Henri d'Origny's Cape Cod has always been an exercise in productive tension—a square dial locked inside a rectangular case, geometry arguing with itself in the most elegant way possible. Since 1991, the design's anchor-chain link silhouette has proven remarkably resistant to the passage of time, evolving through material and color variations without ever needing to rethink its fundamental architecture.
Posts tagged #2026
Introducing: H. Moser & Cie. Streamliner Tourbillon Concept Ceramic—First Time Using this Material
H. Moser & Cie. has never touched ceramics until now. The Streamliner Tourbillon Concept Ceramic ref. 6805-2100 marks the Schaffhausen independent manufacture's first foray into the material, and the decision to debut it within the Streamliner collection feels less like experimentation and more like inevitability.
Introducing: Richard Mille RM 41-01 Tourbillon Soccer. From Kickoff to Final Whistle at 2 Million Dollars.
Richard Mille's fascination with football is not new. The RM 11-01 and RM 11-04 Roberto Mancini introduced a match-time display that demonstrated the brand's willingness to engineer sport-specific functionality at the highest mechanical level. The RM 41-01 Tourbillon Soccer takes that ambition and pushes it in an altogether different direction.
From the Editor: When Fire Meets Horse—The Best Watches for the Rarest Year in the Chinese Zodiac
2026 marks the Year of the Fire Horse, an astrological convergence that occurs once every 60 years. These are the finest horological tributes we've covered. When the Fire Horse succeeds the Wood Snake today, February 17, 2026, it inaugurates one of the Chinese zodiac's most potent symbols—vitality, elegance, courage, and unbridled energy.
Introducing: Girard-Perregaux La Esmeralda Tourbillon "A Secret" Eternity Edition—Celebrating the Year of the Horse
Girard-Perregaux marks the Year of the Horse with a striking expression of its most storied complication—La Esmeralda Tourbillon "A Secret" Eternity Edition, a watch that channels the Maison's deep heritage through a lens of auspicious symbolism and unmistakable craft. It is a piece that invites study rather than a glance, rewarding sustained attention with layers of historical reference and decorative refinement.
Perspective: The Top 10 Largest Watch Brands in 2025—Rolex Reigns Supreme as the Industry Consolidates Around the Few
The latest watch industry figures paint a picture more of confirmation than revelation. Rolex continues to lead the watch industry, exceeding CHF 10 billion in estimated sales. Its revenues match the combined totals of the next five largest brands, including Cartier, Audemars Piguet, Patek Philippe, and Omega—ranked in order of importance.
Insider: Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF Xiali Chinese Calendar Rose Gold. The Perfect Watch to Celebrate Chinese New Year.
As the final day of the Year of the Wood Snake comes to an end and the Year of the Fire Horse begins on February 17th, there is no more fitting moment to revisit one of the most culturally ambitious complications in contemporary watchmaking.
From the Editor: Is Time for Love—A Valentine's Reflection
Every mechanical watch carries a quiet metaphor the industry trots out each February: the balance wheel oscillates, the mainspring unwinds, and somewhere inside that architecture of steel and brass, a tiny heart beats. The Valentine's Day limited edition is, by its nature, a commercial exercise.
Weekend Reads: Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF Agave Blue, COSC's New Standards, and A. Lange & Söhne Chicago Boutique
Each week at WCL delivers editorial coverage across the spectrum of serious watch collecting—from industry analysis and new release evaluation to archival perspectives and manufacture insights. Weekend Reads curates the week's most substantial pieces: the editorials that reward deeper engagement and merit your weekend reading time. Five pieces worth your attention:
News: Abdulmagied Ahmed Seddiqi Has Passed Away. Our Deepest Condolences.
Watch Collecting Lifestyle extends its deepest condolences to the Seddiqi family and their extended community across the watch industry. Abdulmagied Ahmed Seddiqi, co-owner of Seddiqi Holding and a figure whose influence on luxury watch retail in the Middle East is difficult to overstate, has passed away.
