Geneva Watch Days 2026 was the largest edition yet, bringing together 71 brands over five days and showcasing the breadth and depth of contemporary watchmaking. While there was a lot to see, these stood out for their design, mechanics, or just the pleasure of looking at them.
1. bvlgari OCTO FINISSIMO DUAL TIME x VIANNEY HALTER
The Octo Finissimo Dual Time × Vianney Halter marks Bvlgari’s first collaboration with an independent watchmaker in its Octo Finissimo collection. It blends contrasting styles: the sleek, minimalist architecture of the ultra-thin line with Halter’s retro-futuristic vision, characterised by multiple displays, industrial elements, and 3D construction.
Details like the four-part dial, the characteristically shaped blue hands, a red-arrow seconds hand, and a micro rotor engraved with Vianney Halter’s signature make the partnership instantly clear. Available in titanium and pink gold, it uses the BVF 200 automatic movement (adapted from the BVL 138 calibre to include GMT, date, and day/night indicators) with a 60-hour power reserve. Halter, arguably one of the most celebrated watchmakers of his time, calls this experience “the perfect definition of a collaboration.”
2. Gérald genta Geneva Minute Repeater Golden Obsidian
The minute repeater is one of watchmaker Gerald Genta‘s most treasured complications, and at Geneva Watch Days, the brand revisits it with the Geneva Minute Repeater Golden Obsidian, following last year’s Black Onyx version. The 40-mm case in 3N yellow gold is engineered to optimise acoustic performance. At 9.60mm thick, its walls measure a mere 0.6mm, with a hollowed bezel and caseback and the crystal thinned to 0.8mm to enhance sound transmission.
All this technical precision is wrapped in a remarkably elegant form. The cushion-shaped case, refined gadroons, and alternating brushed and polished surfaces give the watch a sculptural softness, while the slider follows the curve of the case almost seamlessly. The real seduction, however, lies in the dial: golden obsidian, created by rapidly cooling volcanic lava, reveals shifting golden and brown tones beneath its dark surface. Every stone is unique, ensuring each watch possesses its own character.
3. Girard-Perregaux Laureato Fifty Tourbillon Micro-Rotor 39mm
The Laureato Fifty Tourbillon Micro-Rotor 39mm distils 235 years of heritage into one striking model, highlighting five signature elements: arrow-shaped bridges, a lyre-shaped tourbillon cage, grand feu enamel, Laureato architecture, and Clous de Paris pattern in an exceptionally thin profile of 10mm. Driven by the new GP8410 automatic tourbillon, which features a platinum and pink gold micro-rotor with the Girard-Perregaux arrow motif, it delivers a generous 72-hour power reserve. Available in two steel versions—one showcasing a white gold in-house grand feu blue enamel dial, and the other with a rose gold dial—this beauty marries timeless appeal with modern precision.
4. Czapek & Cie Place Vendôme Complicité Glacier Blue
Czapek & Cie returns to Quai des Bergues, establishing a new flagship store in Geneva at the same quay where François Czapek founded his first company in 1839. Concurrent with Geneva Watch Days 2026, the brand introduced the Place Vendôme Complicité Glacier Blue, a platinum limited edition of 10 pieces created in collaboration with CEO Xavier de Roquemaurel and master watchmaker Bernhard Lederer.
At its heart are two separate balance wheels, each of which has its own escapement and which oscillate in opposite directions; a differential located at the 12 o’clock position compensates for any differences in their rates, and the whole structure is shown on the dial side. For the Glacier Blue edition, the movement is set against a light blue PVD-coated, grainé main plate, and the indexes are faceted and rhodium-plated with a mirror polish, with the hands being partly skeletonised swords.
The manually wound proprietary Calibre 8 comprises 293 components and provides a 72-hour power reserve. The gear train is visible through two sapphire bridges, with six rubies set in gold chatons enhancing the open design. The back showcases a more intricate finish, with 18 hand-chamfered inward angles and hand-bevelled bridges and main plate.
5. De Bethune DB25 Digitale
The De Bethune DB25 Digitale transforms the display of time into a miniature nocturnal landscape. Some 82 elements are combined in its layered structure; at the centre there is a spherical moon phase made up of two polished hemispheres—one in palladium and the other in flame-blued steel—which rotates with a precision of one lunar day every 1,112 years. Surrounding this, a barleycorn pattern is combined with random guilloché on blued titanium, producing a constantly changing effect of texture and light.
Time is presented quite differently here, with digital hours, minutes on a rotating disc, and a spherical moon phase. Removing traditional hands and hour markers transforms the dial into a more creative composition.
It is powered by the third-generation DB2144 calibre, the DB2144V3, featuring a self-regulating twin barrel, a balance wheel made from titanium and grey-gold, a De Bethune balance spring, and a triple pare-chute shock-absorbing system. For the first time, the maison’s random guilloché now extends over the deltoid bridge, establishing a visual connection between the dial and the movement. The 42mm case is made of grade 5 mirror-polished titanium, featuring rounded, openwork lugs in De Bethune’s characteristic ‘bullet’ style.
6. Urwerk UR-150 Golden Scorpion
By applying yellow gold to the already highly technical UR-150, Urwerk enters unexplored territory. The Golden Scorpion gives the watch’s radical design a warmer and more sculptural character, with the precious metal reflecting the light on its flowing curves and clearly defined edges.
The mechanism is still as uncompromising as before: the three-hour hands rotate on a central flying platform, and a retrograde hand moves over a 240-degree arc to indicate the minutes before jumping back to its original position in one hundredth of a second. The constant motion is even more striking when viewed in yellow gold, the material appearing to enhance the energy it displays.
At the centre of the watch is the automatic UR-50.01 movement, operating at a frequency of 4Hz and offering a power reserve of 43 hours; the cam-and-rack system, together with a speed regulator usually found in minute repeaters, replaces the traditional Maltese cross mechanism and ensures that the satellites are synchronised with the quick return of the retrograde hand.
