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Neubauer Artists LLC
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At Watches and Wonders 2026, men’s watches ran the gamut from updated classics to out-of-the-box creations that challenged horological conventions. While there were a bevy of revolutionary timepieces, we aren’t just limiting our picks to that.
We’ve analysed, dissected and divided them into four categories: reimagined classics, grail-worthy collectibles, innovative complications and unique designs. Here is the full list that every enthusiast should know, dream about and if luck allows, add to their collection.
Revitalised Classics
The word ‘classic’ takes on a wholly positive spin this year as watches escape the confines of their original forms to find new expressions and interpretations. Whether it was digging deep into the archives for inspiration or amplifying what made the original a hit, these maisons proved that sometimes, old is truly gold.
Chanel J12 Superleggera Caliber 12.1 42mm
Couched as a unisex timepiece, Chanel’s J12 Superleggera is one of the more rugged offerings from the brand that also shows just how far the model has come since its 2005 debut. “Superleggera” means super light in Italian, with its origins in motorsport technology, and these nods to racing culture are subtly woven into this model.
Keeping the sleek and sporty vibes of the J12 with a matte black ceramic and steel case and a lacquered black dial, the new updates include a two-toned bezel made of satin-finished hardened steel and blackened steel, and a date indicated by a red arrow at the 4’o clock window that resembles a speedometer, for an athletic, polished effect.
Hublot Big Bang Reloaded Blue Ceramic
Hublot’s Big Bang celebrates its 20th year in 2026. With no sign of going any smaller, the brand released a Reloaded collection that is an evolution of the openworked Big Bang Unico. In this edition, the Unico self-winding flyback chronograph calibre is the star: the five 44mm models in this collection work with colour, contrast and architecture to amplify the calibre’s unique construction so there is even more depth and texture.
Our personal favourite is the Blue Ceramic model that really shows off Hublot’s expertise in developing full-colour high-tech ceramic—in a material that is 300 Vickers harder than its conventional counterpart.
Chopard New L.U.C 1860 Chronometer
Another tribute watch that caught our eye was the New L.U.C 1860 Chronometer from Chopard. Created to honour the 20th anniversary of the brand’s Fleurier manufacture, this new model keeps the sleek proportions of the 36.5mm case and has a beautiful “Areuse blue” dial inspired by the namesake river that flows near the Manufacture.
Its vintage appeal is further enhanced by the dial’s hand‑guilloché that is done in a sunburst pattern by the Maison’s in-house artisans using an actual vintage guilloché lathe. The finishing touch is an elegant grey grained calfskin strap for a timeless dress watch that transcends trends.
Coveted Collectibles
Whether watches are good investments depends on the make, the model and the market. And while these timepieces do indeed hold their value, we like to think they are worth so much more than the sum of their parts. From a collector’s dream acquisition to a generational treasure, these are the watches that set pulses racing.
Cartier The Crash Skeleton
In its 10th year, Cartier Privé went big, offering the legendary Crash in a skeletonised platinum version. The Crash, created in 1967, needs no introduction, as its signature asymmetrical shape has made it one of the most recognisable and coveted watches on the auction block.
In 2026, the Crash has been reimagined in a skeletonised form while still featuring the Manufacture 1967 MC movement with manual winding that was developed to house 142 components. These parts become one with the dial, as the bridges have been cleverly shaped by hand to form Roman numerals. With only 150 numbered pieces available, you’ll be lucky to get your hands on one.
Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Tribute Enamel Hokusai “Waterfalls”
Jaeger-LeCoultre returns to Japanese master painter Hokusai’s Waterfalls series as an ever-flowing well of inspiration. This collection features four limited editions (there are 10 pieces of each) that have been meticulously hand-decorated by the Maison’s artisans from its Métiers Rares atelier. Each watch features guilloché and enamel on the dial, and miniature enamel paintings of Hokusai’s works on the casebacks.
Collectors have an option to pick from a more subdued but elegant black alligator strap, or the popular Milanese mesh bracelet (first introduced in 2025) in white gold. Celebrating four waterfalls: Yōrō, Roben, Kiyotaki and Aoigaoka, the beauty of expression, subtle palette and depth of feel will keep wearers captivated for a long time.
Patek Philippe Ref. 5249R “The Crow And The Fox”
Patek Philippe introduced an automaton wristwatch based on a pocket watch from 1958 from the brand’s extensive archives. Dubbed “The Crow and The Fox” after the children’s fable by Jean de la Fontaine, this glorious piece provides the hours and the minutes on demand, and is perhaps the perfect apotheosis of Patek Philippe’s prowess in both complications and its Rare Handcrafts artistry.
The playful automaton features an on-demand retrograde hours and minutes function where the fox indicates the hour with either its paw or its muzzle, while the minute hand—shaped like a cheese wedge—reveals the exact time as it drops from the crow’s beak. Clever, and whimsical, this represents time-telling at its most poetic and craftsmanship of the highest order.
Novel Complications
The latest feats of watchmaking are no longer content to remain concealed beneath the dial. Instead, their mechanics increasingly determine how a watch looks, feels and responds to its wearer. Crowns disappear, pushers become playful and complications retreat from sight when their work is done. Technology is not separate from design—it actively defines it.
