Watches & Wonders is just about as big as it gets in the watch industry – and I mean that in every sense of the word.
Set across an expansive exhibition space the size of 14 football pitches, more than 60 brands showcase their latest wares to a crowd of 55,000 people desperate to be among the first to view what's shiny and new.
The cost of exhibiting here can stretch into the multiple millions, several thousand bottles of champagne were popped, and an innumerable number of new watches displayed for the first time, ready to fill the boutiques of retailers around the world.
If Watches & Wonders is a numbers game, the final figure is ultimately reduced to barely even a handful of timepieces that have bested the competition to become this year's most talked-about pieces.
Alan Seymour reveals our Hot List of leading lights – the watches we are desperate to wear on our wrist in the months to come – elsewhere on squaremile.com.
But, before you dig into that, these are the five biggest launches from this year's show. We call them our 'Showstoppers', the pieces that halted everyone in their tracks, and left attendees and global watch fans curious to find out more.
From the world's most complicated to the most accurate, here's everything you need to know…
Rolex
Land-Dweller
Let’s cut to the chase: the Rolex Land-Dweller is the most important release for the Crown (dare we say, the industry?) in more than a decade. As you might expect from the biggest brand in watchmaking, there were rumours and signs that something big was coming long before the gates flung open to Watches & Wonders, but nobody could have anticipated what Rolex was hiding up its sleeve.
Boasting a whopping 32 patents and applications across the watch, movement and bracelet, the Land-Dweller is the result of seven years of cutting-edge horological research that raises the baseline for a daily watch.
No stone has been left unturned in pursuit of Rolex’s most technically advanced timepiece, and that begins and ends with its beating heart, the Calibre 7135. The headline specs are a 66 hour power reserve and ±2 seconds per day accuracy achieved through a brand-new oscillator and escapement, but it’s really the journey rather than the destination that matters in this case. Beating at a high frequency of 5Hz (or 36,000vph), the Calibre 7135 is more resistant to wear-related shocks and disturbances and therefore maintains better chronometric precision over time. But this higher energy output adds greater stress to the movement, so Rolex has counteracted this with the revolutionary Dynapulse escapement, an all-silicone sequential-distribution escapement that, without getting too bogged down in the specifics, is 30% more efficient than a traditional Swiss lever escapement.
Rolex has also completely reengineered the balance assembly unit, including a high-tech ceramic balance staff and a balance wheel in optimised brass rather than the typical hardened steel, in order to create a watch with superior antimagnetic properties – in fact, it’s completely non-magnetic, meaning the oscillator won’t be disrupted in the presence of magnetic fields.
There’s also optimised Paraflex shock absorbers and an improved Syloxi (Rolex-speak for silicone) hairspring to further aid the overall durability of the balance unit. Keen to show off its groundbreaking wares, the Land-Dweller is the first stainless steel watch in Rolex’s history to feature a see-through sapphire caseback, so you can see all of that tech even if you don’t understand it.
All of this matters zip if the looks of the watch fall short of the standards we have grown accustomed to from Rolex, but the Land-Dweller operates in a similar aesthetic space to the Datejust, with a couple of careful distinctions thrown in for good measure.
Immediately obvious is the hexagonal honeycomb motif, achieved through a femtosecond laser (the same technique we’ve seen on jazzier Datejust and Day-Date dials in the past), which gives the collection a character all of its own, but a closer look reveals that the Oyster case itself is 15% slimmer than a Datejust at 9.7mm and features the first integrated bracelet we’ve seen from Rolex since the 1977 Oyster Quartz meaning the Land-Dweller errs on the side of sporty.
The ‘flat jubilee’ bracelet is gorgeous to wear, with an exclusive attachment system to give perfect coherence of form between case and bracelet but more importantly. It looks the part, too, thanks to contrasting polished central and satin outer link elements. It’s available in 36mm and 40mm, respectively, in either Intense White (steel) or Ice Blue (platinum).
Rolex was at pains to state at Watches & Wonders that the Land-Dweller marks the future of its watchmaking, while remaining deeply rooted within its storied history, but the ramifications are far broader in terms of what this means for the rest of the watch world.
