The 3 Brands Worth Keeping An Eye On At Watches And Wonders 2026

It’s that time of year again: Watches and Wonders time. This year’s edition of the watch industry’s pre-eminent trade show promises more attending brands than ever before, as well as a packed schedule both inside and outside the Palexpo exhibition halls as brands plan to activate in and around Geneva. 2026  also marks Hodinkee Australia’s first outing at Watches and Wonders: our new team will be on the ground, covering the most important releases of the fair.

Fingers crossed we get there, though. For us Antipodean watch journos, retailers and enthusiasts, just getting to Switzerland will be half the battle: with the unrest in the Middle East, the normal layover destinations Aussies and Kiwis route through to get to Geneva are no-go zones, with flights through Asia and North America equally looking few and far between (and pricey).

But the point of this article is not to whinge about international travel. There might be 65 brands exhibiting at Watches and Wonders 2026, but there’s a trio of watchmakers that I’m particularly eager to meet with at the fair this year – and not just because this is the first time they’re exhibiting.

Audemars Piguet hardly needs an introduction, but it does require a disclaimer. The ‘Holy Trinity’ brand previously exhibited at Watches and Wonders, back when it was called the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie (SIHH), leaving the fair in 2019 during former CEO François-Henri Bennahmias’ tenure, citing a new policy of shifting away from traditional trade shows and multi-brand retailers to focusing on internalisation and direct sales.

2024 saw Ilaria Resta take the reins of the now-151-year-old watchmaker, which, in the just over 12 months since she started, has moved up from being the fourth-largest Swiss watchmaker by sales to being the third-largest, behind only Rolex and Cartier’s watch division. 2025 also saw AP celebrate its 150th anniversary in exuberant style, with highlight releases including the chronograph-reinventing Royal Oak “Jumbo” RD#5 and the solely-crown-operated calibre 7138 perpetual calendar movement.

In short, AP is a watchmaker on a real roll right now, which is perhaps why it’s decided to get back in on the action at Watches and Wonders – and has me very excited by what the Le Brassus brand might unveil at the fair.

AP hasn’t made things easy on itself, however. In the same way that the exhibiting LVMH Maisons like TAG Heuer and Zenith make things hard on themselves by participating in LVMH Watch Week and Geneva Watch Days on top of Watches and Wonders and therefore committing to three major release moments, AP has already gone pretty hard with its “first semester” 2026 releases, which debuted in February. These included the ultra-complicated 150 Heritage pocket watch and the Streamline Moderne-inspired Neo Frame Jumping Hour. Not bad for a watchmaker that sometimes gets disparaged as simply being ‘the Royal Oak brand’…

It begs the question: what has AP got in store for WWG? Even if they bring nothing new to the table, the prospect of being able to see some of February’s releases in the metal is a pretty appealing one. I’m eager to see what they do with their booth, too. AP has confirmed that its design will be inspired by the historic établissage system on which the brand was founded – so I predict some displays dedicated to different métiers d'art, and perhaps even some live watchmaking.

However, I do hope that we’ll see some new watches for the fair. Predicting a new variation on the Royal Oak would be the safest bet in the watch industry, but upon perusing the brand’s e-boutique, it seems they’re framing the Neo Frame as a totally new collection, alongside the Code 11.59, Royal Oak, Offshore and Concept. Could we see a second take on a jumping hour so soon?

Now, for a brand that is truly exhibiting for the first time at Watches and Wonders. For those outside of its native home of Japan, Credor has long been an “if you know, you know” sort of brand. Making its debut in 1974 as Seiko’s Crêt d’Or collection, a home for precious metal watches fabricated by the Japanese brand’s pinnacle master craftspeople, Credor quickly morphed into a premium label all of its own, somewhat running in parallel to the better-known Grand Seiko.

Credor is very different to Grand Seiko, however. Where the latter, with its “Grammar of Design”, has always balanced form and function, combining robust beauty with technical innovation, Credor stands out as a more elegant, form-forward brand – and a brand that uncompromisingly designs for Japanese tastes.

