The Square Mile Watch Awards would be nothing without our Readers’ Choice title. Forget for a moment our expert jury and long drawn-out deliberations (no offense to our excellent judging panel), this one's all on you, baby. It’s over to you to crown the watch that most deserves a place in horological history.
The Readers’ Choice category hands the power back to where it truly belongs: you. The collectors, the obsessives, the quiet connoisseurs hunched over loupe and latte – your vote decides the winner.
But, make no mistake, this isn’t some hollow popularity contest. The Readers’ Choice title is a serious badge of honour – proof that a brand hasn’t just thrown another pretty dial into the void, but has actually captured the imagination of the watch-buying public. Not an easy task, particularly when this year’s line-up reads like a horological heavyweight bout: established icons, unexpected masterstrokes, and design flair for days.
The competition? Fierce. The choice? Extremely difficult. The reward? Major bragging rights.
We’ve pulled together a sharp edit of the contenders below, complete with no-nonsense summaries to help guide your thinking. But don’t expect us to nudge you in any direction – you’re on your own this time.
Without further ado, cast your vote now. Choose wisely.
A. Lange & Söhne
Odysseus HoneyGold
Lange’s sportiest creation gets the golden treatment – and what a transformation it is. The Odysseus HoneyGold drapes the German manufacture’s sharpest design in a proprietary metal so warm it glows like sunset over Glashütte. More than just a beautiful hue, the 18k gold alloy developed in-house by A Lange & Söhne is also twice as hard as regular 18k gold – so there’s less chance of scratches and dings. The dial’s chocolate-brown shade deepens the effect, while the whole thing is overseen by the precision of the L155.1 Datomatic calibre inside. It was one of our favourite launches at Watches & Wonders 2025 for good reason. It’s a masterclass in material science and injecting just a little bit of sex-appeal into its sporty icon. Lange, famously austere, has finally learned how to flirt – and it’s irresistible.
Audemars Piguet
Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar 38mm
For the first time in its history, Audemars Piguet has placed a perpetual calendar complication in a 38mm case – and it’s a masterstroke. We’ve seen Royal Oak Perpetual Calendars before in a diameter of 41mm, but the vintage-appropriate proportions and more diminutive size absolutely transforms it on the wrist. It’s lighter, sleeker under a cuff, and somehow more refined. Aesthetically, every signature detail remains intact, from the Grande Tapisserie dial to those razor-cut facets and of course the octagonal bezel, but the new ultra-thin Calibre 7136 under the hood is where the magic happens. It features three key patents that make it as clever as it is compact: an updated all-in-one crown correction system that replaces fiddly case pushers; redesigned date-wheel geometry for sharper legibility and balanced symmetry; and an ultra-thin, single-level calendar mechanism that keeps the perpetual calendar’s complexity within a remarkably slim profile. In short, AP has re-engineered the perpetual calendar for modern wearability without sacrificing an ounce of the magic. Not a bad way to celebrate your 150th anniversary.
Frederique Constant
Classic Perpetual Calendar Manufacture
Frederique Constant’s Classic Perpetual Calendar Manufacture offers the sort of mechanical complexity usually reserved for five-figure wallets – and does so with all the panache you’d expect from this vastly underrated watchmaker. Building on the success of its 2016 perpetual calendar, this new model is a significant upgrade both in terms of aesthetics and its technical specification. Roman numerals, guilloché dial, Breguet hands: all the right visual cues, executed without pretension. The in-house developed FC-776 movement takes care of moonphase, day, month, and date displays, as well as handling leap years for you, in a slimmed down package compared to its predecessor – enabling a case diameter of 40mm in place of 42mm. Clocking in at less than £9k, it’s proof that watchmaking sophistication doesn’t have to cost the earth. In an industry addicted to exclusivity, Frederique Constant remains gloriously democratic.
Grand Seiko
Spring Drive U.F.A.
Grand Seiko’s U.F.A. (Ultimate Fine Accuracy) represents the apotheosis of its Spring Drive technology – a seamless marriage of quartz precision and mechanical grace – and has taken the crown as the most accurate watch in the world powered by a mainspring. I’ll spare you the specifics (you can read more here), save for the fact this watch is accurate to ±20 seconds per year. Nope, not per month, per year. It comes on a brand-new three-step micro-adjust bracelet, which no doubt will be a welcome addition for Grand Seiko fans, while the nature-inspired dial takes its influence from the frost on the trees near the Grand Seiko Spring Drive studio in Shinshu. The U.F.A. proves once again why Grand Seiko has long been revered for its quest for ultimate accuracy.
Hublot
Big Bang Meca-10 42mm
If you were to ask the average watch fan what they knew about Hublot, most would talk about capital-B big watches that aren’t known for their modesty. But, perhaps, the loudest watch in the room is learning a little bit of restraint, if the new 42mm Big Bang Meca-10 is to be believed. OK, it still exhibits Hublot’s typically bold approach to watch design, but the smaller case proportions keep those theatrics in check just a little more than the original. The ten-day movement, with its industrial-esque skeletonised movement, is still on full display while the sapphire caseback shows off the modern bridgework that holds the movement in place. Could this be some of Hublot’s finest work to date? Quite possibly.
