The Geneva Watch Prize The (GPHG) awards marked its 25th anniversary this year, highlighting the finest in luxury watchmaking during a glamo...
The Geneva Watch PrizeThe (GPHG) awards marked its 25th anniversary this year, highlighting the finest in luxury watchmaking during a glamorous event on 13 November.
During the initial period of this century, the creative sectors have faced reduced financial support, a lack of skilled professionals, and the growing anxiety of artificial intelligence taking over.
However, the "Oscars of Watchmaking," a nickname commonly used for GPHG, demonstrates that established expertise and skill can endure through challenges.
Horology embodies a union of art and industry, mechanics and poetry, enigma, expertise in the microscopic, and the quest for the infinite," stated Raymond Loretan, president of GPHG. "It is a dynamic art form. Even amidst present challenges, it showcases impressive vitality.
Once more, the event brought attention to the exclusive realm of horology, with 90 timepieces competing for prestigious awards in 15 categories.categories, including women's, men's, calendar and astronomical, jewelry and mechanical.
The highest award, referred to as the ‘Aiguille d'Or"Grand Prix" is available for any watch in all categories. Last year, it was won by IWC Schaffhausen's Portugieser Eternal Calendar.
The victors were selected by a panel of specialists, comprising horology enthusiasts, craftsmen, media professionals, and dealers.
The chosen watches will be featured at Dubai Watch Week from November 19 to 23.
"Golden Needle" Grand Prix best-in-show award
The top prize at the GPHG, the Aiguille d’Or, was awarded to Breguet's Classique Souscription 2025 – a timepiece that features just a single hand. As the judges noted, "it appears straightforward, yet it represents one of the most significant challenges in horology: achieving simplicity."
The timepiece is inspired by the revolutionary Souscription pocket watch from 1796, revived as a pocket watch. The first model with a streamlined design, it is characterized by the elegance of the white enamel dial and the display of time using a single hand.
Champions of the GPHG horology awards
Below is the complete list of recipients from the evening's impressive award ceremony:
Ladies’:feminine timepieces featuring only the following functions – hours, minutes, seconds, basic date (day of the month), power reserve, traditional moon phases – and which could potentially be decorated with up to 9-carat gemstone detailing.
WINNER 2025:Gérald Genta's Gentissima Sea Urchin Fire Opal
Watches vying for this award cannot be excessively decorated, so Genta's watch expresses a bold statement through a flame-colored dial encircled by 137 individually placed fire opals. GPHG's description accurately refers to it as "audacious elegance."
Ladies’ Complication:watches for women that stand out due to their mechanical ingenuity and intricacy. These timepieces may include a variety of traditional and/or cutting-edge complications and displays (such as annual calendar, perpetual calendar, equation of time, intricate moon phase displays, tourbillon, chronograph, world time, dual time, or other types of models) and do not fall under the Ladies’ and Mechanical Exception classifications.
WINNER 2025: Chopard's Imperiale Four Seasons
At the core of this creation is a spinning disc that makes a complete rotation in 365 days, mirroring the cycle of the seasons. Made from painted, textured mother-of-pearl inlay, this small scene forms a dynamic landscape, changing gently over time.
The upper part is decorated with a lace design made from 18-carat ethical white gold, shaped into the form of a lotus flower – a repeated theme in the IMPERIALE collection.
Time Only:Watches featuring two or three hands without any gemstone embellishments, displaying only traditional time readings: hours, minutes, and seconds.
WINNER 2025:Daniel Roth's Extra Plat Rose Gold
The jury stated, "the Extra Plat Rose Gold symbolizes purity and expertise, perfectly blending contemporary sophistication with traditional craftsmanship."
Men’s:men's watches that include only the following features – hours, minutes, seconds, basic date (day of the month), power reserve indicator, traditional moon phases – and may optionally have a digital/retrograde display or be decorated with up to 9-carat gemstones.
