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:
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.
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.
Patek Philippe has confirmed Milan as the location for its seventh Grand Exhibition, scheduled to run from October 2 to 18, 2026. The event marks the manufacture's return to a major European market following its 2023 exhibition in Tokyo, continuing a series that began in Dubai in 2012, followed by New York City in 2017—under the name ‘The Art of Watches Grand Exhibition’— and also included Singapore in 2019.
Yesterday, Audemars Piguet announced 22 new watches at the AP Social Club in Le Brassus. When a manufacture releases this many watches in a single presentation, the question isn't celebration, it's evaluation. Which of these actually matter?
Two new AP Royal Oak Offshore Chronographs expand the 43mm line through material combinations that privilege ceramic and titanium over precious metals. These additions demonstrate Audemars Piguet's continued investment in the Royal Oak Offshore Chronograph as a platform for developing technical materials.
The Royal Oak Offshore Diver receives a chromatic refresh across three stainless steel references that underscore the collection's position as Le Brassus's most technically capable dive instrument. Since its 2010 debut and subsequent additions to the model, the Royal Oak Offshore Diver has distinguished itself through an internal rotating bezel operated via a dedicated crown at 10 o'clock.
Audemars Piguet's 38mm Royal Oak Chronograph receives its most meaningful update with the new in-house calibre 6401, the Manufacture's first compact in-house chronograph movement. This development addresses a technical gap that persisted even after the 41mm variant adopted Calibre 4401 in 2022.
Audemars Piguet's Neo Frame Jumping Hour reference 15245OR.OO.A206VE.01 inaugurates an entirely new collection that decisively breaks from the octagonal architecture that dominates the Manufacture's contemporary catalog.
Continuing with the releases for its 150th anniversary, Audemars Piguet has returned to the format that preceded the wristwatch yet remains central to the Manufacture's most ambitious technical expressions. The Audemars Piguet 150 Heritage Ultra-Complication Universal Calendar pocket watch, reference 75150PT.OO.01, in platinum, stands as a direct descendant of Le Brassus’s legendary ultra-complications: the 1899 L’Universelle and the 1921 La Grosse Pièce, pieces that established the brand's mastery of astronomical complications and grande sonnerie mechanisms, and which are in the Audemars Piguet Musée Atelier.
Vacheron Constantin enriches its titanium Overseas Tourbillon lineage with the third model in this series, with a compelling new aesthetic proposition. The Overseas Tourbillon Deep Red ref. 6000V/110T-H036 combines Grade 5 titanium construction with a sunburst satin-brushed deep red dial, marking the first time the collection pairs this particular material with this distinctive color palette. Where previous titanium tourbillon iterations explored skeletal transparency and marine blue lacquer, this latest expression charts a more assertive course.
On his Instagram account, Stephen Forsey has announced his departure from Greubel Forsey, marking the end of an era for one of haute horlogerie's most significant partnerships. The co-founder and namesake watchmaker disclosed on Instagram—screenshot at the bottom of this editorial—that he has resigned from the boards of Greubel Forsey SA, Greubel Forsey Holding SA, as well as from the boards of the Time Æon and Adenium foundations.
Since its introduction in 2015, the Slim d'Hermès has represented Hermès Horloger's mastery of restraint, marrying the maison's leather heritage with its increasingly sophisticated horological ambitions. The new Slim d'Hermès Squelette Lune advances this philosophy by revealing the mechanisms that define its elegance, presenting collectors with a double-moon phase complication framed by architectural transparency.
The intersection of independent watchmaking and a luxury maison savoir-faire rarely produces work of genuine consequence. Most collaborations remain superficial exercises in badge engineering, little more than dial swaps dressed in marketing hyperbole. However, the De Bethune X Louis Vuitton LVDB-03 Louis Varius project, unveiled as part of the Louis Vuitton Watch Prize for Independent Creatives, shatters this paradigm entirely.
This week delivered exceptional breadth across predictions for Watches and Wonders 2026 on Patek Philippe, Rolex, and Tudor, as well as a few exciting new releases from independent and established manufactures, that merit deeper consideration. These five essential editorials from January 26-30 provide deep information on where watch brands are heading in early 2026.
The intersection of motorsport and watchmaking has produced its fair share of automotive-inspired timepieces, yet few achieve the authenticity and seamless integration of automotive design cues into watchmaking that Chopard's third collaboration with Zagato delivers. Although let’s not forget Audemars Piguet’s integration of auto racing design cues into several Royal Oak Offshores, like the Pablo Montoya, the Michael Schumacher, and the Rubens Barrichello.
First registered as a brand in 1926 by watch dealer and maker Veuve de Philippe Hüther, Tudor was officially taken over by Hans Wilsdorf—the founder of Rolex—in 1936. In his words, he wanted to make a watch that his agents could sell at a more modest price than his Rolex watches, and yet one that would attain the standard of dependability for which Rolex was famous. Wilsdorf's intent was clear: create watches at modest prices while maintaining Rolex dependability.
