It’s only the third time that you go to Watches and Wonders when you begin to make sense of it all. The first time is just a cacophony of noise, lights, and Champagne. The second time, you know what to expect, but you’re still very much a novice. But in the third year, when the press office staff (and more worryingly, the barmen) start recognising you, it’s a sure sign that you’re well on the road to becoming a veteran.
You also become much more adept at navigating your way around and organising your time, which was particularly vital this year as it was the biggest Watches and Wonders ever, with no fewer than 60 exhibiting brands. It doesn’t stop there either, as next door to Geneva’s enormous Palexpo, you’ll also find Villa Sarasin – home to the Time to Watches show, largely for independents – while in the city centre, several specialised brands exhibit in the sumptuous Beau Rivage Hotel on the shores of Lake Geneva.
So there’s an awful lot to get your head around, but the best way to experience Watches and Wonders is to sign up for all the “touch and try” sessions offered by the different brands you’re interested in, when you’re able to get up close and personal.
Rule number one: don't try to do everything, as you’ll fail. Rule number two: if you manage to do two-thirds of what you were meaning to do, you’re probably winning.
2025 Watches & Wonders Highlights
The biggest noise always surrounds Rolex and Tudor, but we’ll gloss over them here as there’s not much more to be said that hasn’t been said already. The Land Dweller was the first all-new Rolex model for 13 years, so it was always going to struggle to live up to the immense hype.
Tudor are in a different place, with my favourite of their releases this year being a gorgeous Black Bay 58 in a new shade of burgundy red. At a time when most brands are moving towards smaller sizes, Tudor also released the Black Bay 68 – which ushers in a larger 43mm size and introduces ‘Tudor Blue’ as one of the dial colour options, alongside silver. This use of distinctive signature colours really underlines how Tudor is forming its own direction and appealing to new audiences; personally, I love it.
Many of these new audiences come through Formula 1, which was another recurrent theme of Watches and Wonders this year. Tudor had the Racing Bulls car on their stand, while the TAG Heuer display looked more like an F1 starting grid than a watch showcase, enhanced by the presence of former F1 World Champion Mika Hakkinen. It’s understandable though, as having been part of a record-breaking billion-dollar LVMH sponsorship deal, TAG Heuer is keen to get some serious value for money out of F1.
As a result, alongside Ayrton Senna’s McLaren 1988 MP4/4 F1 car – the Brazilian world champion who gave inspiration to the brand’s new ‘designed to win’ slogan – TAG Heuer revealed the new Formula 1 Solargraph, which reinvents the original multi-coloured F1 watches from 1986.
There are a number of changes from the original, which helped to define the direction of TAG Heuer post quartz crisis: millions were made, and they were the thing to have back in the 1980s. Which is why I never had one, but that might be about to change.
The modern version uses a new solar powered movement (as opposed to quartz) and is 38mm in size, compared to the original 35mm. Incredibly, this means that the accumulator should last for 15 years, accurate to within a couple of seconds per month.
There’s also a new high-tech material, called TH-Polylight (wrapped around a steel case) and a huge variety of colours, allied to a clever marketing strategy. Three watches will form part of the permanent collection (in green, black, and blue) while six more limited-edition watches will be released during the year to celebrate certain iconic grands prix, such as Italy and Brazil.
Among all that excitement, it would have been easy to miss the new Carrera day-date: another new movement from TAG Heuer that redefines their concept of the ‘success watch’: their answer to the Rolex Daytona. It looks great, especially in red.
But my favourite Formula 1 car on display in Geneva was one that didn’t actually exist, courtesy of the IWC stand. IWC played an instrumental part in the new Apple TV ‘F1’ movie starring Brad Pitt, coming out this summer. It’s already been billed as the most realistic racing film ever to be made, with Mercedes Grand Prix (IWC’s long-time partner) supplying real cars for the fictional ‘Apex Grand Prix’ team.
During one scene the car was crashed (they’re deliberately vague about whether or not this happened on purpose) and the smoking wreckage – thanks to some technical trickery – was on display at the IWC stand. There are photos of Brad Pitt standing next to it during filming, and the eagle-eyed will have spotted him wearing an unusual green dial Ingenieur Automatic 40.
Originally designed as a prop watch, this has now made it into production, limited to 1000 pieces. With a stunning ‘grid’ pattern on the dial, this was one of my show highlights – along with the black dial equivalent in rose gold, which to my mind is the ultimate ‘luxe’ Ingenieur.