WINNER 2025:Urban Jürgensen's UJ-2: Dual dial natural escapement
At the core of this watch is the double wheel natural escapement – a system whose beauty hides the intricacy of its development. "Every part, from the manually finished gears to the clean bridges, and the detailing on components not visible to the eye, exists because that's how it should be," the jury stated.
Men’s Complication:watches for men that stand out due to their mechanical ingenuity and intricacy. These timepieces may include various traditional and/or cutting-edge complications and displays (such as world time, dual time, or other models) and do not meet the criteria for the Men’s and Mechanical Exception classifications.
WINNER 2025: Bovet 1822's Récital 30
Before the Récital 28 and Récital 30, all world timers were inaccurate during Daylight Saving Time. Enthusiasts had to adjust their world timers either for nations observing the change or those that did not.
The key innovation was choosing to use rollers rather than a traditional display. The 24 city rollers are printed on four sides, and the time period roller is marked with four distinct eras. When you press the upper button on the Récital 30, all the rollers rotate 90 degrees simultaneously.
Iconic:timepieces originating from a renowned collection or model that has had a significant impact on the history of horology and the watch industry for over two decades, or presenting a modern take on a classic design.
WINNER 2025:Audemars Piguet's Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar
To celebrate the start of its 150th anniversary, Audemars Piguet introduces a new self-winding perpetual calendar movement, Calibre 7138, which for the first time allows users to adjust all functions easily through its "all-in-one" crown.
Tourbillon:mechanical timepieces featuring at least one tourbillon. Additional displays and/or additional functions are permitted.
WINNER 2025:Bvlgari's Octo Finissimo Ultra Tourbillon
By incorporating a skeletonized tourbillon into the movement of this timepiece, which has an overall thickness of only 1.85 mm, the Swiss watchmaking division of the Roman jeweller showcases its mastery in horology through one of the most iconic complications.
Currently, Bvlgari has advanced skeletonisation to a new stage on the latest Octo Finissimo Ultra Tourbillon – to enhance light dispersion across the movement.
Mechanical Exception:watches that include a unique mechanism, such as an advanced or complex display, an automaton, a striking or other sound-related feature, a special escapement, a belt-driven movement, or containing another original and/or remarkable horological idea.
WINNER 2025: Greubel Forsey's Nano Foudroyante
At the core of this watch is an innovative concept: nanomechanics – the manipulation of energy at the nanojoule level within a mechanical system. This allows the Nano Foudroyante to power its namesake complication with only 16 nanojoules per jump, as opposed to 30 microjoules in conventional designs, representing a remarkable decrease by a factor of 1,800 – "lightning fast," as the name suggests.
Chronograph:mechanical timepieces featuring at least one chronograph function. Additional displays and/or additional features are permitted.
WINNER 2025:Angelus' Telemeasurer Chronograph Yellow Gold
"This watch determines the distance of an occurrence by measuring the gap between the speed of light and the speed of sound, a feature that competes with the most advanced contemporary devices," the panel stated.
Sports:watches associated with the world of sports, whose features, materials, and appearance are appropriate for physical activity.
WINNER 2025:Chopard's Alpine Eagle 41 SL Cadence 8HF
With its third edition of high-frequency timepieces, Chopard celebrates the introduction of the lightest watch in its lineup. The advanced technology is paired with a refined design: the ceramic titanium has a sporty bead-blasted texture, while the Pitch Black titanium dial uses subtle orange highlights to create visual contrast.
Jewellery:timepieces that showcase remarkable skill in the craft of jewelry and gem setting, as well as notable selection of stones.
WINNER 2025:Dior Watches' La D of Dior Buisson Couture
This watch is a member of the Les Jardins de la Couture High Jewelry collection, signifying a fresh approach to showcasing nature through blooming clusters of 'couture bushes' that mirror the elegance of finely embroidered flowers. The new La D de Dior embodies precise artistry, with stones selected for their color and form to create a rich yet subtle garden. "You can almost detect the fragrance," noted the panel.
Artistic Crafts:timepieces that showcase remarkable skill in one or more artistic methods including enameling, varnishing, etching, guilloché (machine turning), skeletonization, and more.