IWC Schaffhausen Pilot’s Venturer Vertical Drive
Built with future spaceflight in mind, IWC’s Pilot’s Venturer Vertical Drive replaces the traditional crown with a rotating bezel that controls the watch’s functions. A rocker switch on the case allows the wearer to select between winding the movement and adjusting either home or mission time, making its operation more tactile and intuitive.
This interface also shapes the watch’s streamlined, crown-free profile, while the white zirconium oxide ceramic case, black dial and Ceratanium bezel give it the clarity of a precision instrument befitting astronauts going to infinity and beyond.
A dedicated 24-hour hand displays mission time, a practical consideration for astronauts experiencing repeated cycles of day and night while orbiting Earth. Here, engineering does not simply power the watch: it determines its silhouette, reorganises its display and transforms the way the wearer physically interacts with it.
H. Moser & Cie. Streamliner Pump
Few mechanical watches make winding as irresistible as the Streamliner Pump, H. Moser & Cie.’s playful collaboration with Reebok. Its orange aluminium button recalls the sportswear brand’s cult Pump sneaker, translating that familiar gesture into a functional winding system.
Each press sends energy to the mainspring, adding more than an hour to the power reserve while activating an orange indicator on the dial. Moser re-engineered its automatic HMC 500 calibre into the manually wound HMC 103 to accommodate the mechanism, giving the interaction genuine horological prowess beneath its pop-cultural humour.
The technology also establishes the watch’s visual identity: the bright button punctuates a monochromatic black or white palette, while forged quartz fibre creates a lightweight case with a naturally irregular moiré pattern.
Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF Chronographe Mystérieux
Parmigiani Fleurier takes the opposite approach with the Tonda PF Chronographe Mystérieux, concealing its technical achievement behind an exceptionally restrained design. At rest, it resembles a pure three-hand Tonda PF, with five coaxial hands perfectly superimposed against a Mineral Blue, hand-guilloché dial.
Press the monopusher and the display transforms: three chronograph indications separate from the regular timekeeping hands, allowing elapsed seconds, minutes and hours to be read centrally across the full dial. Resetting the mechanism reunites the hands, causing the complication to disappear once more. Continuing Parmigiani’s exploration of hidden complications, the watch turns restraint into spectacle, proving that technical ingenuity can preserve, rather than interrupt, the purity of a design.
Artistic Craftsmanship
Today, craft and material are expanding what a watch can become. Ornamental stones move beyond the conventional dial, shaping the structure, colour and character of the entire object. Drawing inspiration from jewellery, sculpture and ancient art, these timepieces were created to feel like miniature worlds built for the wrist—and beyond.
Piaget Altiplano Ultimate Concept Tourbillon
At Piaget, ornamental stone enters one of watchmaking’s most technically unforgiving spaces. The Altiplano Ultimate Concept Tourbillon retains its extraordinary 2mm profile while incorporating slivers of tiger’s eye directly onto components integral to the movement. Their presence transforms the openworked construction, introducing organic colour and patterns into a watch typically defined by futuristic engineering.
The challenge lies in bringing such a fragile material into an architecture where every fraction of a millimetre matters: even the cleaning process must be carried out with a 0.15mm needle to remove residue without damaging the stone. A pink-gold version pairs the watch with honey-coloured tiger’s eye, while personalised combinations include blue sodalite, jade and onyx.
Audemars Piguet Établisseurs Nomade
The Audemars Piguet Établisseurs Nomade is designed to shift identities. It can be carried closed, opened for viewing or positioned as a desk clock, with a specially designed titanium or gold chain allowing it to travel with its owner.
Its architectural case combines faceted metal with meticulously shaped natural stones, giving the object the presence of a portable sculpture. At its centre, the hand-skeletonised Calibre 7501 turns mechanics into ornament: its symmetrical bridges double as hour markers, allowing the movement itself to organise the display.
Created under the new Atelier des Établisseurs, the watch brings lapidaries, watchmakers and other independent artisans into a collaborative structure inspired by the historic Swiss établissage system. Offered in five stone combinations, the Nomade reconsiders where—and how—a watch can be worn, displayed and experienced, moving easily between timekeeper, jewel and decorative object.
Vacheron Constantin Métiers d’Art Tribute to Great Civilisations—Buste d’Akhénaton
Vacheron Constantin condenses the scale of a museum without diminishing its sense of monumentality. Created in partnership with the Louvre, the Buste d’Akhénaton centres on a glyptic portrait of the Egyptian pharaoh, carved from limestone sandstone sourced from Sinai—the same material and origin as the ancient sculpture it references.
Hand-patination lends depth to Akhenaten’s elongated features, while his engraved cartouche is framed by intricate friezes composed of chrysoprase, opaline, red mother-of-pearl, sodalite and turquoise,. These elements translate the colours and visual codes of ancient Egyptian art through an extraordinary concentration of stone-carving, engraving and champlevé work.
Crucially, the Calibre 2460 G4/2 displays the hours, minutes, day and date through peripheral apertures, leaving the dial entirely free of hands. By allowing its mechanics to recede, the watch turns into a miniature cultural artefact in its own right.
