And The Winner Is... GPHG Awards 2024

The star-studded night is finally over – the Grand Prix de l’Horlogerie de Geneve (GPHG) – which is the watch industry’s equivalent of the Oscars. Every year, prizes are handed out in a variety of different categories at a ceremony in Geneva; the cue for some Oscars-like gushing acceptance speeches. The most coveted prize is the ‘Aiguille d’Or’ – which translates into English as ‘the golden hand’ (as in watch hand) – for outstanding achievement. And personally, I was really pleased to see that the IWC Portugieser Perpetual Calendar was picked, as it’s the watch that I selected as probably my overall favourite from Watches and Wonders back in April.

This features a ‘400-year gear’ to consider the fact that the earth skips three leap years every 400 years, while accuracy is rated at plus or minus one day in every 45 million years. The dial too is as stunning as the numbers; when I first saw it I thought that it was technically and visually spellbinding, so it’s gratifying to know that the 30 distinguished members of the GPHG jury (made up of international journalists, retailers, watchmakers, and other luminaries) agreed.

Giving the top prize to IWC wasn’t a controversial decision, but it does definitely go against the grain – as in the past, the Aiguille d’Or award has tended to be given to much smaller, independent, or highly exclusive watchmakers who take an avant-garde or boutique approach.

Another personal highlight of the GPHG prize winners (and there were 21 of them in total) was the Ming 37.09 Bluefin, which won the ‘sports watch’ category. This is actually one of the most interesting classes of the awards, because the robust go-anywhere nature of a sports watch is often at odds with the delicate craftsmanship that’s emblematic of haute horlogerie – which this ceremony is all about. It’s essentially a reinterpretation of a dive watch, with that glorious calming and clean Ming aesthetic. It's a watch that has stretched the remit of Ming, which first appeared in the GPHG awards when it won the ‘revelation’ prize back in 2019. This year, the ‘award for brands you’ve never heard of’, as a friend of mine likes to call it, went to the Remy Cools Tourbillon Atelier. And to be fair, this is not a brand that had ever crossed my radar before – which is what makes this prize so important. It’s a statement that you’ve arrived. If Ming is a template, we’ll soon be hearing more about the creator of this beautiful tourbillon.

Similarly, the ‘challenge’ category is another one that’s massively important – as unlike the other awards, the price of the watch is limited to CHF 3000 (just over £2500) to be eligible. When the sky is the limit, you can push the boat out, but when on a budget, some tough yet clever choices need to be made. You can buy some great watches at that price point, such as Christopher Ward, many of which are the obvious solutions. What the GPHG jury is doing though is looking for the less obvious answers here. And that’s why they settled on the Otsuka Lotec No 6, which you’ll be hard pushed to find outside of its native Japan. The gauge-inspired design is strikingly different, and it's a watch that will become an instant talking point.

In similar vein, the ‘petite aiguille’ award is for watches between CHF 3000 and CHF 10000: perhaps the most fiercely-fought price point of them all. It was another return winner: five years after Kudoke won its first petite aiguille award, Stefan Kudoke swept it up again with his Kudoke 3 Salmon. Again, this pushes the boundaries, with a conventional minute hand, but what the brand calls a ‘three arm hour hand’. It’s a playful bit of creativity, which, like the Otsuka, brings something new to this price point.

Finnish brand Voutilainen is another serial winner at the GPHG awards, with an incredible five prizes over the last two decades, and this year’s star was the KV20i Reversed – so-called because the mechanics of the movement are flipped around and visible through the front of the watch rather than the case back. This year, it was yet another win in the ‘men’s watch’ category.

De Bethune won the ‘men’s complication’ prize meanwhile with the remarkable “DB Kind of Grande Complication’. There’s no ‘kind of’ about it. This watch features a 43mm reversible double-sided case, allowing for dual displays of multiple functions and complications. The contemporary side shows the movement, power reserve, and tourbillon. The classical side, the dial includes a perpetual calendar with a three-dimensional moon phase display and on a starry sky dial.

The ‘tourbillon’ award went to the Daniel Roth Tourbillon subscription, an exquisite piece in gold that pays homage to a 1988 original. If complexity is instead your thing, the ‘mechanical exception’ award is the one to look out for, won by Bovet this year with the 1822 Récital 28 Prowess 1. This is genuinely innovative, being the first watch to offer a mechanical solution for displaying daylight saving time all around the world (as only about a third of the world adopts this, roughly 70 countries out of 195). Think of it as being the ultimate world timer, which is why the award to Bovet – who took five years to develop this incredible watch, made up of 744 parts – is entirely justified.

So you might be wondering exactly which watch could claim the coveted ‘audacity’ award, in this distinguished company. That went to the Berneron Mirage Sienna: and yes, another new one for me. From the minute you look at this gold masterpiece though, you can see why it won – from the Cartier ‘crash’ inspired case shape to the bent hands, to the complication inside. But actually, it’s the other way round: the form is influenced by the unique shape of the movement, visible through the caseback, which is what makes this watch so different from anything else. Essentially, it looks a bit like something that has been melted down and then pressed through a mangle, not a single aspect is symmetrical. Only 12 are made each year; and this is the sort of small brand that is most assiduously represented at the GPHG awards – making the achievement from IWC all the more remarkable.

Piaget is also worth a mention here, for claiming the ‘icon’ award for the Polo 79: a prize given out to more well-known watches that have achieved legendary status. It’s not all about the smaller brands. One important aspect to note: a bit like Watches and Wonders, there’s a political twist because it's not an entirely level playing field – due to some watch brands (or rather groups) not taking part. Confusingly, these are not necessarily the same ones that don't take part in Watches and Wonders. So the star of Watches and Wonders, Rolex, doesn’t participate in the GPHG for example – which is a bit like Max Verstappen deciding that he doesn’t want to enter the Monaco Grand Prix – and you won’t find any brands from the Swatch Group there either: which is at least more consistent as they boycott Watches and Wonders too.

But the main point is that the international watch scene has never been more creative or as technically accomplished as right now, with offerings that quite literally take your breath away. And in my view at least, the right one scooped the top prize.