analogue, reminiscent of the tactile techno-mechanical future we were promised in Blade Runner and Akira, and if this is what Jiro Katayama and his team can achieve in fourteen years, I can’t wait to see what’s next.

Nick: Massena LAB Noctograph by Massena LAB and Raúl Pagès - The Noctograph is the third time William Massena and Raúl Pagès have joined forces, and it might be the most wearable release to date, thanks mostly to the 38.5mm steel case that houses Pagès’ hand-wound Calibre M660 with 60 hours of reserve. I particularly love the beautifully proportioned midnight-blue dial that shifts between slate, petrol and deep navy as the light moves, with a design that does heritage-informed minimalism very nicely indeed

JACK: Baltic x SpaceOne Seconde Majeure - A collaboration between Baltic, SpaceOne and Théo Auffret, the Seconde Majeure rides the line between concept watch and entry-level haute horlogerie. It places the jump-hour complication, developed by Auffret, on display between the dial plate and two transparent sapphire jump-hour discs above it. Auffret’s module is mesmerising to watch (as I found out in person) as the central driving wheel engages the hour star at each hour's jump, and is a beautifully yet deceptively simple piece of mechanical engineering. The resulting watch blends all three collaborators' unique design languages together to create a watch that shares a lineage with all three, but also feels entirely unique. The best part? At CHF 3,000, it gives you a taste of haute horologerie at a fraction of the price. No wonder Baltic was inundated with orders when it went on sale.

NICK: Seiko King Seiko VANAC - Seiko’s  VANAC collection from the 1970s is a relatively unknown part of the Japanese watchmaker's massively deep archive, so I was very pleased to receive the press release when it was announced to return. It’s got the same faceted case shape and cut-crystal over the dial, but Seiko brings it into the 21st century with the addition of titanium in the case and bracelet construction, making it a very attractive option at the more affordable end of the market.

JACK: L’Epée The Gekko - L’Epée is no stranger to avant-garde clocks, though what struck me with The Gekko is the versatility. It’s an in-house 8-day movement that’s wound by wagging its tail side to side, but just like how a gekko can stick to vertical surfaces, this clock is designed to be placed on a table or hung on the wall. It has multiple points of articulation, so it can be positioned in up to ten different poses, such as climbing, stretching, resting, upwards or downwards, sideways, or at an angle. Additionally, thanks to a rotating dial ring, the hour markers can be repositioned so it’s oriented correctly regardless of the angle. I really appreciate this off-the-wall thinking (pun intended) from L’Epée that brings a perspective shift to clock design.

NICK: Chopard The Beehive Chiming Table Clock - While shooting Chopard’s novelties at Watches & Wonders this year, I couldn’t help but step out of the room I was working in to take a closer look at this Beehive Chiming Table Clock the brand had on display in the hallway. It’s a wild thing to see in person, designed in reference to Chopard’s emblem of a beehive and created in collaboration with L’Épée 1839 to mark the 30th anniversary of its Fleurier Manufacture. The main structure of the clock is constructed with sculpted borosilicate glass, while the time is read via a set of rotating glass discs (as well as striking the hours on a glass bell).

To check out the full list of finalists, you can find it here.