Starting from £12,250 for 36mm and £13,050 for 40mm; rolex.com
Vacheron Constantin
Les Cabinotiers Solaria Ultra Grand Complication
There is something charmingly classical about the Vacheron Constantin Les Cabinotiers Solaria Ultra Grand Complication – a throwback to a bygone age when watches were not produced at scale, but rather for the merriment of a discerning band of wealthy individuals who desired a curio as much as a time-telling device. That might seem like a strange way to introduce the world’s most complicated wristwatch, featuring several quite extraordinary and groundbreaking features, but on the event of Vacheron Constantin’s 270th anniversary, you can’t help but smile at the historic brand returning to what it does best; elevating horological craftsmanship to ever-greater levels.
There are no less than 41 complications spread across this double-sided watch, involving 1,521 components, 13 patent applications, and eight years of development, but before we can get into the nuts and bolts of how it works (or how you read the damn thing), it’s worth mentioning that this watch is a ‘measely’ 45mm x 14.99mm in size, “Quite impressive, given the number of complications, don’t you think?” one of the Vacheron watchmakers excitedly asked me at Watches & Wonders. They are, of course, correct: it’s certainly on the larger side of average on the wrist, but it’s nothing short of a marvel how much they’ve crammed into such dimensions.
By my count, just writing out each of the complications will take approximately 300 words, so for my editor’s sanity, I’ll group the complications into several themes (handily provided by Vacheron). Deep breath now, we’re going in. Let’s start off with the easy stuff: on the ‘front dial’ there are several complications catering for daily time measurement, including the central hands for International Atomic Time, and then a series of world-time and day/night indications for 24 cities at 3 o’clock.
You’ll find all of your typical Gregorian Calendar needs at 12 o’clock, as well as lunar indications at 9 o’clock, including tide levels and spring and neap tides indication, but the eye is drawn to the namesake solar and astronomical complications at six o’clock that range from a three-dimensional Earth showing the latitude of the Sun to a Zodiac calendar aperture.
This being a Grand Complication, the Solaria also includes a Westminster minute repeater mechanism, featuring four gongs and four hammers to create the musical chiming sequence. The design of this mechanism is particularly unique, seven of the watches patents are for this complication, with the hammers weighted with gold and the gongs directly fixed to case rather than movement for an exceptionally loud chime.
Flipping the watch over, the ‘back dial’ houses a sky map above Geneva (though future special commissions can choose any city in the Northern Hemisphere) and the split-seconds chronograph functions, as well as a power reserve indicator.
The real showpiece function involves utilising the watch’s split-second chronograph for temporal tracking of celestial objects. In short, this makes it possible to calculate the time in hours it takes for a constellation or specific star to come into the wearer’s field of view.
There’s also a 3Hz tourbillon with silicon balance wheel ticking along for 72 hours of power reserve, and a boat-load of Vacheron’s high-spec hand finishing for good measure.
The real kicker? All of this glorious madness, the meticulous conception and extraordinary craftsmanship, is the result of the painstaking efforts of one singular watchmaker, Jean-Marie Bouquin. To him and to Vacheron, chapeau!
Patek Philippe
Ref 6159 Retrograde Perpetual Calendar
There is a quiet evolution taking place at Patek Philippe at present. Over the last few years, we have seen the horological giant move its gaze from the classic to the contemporary in an increasingly frequent manner.
So much change in the watch world happens at a glacial pace, in comparison to the zigzagging trends of pretty much every other luxury industry, that it makes Patek’s steering in the direction of modernity feel like a hairpin turn, but however you choose to look at it the brand’s 2025 novelties impressed to no end at this year’s Watches & Wonders.
Symptomatic of this ‘fresh’ look is the Ref 6159 Retrograde Perpetual Calendar, which features a quite fantastic ‘smoked’ sapphire dial and a striking hobnail bezel atop a white gold case.
The self-winding Calibre 26-330 S QR is doing the heavy lifting, with the day, leap-year cycle and month at 9, 12 and 3 o’clock respectively, alongside a moonphase at six o’clock and the retrograde date arcing across the top of the dial.
It’s a wonderfully clean display, but the star of the show is without doubt the semi-transparent sapphire dial that teases at the movement beneath its sheer surface. The 0.6mm thick sapphire dial is lasered from underneath to take away some of the grey to slowly but surely make it slightly see-through before the apertures are underlined by a grey electroplate outline for further definition.