Introducing: Nivada Grenchen F77 MKII Collection—12 New References
The original F77 reissue by Nivada Grenchen was one of the more improbable success stories in recent independent watchmaking. Guillaume Laidet built an entire collection around a single vintage piece from a collector's drawer, and the market responded with enthusiasm that even caught its creator off guard. Thousands sold, dozens of variants produced, a genuine following cultivated.
Perspective: COSC Raises the Bar. But How High?
For over half a century, the COSC chronometer certification has served as Swiss watchmaking's most widely recognized quality benchmark. Millions of movements have passed through the laboratories in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Le Locle, and Bienne, emerging with a certificate that confirms one thing: this movement keeps time within the parameters defined by ISO 3159.
Introducing: Panerai Radiomir 8 Giorni PAM02088—The California Dial in Mandarin for Chinese Lunar New Year
The California dial is one of watchmaking's most recognizable designs and one of its least understood. Its origins are pragmatic, not aesthetic: a mixed-numeral layout combining Roman numerals on the upper half and Arabic on the lower, developed in the late 1930s to maximize legibility under combat conditions.
Watch Shopping: A. Lange & Söhne Opens Chicago Boutique in Tribune Tower
A. Lange & Söhne has opened its newest American boutique at 435 Michigan Avenue in Chicago, re-establishing the Glashütte-based manufacture's retail presence in the U.S. Midwest. The location is the brand's ninth point of sale in the United States and joins recently opened flagships in London, Singapore, and Shanghai as part of an ongoing expansion of its global boutique network.
News: Jaeger-LeCoultre Unveils Eight Rare Vintage Reverso Watches in Fifth Collectibles Capsule
Jaeger-LeCoultre has released the fifth capsule of The Collectibles, its in-house programme dedicated to sourcing, authenticating, and restoring museum-grade vintage timepieces. This installment focuses exclusively on eight rare Reverso watches produced between 1931 and 1937 — the model's formative first decade — and is being presented at the Maison's Madison Avenue boutique in New York City through February 23, 2026.
Introducing: Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF Micro-Rotor Agave Blue—Two Different Materials
Since its debut in 2021, the Tonda PF collection has articulated something increasingly rare in contemporary watchmaking: a design language built on restraint rather than spectacle. The collection's evolution has been one of progressive distillation—from the original Micro-Rotor with date display, to the No Date variant that liberated the dial entirely, to a platinum limited edition in Stone Blue last year.
Perspective: Watch Partnership Number Four—Breitling Joins Aston Martin's Failed Relationships
When Aston Martin announced Breitling as its new Official Watch Partner this month, the industry press responded with predictable enthusiasm: historic connections, shared values, precision meeting performance. The narrative writes itself, and indeed, it has written itself before. Three times before, to be exact. Breitling replaces Girard-Perregaux, which held the partnership from 2021 to early 2026.
Weekend Reads: Manufacture Visits, Greubel Forsey, and Audemars Piguet's Identity Crisis
Each week at WCL delivers editorial coverage across the spectrum of serious watch collecting—from industry analysis and new release evaluation to archival perspectives and manufacture insights. Weekend Reads curates the week's most substantial pieces: the editorials that reward deeper engagement and merit your weekend reading time. Five pieces worth your attention:
Perspective: Watches and Wonders Geneva 2026 Expands Its Ambitions—And Its Audience
Watches and Wonders Geneva has released details of its April 2026 edition, and the message is clear: the event continues its evolution from an industry trade fair to a cultural phenomenon in Switzerland and around the world. Scheduled for April 14-20, this year's program reveals an organization increasingly confident in its dual identity as both professional platform and public spectacle.
From the Archives: Behind the Doors—Our Manufacture and Museum Visits
Over more than a decade, Watch Collecting Lifestyle has been granted access to some of haute horlogerie's most significant manufactures and museums. These aren't promotional factory tours repackaged as content; they're detailed examinations of where serious watchmaking happens, documented with the same editorial rigor we apply to the rest of our coverage.