Louis Moinet marks 2026—the Year of the Fire Horse in the Chinese zodiac—with a métiers d'art tour de force that demonstrates why this independent manufacture has become synonymous with artisanal puzzle dials. The new Tourbillon Puzzle Fire Horse arrives as a unique piece celebrating an astrological convergence that occurs once every 60 years, when the element of fire combines with the horse in the Chinese calendar, heralding a period of intense, assertive energy.
When Piaget reintroduced the Polo 79 in yellow gold during 2024 as part of the manufacture's 150th anniversary celebrations, the Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève validated this decision with its "Iconic Watch" prize. The following year brought the refined 18K white gold iteration we covered at Watches & Wonders 2025. Now, Piaget completes this trilogy with the Polo 79 Two-Tone—a harmonious marriage of both precious metals that recalls one of the original 1979 configurations while speaking directly to contemporary collectors who demand distinction without ostentation.
The Rolex Oyster turns 100 in 2026—a milestone that would, at most brands, trigger commemorative editions, special casebacks, and marketing fanfare. For Rolex, January 1st brought something different: a 7% average price increase across its lineup, the third such adjustment in 12 months. If you're searching for signals about what Rolex will deliver this year, the pricing tells you more than any anniversary press release ever could.
As Watches & Wonders Geneva 2026 approaches, speculation intensifies over how Patek Philippe will commemorate the Nautilus's golden 50th anniversary. But the signals have been clear for years—if you know where to look. Between Thierry Stern's public statements, the discontinuation theater, and the strategic repositioning through the Cubitus, Patek has telegraphed exactly what collectors should expect. And more importantly, what they shouldn't.
This week delivered exceptional breadth across haute complications, independent manufactures, and strategic industry shifts that merit deeper consideration. These five essential editorials from January 19-23 provide frameworks for understanding where contemporary watchmaking stands in early 2026.
Richemont and the Damiani Group, a prestigious, family-run Italian global luxury group, announced yesterday that they have signed an agreement for the Damiani Group to acquire full ownership of Baume & Mercier in a private transaction. This represents a moment of reckoning for heritage manufactures navigating the increasingly polarized luxury watch market, and raises uncomfortable questions about what happens when an almost 200-year legacy isn't enough to secure your place in a conglomerate's future.
Frederique Constant isn't known for making provocative statements, but the Classics Manchette has become an unexpected disruptor since its 2025 debut. Now celebrating its first birthday, the Geneva manufacture unveils a golden 2N PVD iteration with a full-black onyx dial, a combination that trades subtle sophistication for unapologetic glamour. This isn't your grandmother’s dress watch; it's a cuff bracelet that happens to tell time, and it revels in that identity.
There's a particular elegance to rowing—the disciplined rhythm, the perfect posture, the singular focus required to move a racing skiff through water with precision and power. L'Epée 1839 has captured this quiet grace in La Regatta clocks, and now reimagines it through a series of Métiers d'Art unique pieces that elevate the vertical clock into wearable sculpture through the ancient art of Grand Feu enameling.
Armin Strom continues its exploration of artisanal finishing with the new Tribute² Aurum, a timepiece that builds upon the architectural foundation of the original Tribute 1 while pushing the boundaries of hand-finished decoration. Limited to just 10 pieces, this latest iteration introduces a rare engraving technique in independent watchmaking, tremblage, to a gold-coated mainplate that serves as the watch’s visual centerpiece.
Zenith has unveiled its most technically ambitious DEFY Skyline to date, introducing the manufacture's first fully openworked tourbillon within the collection. Presented at LVMH Watch Week 2026 in Milano, the DEFY Skyline Tourbillon Skeleton in rose gold represents a compelling synthesis of skeletonized architecture and high-frequency precision, rendered in a striking contrast of warm precious metal and luminous blue finishing.
When Omega assumes its role as Official Timekeeper of the Olympic Winter Games for the thirty-second time since 1932, it will do so with a legacy unmatched in sports timekeeping. To commemorate the Milano Cortina 2026 games opening on February 6th, the Swiss manufacture has unveiled a distinctive interpretation of its legendary Seamaster Diver 300M in a 43.5 mm timepiece that translates the visual identity of these 25th Olympic Winter Games into a compelling collector's piece.
When MB&F's LM Sequential EVO claimed the Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève's Aiguille d'Or in 2022, it validated what serious collectors already understood: Stephen McDonnell had redefined chronograph capability in a manner both intellectually rigorous and practically transformative. The twin-chronograph architecture, governed by the ingenious Twinverter binary switch, delivered independent timing, split-seconds, cumulative, and lap-timer functions within a single 44 mm case—functionality that made one wonder why conventional chronographs had settled for so little.
TAG Heuer's ascent into haute horlogerie continues with remarkable momentum. Following the Monaco Split-Seconds Chronograph, the manufacture now introduces the complication to its most iconic collection—the Carrera—marking the first time a rattrapante has graced this storied lineage since Jack Heuer conceived the original in 1963.