Although that definition is not absolute. Part of what makes Credor so intriguing is that it defies easy categorisation or explanation. At the highest end of Credor’s range, you’ll find traditionally skeletonised movements and tourbillons – things largely absent from Grand Seiko’s oeuvre. Yet at the same time, you’ll also find lots of precious metal jewellery watches with basic quartz movements. Many of their models are very staid, emblematic of a Japanese appetite for traditional expressions of luxury… But then, you have the ultra-minimal, extremely exquisite Eichi II, which reveals another expression of Japanese aesthetic sensibility.

A rare exception to Credor’s inwards-looking focus was 1979’s Locomotive, an unusually utilitarian piece designed by the legendary Gérald Genta that’s more than a little evocative of his earlier, more famous work, the Royal Oak. Credor actually revived the Locomotive for its 50th anniversary in 2024, leading to renewed interest in the brand overseas – and not just because its revival also saw the launch of Credor’s first English-language website and social media.

That’s what was so exciting about the Locomotive’s return. I remember thinking to myself at the time: Does this mean Credor will finally be available internationally? Select Credor models would occasionally make their way to Australia in trunk shows, and some Seiko/Grand Seiko boutiques locally could order in Credor models for you if you were a serious buyer, but the process wasn’t easy. Indeed, the appeal of Credor was in its JDM-ness: you had to go to Japan to get one. Just learning about Credor meant trawling through many untranslated web pages and doing some self-education, so an English-language online presence felt like a paradigm shift.

But if the Locomotive was a hint that Credor might be stretching its proverbial wings and opening up to the world, its imminent appearance in Geneva is an even stronger sign. I don’t think Seiko’s about to start opening up Credor boutiques around the world – let’s not forget that Grand Seiko has only been available internationally since 2010 – but exhibiting at the world’s number one watch fair, to international press, retailers and enthusiasts, suggests a more open door.

I see this as a net positive. Credor has some absolute gems in its range, such as the Kuon, which houses a similar porcelain dial to the acclaimed Eichi II in a sporty integrated bracelet form, paired with a manual-winding Spring Drive movement. I’m looking forward to trying that on, as well as seeing if Credor unveils anything fresh for the fair. Maybe they’ll really subvert expectations and bring back the Phoenix…

Just as Grand Seiko was the first high-end Japanese brand to exhibit at Watches and Wonders in 2022, Behrens is set to become the first high-end Chinese independent brand to exhibit at the fair, emblematic of the increasing ascendancy of Chinese watchmaking. But Behrens isn’t just cool because it’s Chinese – there are plenty of fantastic Chinese watches gaining international recognition – it’s cool because it creates watches that few others in the industry are attempting.

Watchmakers love chasing superlatives: think about the competition between Bulgari and Piaget for the thinnest mechanical watch in the world, or between Omega and Rolex for the most water-resistant watch in the world. Behren’s most famous watch, the Ultra-Light 11G, stakes its claim as one of the lightest mechanical watches in the world. As its name implies, it weighs just 11 grams, which is mightily impressive in its own right (for comparison’s sake, the Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra Ultra-Light weighs 55 grams). However, it achieves this airiness while also exhibiting dual retrograde displays, an open balance, and an eye-catching asymmetrical case inspired by an ancient Chinese note-taking tool. How’s that for an example?

Behrens has also collaborated with some of the most esteemed European master watchmakers in the industry, such as Russia’s Konstantin Chaykin and Switzerland’s Vianney Halter, and has had multiple watches reach the finals in their categories for the GPHG over the years. This is all to say that Behrens is an extremely interesting, ambitious brand, and I’m glad to see them at Watches and Wonders.

Frankly, Behrens deserves more of an international profile and attention. This might be partly their own doing – they are not particularly active on social media, and as of publishing, it appears that their official Instagram account is down – as well as the reality that most of their most impressive watches have short production runs and high price tags (at least for a Chinese watch – the same mechanical complications Behrens offers would command triple the price if they were Swiss). Let’s call a spade a spade: the ‘Made in China’ label traditionally has a perception issue, and that might be why Behrens hasn’t quite got the laurels it deserves. Hopefully, appearing at WWG changes that.

Again, the million-dollar question is what Behrens has in store for the fair? If they’re flying the flag for Chinese watchmaking on the industry’s biggest stage, they could decide to make a real statement and unveil something wild. That’s certainly what I’m manifesting.

Watches and Wonders Geneva 2026 runs from Tuesday, 14th to Monday, 20th of April. Find out more here.