IWC
Ingenieur Automatic 40 ‘Sonny Hayes’ Green Dial
You’ve got to hand it to IWC. As the official watch brand of F1: The Movie, one of 2025’s major blockbusters, the watchmaker handed over close to 100 timepieces for the film to place on the wrists of its leading cast and actors in one of the most audacious product placement initiatives ever captured for the silver screen. Yet, there was one watch that stole the show: the green-dialled Ingenieur worn by main protagonist Sonny Hayes, portrayed by none other than Brad Pitt. Inspired by Pitt’s bespoke watch, we called this limited-edition run of 1,000 pieces a sleeper hit at Watches & Wonders 2025, but it has become perhaps the most adored contemporary Ingenieur to date. The 40mm stainless steel case features the signature five-screw bezel and integrated H-link bracelet, while the dial boasts a distinctive pistachio-green grid pattern, accented by gold-plated hands and markers filled with Super-LumiNova for optimal legibility. Powered by the IWC-manufactured 32111 calibre, it offers a 120-hour power reserve and is protected by a soft-iron inner case against magnetic fields. It’s one of the best renditions of a sports watch in quite some time.
Longines
Legend Diver
Few reissues nail the brief quite like this. The Longines Legend Diver resurrects its 1960s forebear with just enough modern tuning to thrive today. The 2025 iteration refines the previous model with a more compact 39mm case, compared to older 42mm versions, improving comfort for a wider range of wrist sizes, and crucially upgrades to the COSC-certified Calibre L888.6 with a 72-hour power reserve and an anti-magnetic silicon hairspring, offering better accuracy and durability than the older ETA-based movements. Better still, this monochromatic version featuring a matte white dial with bold black markers and hands is the best rendition of the modern Legend Diver to date. It's one of the best heritage watches of 2025; a true legend indeed.
Patek Philippe
5370R Split-Seconds Chronograph
Quietly outrageous, the 5370R is Patek’s mic-drop moment in rose gold. Beneath that sumptuous brown Grand Feu enamel dial lurks one of the most beautiful hand-wound chronograph movements on earth, the CHR 29-535 PS – a split-second chrono masterpiece finished to obsessive perfection. The pushers click like fine camera shutters, each actuation a small symphony of craft. But the movement steals the show when you flip the watch over and peer through the sapphire caseback. It’s enough to make a grown man cry. At a shade under £250k, the pleasure of owning one of these marvels will evade most of us mere mortals, but we’re frankly happy just knowing that such craftsmanship exists. For collectors, this is in many ways the ultimate expression of Patek Philippe’s understated brilliance.
Richard Mille
RM 33-03 Automatic
If a supercar became a watch, it might look a little something like this. The RM 33-03 fuses the watchmaker’s flagship Carbon TPT layered composite with titanium in a round 41.7mm x 8.8mm chassis that is slimmer than the typical Richard Mille but just as architectural. Every millimetre screams engineering excellence: the skeletonised RMXP1 automatic movement reveals a dance of grade‑5 titanium bridges, while the case curves with ergonomic precision. Dare we say it, the aesthetics are much more ‘conventional’ compared to the Richard Mille’s typical tonneau-shaped marvels, but this is the brand’s attempt at disrupting the traditional sports watch market – and it certainly puts the cat among the pigeons.
Rolex
Land-Dweller
The Land-Dweller brings Rolex’s indestructible tool-watch DNA to solid ground, fusing the Submariner’s robustness with Explorer-style grit, but its biggest secret is hiding beneath its surface. We called this timepiece one the showstoppers of Watches & Wonders 2025 for good reason as it might just be one of the most important releases of the past decade. Why? Because there’s innovation spilling out at the seams of this groundbreaking watch. Boasting 32 patents across case, bracelet, and movement, it’s the product of seven years of relentless R&D. At its heart, the Calibre 7135 delivers a 66-hour power reserve and ±2 seconds per day, thanks to a high-frequency 5Hz beat, a Dynapulse escapement that’s 30% more efficient, and a non-magnetic, shock-resistant balance assembly. The tech is extraordinary, and Rolex shows it off through the first sapphire caseback on a stainless steel model. Aesthetically, it’s sporty yet refined: a slimmed-down 9.7mm Oyster case, integrated “flat Jubilee” bracelet, and a laser-etched hexagonal honeycomb dial that gives the Land‑Dweller its own identity. This isn’t just a watch – it’s a statement of where Rolex, and perhaps the industry as a whole, goes next.
Tudor
Pelagos Ultra
Tudor has taken its already formidable Pelagos and turned the volume up to eleven. The Pelagos Ultra isn’t just a dive watch – it’s a 1,000‑metre, titanium‑cased statement of Tudor’s horological performance, stripped of anything superfluous. The helium escape valve, the luminous markers, the fully adjustable titanium bracelet: all there, but sharper, lighter, ready for extreme depths. At 42 mm, it wears like a stealth submarine on the wrist, and the in-house MT5602‑ULTRA calibre keeps ticking with 70 hours of power reserve, no drama, no fuss. This is an adventure watch if ever we saw one: serious, uncompromising, and absolutely magnetic to anyone who appreciates a watch that can survive where most timepieces fear to tread.
Vacheron Constantin
Historiques 222 in stainless steel
The 1977 icon returns, cooler than ever. When Vacheron Constantin launched the Historiques 222 back in 2022 housed within an 18k yellow gold case, it seemed a matter of when not if the great manufacture would return to its stainless steel roots. Lo and behold, Vacheron kicked off its 270th anniversary earlier this year with its most iconic sports watch once again encased in stainless steel. Jorge Hysek’s understated design looks every bit as good in this contemporary guise as it did back in the 1970s. At 37mm and just under 8mm thick, it’s the perfect balance of retro charm and modern refinement. The matte blue dial, with its white gold indices and hands, exudes a quiet kind of class, while the integrated bracelet and fluted bezel nod to its sports watch groundings. Inside, the in-house Calibre 2455/2 beats at 4Hz, offering a 40-hour power reserve and is visible through the sapphire caseback. The 222 is back like it never left.
