Rolex
Perpetual Padellone
Rolex waited until the middle of September to drop arguably its most noteworthy launch of the year, the Perpetual Padellone. Joining the 1908 in the dressier Perpetual collection (note: not the Oyster Perpetual collection), the Padellone is an instantaneous-jump annual calendar (also note: not a perpetual calendar) that makes use of the brand-new Calibre 7190 movement with Dynapulse escapement and a patent-pending Haplos system in a svelte 39mm x 12.2mm case.
Drawing inspiration from the 1940s Rolex Reference 8171 Triple Calendar Moonphase, affectionately coined the “padellone” or “large frying pan” by Italian collectors, the modern Perpetual Padellone shares the dial composition of its forebear with the day and month at 12 o’clock, a moonphase at 6 o’clock, and a pointer date complication running around the perimeter. The new Haplos system allows the day, date and month to jump simultaneously in a fraction of a second when the watch strikes midnight. It also takes care of the business of accounting for 30-day and 31-day months, only requiring one annual adjustment in February. The clever bit is that Rolex has apparently achieved this with only two additional components, rather than the more elaborate lever/cam arrangements you typically see in annual calendars. The ground-breaking Dynapulse escapement, a high-performance regulating system we first saw in the Land-Dweller’s Calibre 7135, is the icing on the horological cake.
Personally, I dearly wish that Rolex had stuck with the frying pan case shape as a more overt homage to its namesake, but I understand the need for design parity alongside the core 1908 collection. Still, it’s exciting to see the Crown flex its horological chops and dip into the grander side of grand complication watchmaking – something that we haven’t seen outside of the SkyDweller for decades.
It’s available in platinum with Rolex’s customary ice-blue dial with an alligator strap or 18ct Everose gold with a white dial and an optional matching Everose gold ‘Settima’ bracelet. (You’re going to want the bracelet.)
Tudor
Northflag
Like any good younger sibling, Tudor has refused to leave Rolex to bathe in the limelight unaccompanied, instead opting to bring back the North Flag from the proverbial dead. When the original North Flag launched in 2015, it introduced us to an adventure-ready tool. watch akin to the Rolex Explorer or, indeed, Tudor’s own 1970s classic, the Ranger II – in other words, a welcome deviation from the regularly scheduled Black Bay dive watch-coded releases.
Newly assimilated as Northflag, the new-look collection tights up the case proportions, notably a slimmer height and a shorter lug-to-lug profile, simplifies the overall aesthetic, and adds a handy yellow-arrowed GMT complication for good measure. The dial is clean and highly legible, uncoupled from its old power-reserve indicator, and the new GMT complication also adds a 24-hour ring to a new inner bezel. Still, it's subtle evolution of the original rather than a wholesale reinvention – and perhaps all the better for it.
All in all, it’s a tasteful utilitarian timepiece that polishes some of the rougher edges of the 2015 North Flag and repackages it as a practical daily beater perfect for almost any occasion.
Longines
Master Monopusher Chronograph
I am a big advocate for the Longines Master collection. First launched in 2005, the line-up tells the story of the brand’s heritage through a series of classically styled, dressy timepieces. To me, it’s always seemed like an authentic way of representing its 1832 roots without the need to ham it up.
Earlier this year, Longines revealed a rather large overhaul of the Master collection consolidating its themes into a cleaner, slightly more contemporary design language: new proportions, new barleycorn dial treatment, sharper typography and hands, improved bracelets, more size options, and so forth.
The Master Monopusher Chronograph is the final piece of the puzzle by raising the complication stakes – and it’s fitting that Longines should look to a complication that it first utilised in 1911. As the name suggests, the monopusher chrono takes care of the chronograph functions via a single integrated pusher located in the crown – unlike a traditional chronograph with separate start-stop and reset pushers. The manually wound Longines Calibre L799.5 takes care of the heavy lifting, beating for a respectable 68 hours of stored power.