With all the F1 stuff going on, it was almost quite refreshing to see a very different type of sport, with Gerald Charles presenting their Maestro GC Sport tennis watch in titanium; helping to mark the brand’s 25th anniversary. With its vibrant optic yellow, it really has the look and feel of a tennis ball, developed in conjunction with the brand’s pro tennis players including Andrea Vavassori and Hubert Hurkacz. I loved trying this watch, and hearing all the stories about how it had been specifically adapted for tennis, thanks to its ultra-light weight, shock resistance up to 5g, and crown at nine o’clock (as opposed to the usual three o’clock).
Another brand to be celebrating 25 years in 2025 was U-Boat, releasing the skeletonised U-65 to commemorate the occasion, which goes back to the brand’s original oil-filled watches when it was starting out.
An important part of the Watches and Wonders experience is always hospitality, with all the brands reflecting their origins and personalities through what they offer. A. Lange & Sohne, for example, brought along their own German beer, served complete with warm pretzels: perfection after a long day (18,000 steps is about average).
But if there was a prize awarded for hospitality, it would go to U-Boat: they brought along ham, cheese, mortadella, and their very own branded Prosecco from their home base of Lucca, one of the most beautiful medieval cities in Tuscany.
The freshly-carved ham was truly out of this world; a highlight of the show by itself. Best coffee? That would be Oris courtesy of an expert barista, while there’s probably no other show in the world that hands out free cheesecake in the media centre – which is divine.
The ‘other’ Tuscan watchmaker is of course Panerai, which showcased a major reworking of the legendary Luminor, featuring a new movement. It wears its 44mm well, with a number of detail upgrades that have helped to give it a somehow more slimline and contemporary look, despite increased water resistance to 500 metres.
In particular, a new Luminor Marina in brushed titanium adds a dark green military-inspired dial, complete with matching strap, that’s worth seeking out. Definitely my favourite Panerai.
I’ve already mentioned my absolute favourite watch of the show in the separate ‘highlights’ feature from all of us WatchGecko authors, but my second big favourite was from another well-known brand that also stands out for the renowned beauty of its dials. But this time, it was the sheer mechanical ingenuity that won me over, as well as the aesthetics.
Grand Seiko revealed its titanium ‘Ice Forest’ UFA Spring Drive (which stands for Ultra Fine Accuracy) at Watches and Wonders. Specifically, this amazing ice-inspired timepiece – which measures a pleasing 37mm – only loses plus or minus 20 seconds per year thanks to its new 9RB2 movement. A truly staggering figure, which makes this UFA arguably the most accurate watch at the show.
When it looks this good and costs around £9,000 (as part of the permanent collection) it’s hard to argue against Grand Seiko representing the very best of the 2025 show.
Any chance of a steel version soon?
The predominant colours this year seemed to be blue and green: the most zealous exponent of blue was definitely Zenith, celebrating its 160th birthday. As a result, we saw limited editions of the Pilot Big Date Flyback, Defy Skyline Chronograph, and Chronomaster Sport. All of these are made in blue ceramic, with 160 pieces of each.
We’re talking very blue indeed: apparently the colour that Zenith founder George Favre-Jacot saw whenever he looked at the sky in Le Locle, where he built his manufacture. At the time, I wasn’t totally sure, but looking back at it, these turned into some of the most memorable watches of the show.
There were a few other themes that stood out, which are worth mentioning…
My favourite colour though was Verzasca green: which made an appearance for the first time on the stunning Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF GMT Rattrapante. It was probably my favourite shade of the show, with the sort of breath-taking attention to detail that we’ve come to expect from Parmigiani Fleurier. The exact tone is very hard to describe and not even the photographs do it complete justice: it’s somewhere between blue, green, and grey – and it just looks incredibly stylish. This is why, to my mind, Parmigiani Fleurier is the ultimate luxury brand: in a way that’s far more discreet than most companies manage.
There were also a few jumping hour watches that caught many by surprise: notably from Cartier (going back to a 1928 design) and Bremont. These alternative watches are always going to be polarising, especially in the case of Bremont’s new Terra Nova Jumping Hour Bronze, as the company continues with its relentless push to forge a distinctive new identity.
Bremont also launched their new ‘Altitude’ collection of pilot watches: with the very simple 39mm black dial three-hander being my clear favourite.
One of the reasons why I liked it so much was because the Bremont stand happened to be located alongside a brilliant exhibition of photographs called Longitude 0, in which photographer Fred Merz journeyed down the Meridian line, taking shots of the people and places, he encountered en route. One of those colourful characters is an 80-year-old flying instructor from northern France.
“I tell my students to throw away all their silly watches with lots of buttons,” he says, in an interview published alongside the photo. “Just get a very simple watch that’s easy to read to use. All you need to know is time, speed, and distance – that’s how you can navigate using dead reckoning.”
The Bremont is one of those elemental watches for aviators. And in a show where complication is so often hyped, this can only be a good thing. Especially if you’re flying a plane.