In nouveau-Patek fashion, it’s paired with a fabric composite strap for a final contemporary touch.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen this ‘smoked’ effect on a Patek Philippe dial, the £845,690 Ref 5316/50P Grand Complication offers a similar feel but this is vastly more approachable for prospective owners and all the better for it.
£100,920; patek.com
Bulgari
Octo Finissimo Ultra Tourbillon
The battle for ultra-thin supremacy has been raging for more than a decade at this point, with the likes of Piaget, Richard Mille, and indie brand Konstantin Chaykin duking it out for the title of world’s thinnest watch.
But there is one brand who rises above them all as the true King of Thin: Bulgari. Since 2014, starting with the Octo Finissimo Tourbillon Manual Wind, Bulgari has continually pushed (or should that be shrunk?) the boundaries of ultra-thin watchmaking, sometimes shaving off 0.1mm at a time, breaking ten world records in the process.
The tenth of these record breakers has just been revealed at Watches & Wonders and returns to the roots of its ultra-thin family in the form of the Octo Finissimo Ultra Tourbillon; the world’s thinnest tourbillon.
Measuring just 1.85mm in ‘thickness’, a far cry from the original Octo Finissimo Tourbillon Manual Wind’s 5.0mm dimensions, it proves what a decade of continual refinement can achieve.
The latest member of the collection may share the aesthetic sensibilities of its forebears, but almost every component has been in some way reworked or entirely reimagined to ensure such extreme tolerances could be met.
It features a sandblasted titanium case construction with an ultra-hard tungsten carbide base doubling as the main plate, as well as a patented flying tourbillon construction, that sees the 1.18mm tourbillon cage (an extraordinary achievement itself) guided peripherally by miniature ball bearings with the wheel driving the cage serving as its bottom bridge. Despite its proportions, the Calibre BVF 900 movement beats at 4Hz and delivers 42 hours of performance.
To make room for the tourbillon components, a new time display with hour and minute hands at 2 o’clock replaces the two regulators for hours and minutes we’ve seen previously, while Bulgari has also semi-skeletonised the dial for a final bout “Look Ma, no hands!” showboating.
At this point, you can set your ultra-thin watch to Bulgari’s constant stream of world records but, in a crowded category, this might be one of its most impressive feats yet.
€750,000 (approx. £627,590), bulgari.com
Grand Seiko
Spring Drive U.F.A SLGB001 & SLGB003
Rounding off our list of Showstoppers is yet another 'world best', this time in the form of record-breaking mechanical accuracy.
In many ways, the brand-new Spring Drive “Ultra-Fine Accuracy” SLGB003 is the culmination of Grand Seiko’s more than 60-year pursuit of high precision movements.
We’ve waxed lyrical in the past about the brand’s iconic Spring Drive, as well as its groundbreaking Quartz technology from the 1970s, but the U.F.A Spring Drive Calibre 9RB2 takes a quantum leap forward in accuracy to a staggering ±20 seconds per year – making it the world’s most accurate wristwatch calibre powered by a mainspring.
That Grand Seiko has managed to fit all this performance, including a 72-hour power reserve, into a tidy 30mm x 5.02mm package is maybe the most impressive feat of all – leaving us to speculate about its possible future applications in other models that could do with trimming down.
If the name U.F.A sounds familiar, it’s because it’s a rewording of the Grand Seiko’s “Very Fine Adjusted” movement that first debuted in 1969. At the time, its accuracy of ±1 minute per month was industry leading, but now it’s simply a historic footnote as the new Ultra-Fine Accuracy movement is 36 times more accurate.
Indeed, Grand Seiko’s second most accurate movement in the shape of the Calibre 9R86 seems similarly defunct in comparison, with its ‘measly’ ±15 seconds per month (or, ±1 second per day) performance.
As for the watches Grand Seiko has chosen to showcase its new movement prowess within, the SLGB001 and SLGB003 feature a 37mm case in either platinum or titanium, alongside an “Ice Forest” textured dial that, to me at least, seems to be the spiritual successor to the “Snowflake”.
But there’s one final trick up its sleeve, and that's the inclusion of a three-step micro-adjust bracelet, which gives the wearer 6mm of additional flex for when they need it.
This ground-breaking proposition is a tantalising new option, with an entry model for just south of £10k.
Starting at £9,950; grand-seiko.com