WINNER 2025: Voutilainen's 28GML SOUYOU
This dazzling watch highlights the skill of Japanese lacquer artist Mr. Tatsuo Kitamura, involving more than a thousand hours of careful craftsmanship. It also uses natural materials like "Urushi" (tree sap), "Kinpun" (different types of gold powder), "Kirigane" (gold leaf cut into shapes), and "Kirigai" (shells cut from New Zealand abalone and green turban snails).
“Petite Aiguille”:Watches priced between CHF 3,000 and CHF 10,000. Smartwatches are included in this group.
WINNER 2025: M.A.D. Editions' M.A.D.2 Green
The M.A.D. Editions initiative was established as a more approachable label by MB&F. The M.A.D.2 emerged from the vision of Eric Giroud – a designer, nonconformist, and long-time MB&F associate – and serves as a tribute to the vibrant, energetic essence of 1990s nightclub scenes, featuring a turntable and flashing lights. It can only be obtained through a lottery.
Challenge:Watches priced at or below CHF 3,000. Smartwatches are included in this category.
WINNER 2025:Dennison's Natural Stone Tiger Eye in Gold
This timepiece brings back the iconic Dennison cushion case, celebrating the grace of the 1960s. The face showcases a natural tiger's eye, a remarkable stone known for its warm depth and distinctive patterns, each one carefully cut and polished to highlight its individual charm.
The jury described it as a "remarkable achievement" to create such a timepiece for less than CHF 3,000.
Mechanical Clock:mechanical devices designed primarily for measuring time, including longcase clocks and desk clocks. Wristwatches are excluded from this classification.
WINNER 2025:L'Epée 1839's Albatross L'Epée 1839 X MB&F
Albatross includes a notable hour function – sounding the exact hours on the hour and a single strike at the half-hour – along with an automaton consisting of 16 sets of propellers that begin moving every hour. A mechanical computer allows the user to select from full operation mode, full silent mode, silent mode with the propellers active, or just the chime. Additionally, there is a "repeat on demand" button to replay the set chime/automaton sequence or to initiate the propellers in continuous motion independently.
Audacity Prize:honors the top-performing timepiece that showcases an unconventional, quirky style of horology. It aims to encourage bold creativity.
WINNER 2025: Fam Al Hut's Möbius
Fam Al Hut's MARK 1 Möbius is a daring first step that reimagines technical miniaturization and spatial layout in high-end watchmaking. Central to it is an in-house bi-axis tourbillon, enclosed within one of the smallest wristwatch cases ever developed.
This is the first time that the Chinese company has taken part in the awards.
Horological Revelation Prize:honors a rival timepiece developed by an emerging brand (with less than a decade of history since its initial model was launched).
WINNER 2025:Anton Suhanov's Easter Egg Tourbillon Clock in St. Petersburg
Anton Suhanov's St. Petersburg Easter Egg Tourbillon clock is completely different from tradition. Unlike Carl Fabergé's extravagant designs, Suhanov aimed for simplicity and sought to provide the Easter egg clock genre with a new, contemporary, and meaningful perspective.
This edition inexplicably stays in a fully upright position despite having no supporting components.
Chronometry Prize:honors the top-performing timepiece that excels in its exceptional accuracy of time measurement (featuring a unique escapement or innovative regulating mechanism) and has received official certification (adhering to ISO 3159 standards) from an authorized testing body like COSC, TIMELAB, Besançon Observatory, among others.
WINNER 2025: Zenith's G.F.J. Calibre 135
This timepiece embodies the heritage of Zenith, a brand that has been crafting horological masterpieces for 160 years. The latest iteration of the movement retains the size, appearance, and design of its predecessor. However, it represents a contemporary re-engineering that incorporates modern technological advancements and materials wherever feasible.
Special Jury Prize:Recognizes an individual, organization, or project that has significantly contributed to advancing premium watchmaking. It is not given to a specific timepiece or a brand in general.
WINNER 2025:Alain Dominique Perrin, the creator of the Fondation Cartier pour l'Art Contemporain.
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