Available in a frosted blue or a warmer champagne colourways, the dial and movement feature a bevy of different finishing techniques that make the £3,350 price tag seem like a snip.
A Lange & Söhne
1815 Up/Down Limited Edition in 37.5mm
A Lange & Söhne is on a generational run in 2026 with release after release seemingly going down an absolute storm with enthusiasts. Miniaturisation has been a common thread among recent novelties, chiefly the thoroughly charming 36mm Saxonia Annual Calendar, and it continues into the 1815 Up/Down Limited Edition which now debuts in a petite 37.5mm x 8.7mm case.
If you’re unfamiliar, the Up/Down is a stellar combination of a power reserve subdial at 8 o’clock and a small seconds subdial at 4 o’clock. But the Up and Down in question is half the charm. It refers to the power reserve indicator itself, which uses the German ‘Auf’ and ‘Ab’ to denote whether the movement energy is full or empty, which literally translates as up or down respectively in English.
Available in white or pink gold, with a rich Lange blue dial and contrasting silver subdials, this is a lovely example of pragmatic Saxon timekeeping made beautiful.
Bulgari
Octo Finissimo Dual Time x Vianney Halter
There are certain watch releases that seem to take on a life of their own. It may be the case that a brand has fulfilled a long-held collector request, executed a movement in a novel way, or sometimes just taken everyone by surprise. Vianney Halter’s collaboration with Bulgari falls firmly into the latter category. In fact, when this timepiece started lighting up my social feed, there were only three letters that came to mind: “WTF.”
The Octo Finissimo is a Gerald Genta original that is all sharp angles and geometric shapes. Vianney Halter, on the other hand, is the king of theatrical steampunk-inspired design that has more in common with Jules Verne’s Nautilus than Genta’s Patek Philippe Nautilus; that is to say, they are polar opposites.
And yet here we are. The Octo Finissimo Dual Time x Vianney Halter somehow manages to avoid a Frankenstein’s Monster of clashing design languages to create a marvelous confluence of watchmaking ideologies. Perhaps it works precisely because it shouldn’t, but either way the Octo Finissimo, something of a modern-day icon, performs a successful supporting role and allows Vianney Halter the space to do his thing on the dial itself.
The dial is divided into four distinct displays: the two larger ‘portholes’ indicate local hours and minutes, while a second hand tracks the second time zone alongside the running seconds. The date is shown in a crescent-shaped aperture and a smaller day/night indicator is tucked into the bottom right corner of the dial.
Micromilspec
Fieldmaster
Independent Norwegian watchmaker Micromilspec may have rose to prominence in 2024 when it first released a range of commercial tool watches for the public, but its reputation for creating tough-as-teak timepieces stretches back a further five years when it began producing service watches for several military outfits.
Its latest collection doubles down on this field-ready expertise as the product of a special research project known as the ‘Field Test Program’. Micromilspec supplied 30 serving military personnel with prototype watches and proceeded to finesse their final design over a three year period as their troops beat the living crap out of their pieces.
The fruit of their labour, showcased at Geneva Watch Days, is the Fieldmaster. This 40mm field watch comes in a lightweight grade 5 titanium case that is both robust and water resistant up to 200m, and is matched to a highly legible dial that utilises oversized Lumicast hands and indexes for visibility in low light.
A wide aperture on the right-hand side of the dial also displays the previous, current, and proceeding date of the month – a design choice that might irk some when the 31st date is staring at you during months with only 30 days – while the small seconds subdial at 6 o’clock was deliberately included after consultation with participating service personnel.
Matching its utilitarian qualities, Horage’s K2 automatic movement offers a 100-hour power reserve, sufficient juice for even the most arduous of adventures, as well as resistance to magnetic fields of more than 15,000 gauss. It comes in either microblasted titanium or Gunpowder DLC on a rubber strap or titanium bracelet.
Starting from £2,220, that’s an appealing proposition for a watch that is primarily built around its long-term resilience.
