of Geneva Watchmaking Grand Prix (GPHG) Awards celebrates its 25th anniversary this year, with a glittering ceremony on November 13th showcasing the finest works of fine watchmaking.
In the first quarter of this century, the creative industries have struggled with funding cuts, skills shortages and the looming fear of an AI takeover.
But the Oscar of watchmaking known as GPHG shows that years of knowledge and talent can weather the storm.
Raymond Loretan, president of GPHG, said: “Watchmaking represents the union of art and industry, mechanism and poetry, mystery, microscopic mastery and endless exploration.” “It is a living art. Despite current challenges, it shows remarkable vitality.”
The event once again shined a spotlight on the rarefied world of watchmaking, with 90 watches competing for the coveted prize over 15 years. categoryLadies, men’s, calendars, astronomy, jewelry, mechanical, etc.
the highest honor known asgolden needleThe Grand Prix is open to all watches in all categories. Last year, the IWC Schaffhausen Portugieser Eternal Calendar won.
The winners were determined by a jury of experts including watch collectors, watch manufacturers, journalists and auctioneers.
The selected watches will be on display at Dubai Watch Week from November 19th to 23rd.
“Aiguille d’Or” Grand Prix Best in Show Award
GPHG’s most prestigious award, the Aiguille d’Or, was awarded to Breguet’s Classic Suscription 2025 (one-handed watch). As the judges said, “It looks simple, but it embodies one of watchmaking’s greatest challenges: simplicity.”
This watch is based on the revolutionary 1796 Souscription pocket watch, which has been reborn as a pocket watch. The design of the first watches, with their simple construction, is typified by the pure white enamel dial and the time displayed with one hand.
GPHG Watchmaking Award Winners
Here’s the full list of winners from the evening’s glittering awards ceremony:
Ladies: A feminine watch with only displays for hours, minutes, seconds, simple date (monthly date), power reserve and classic moon phase. May be decorated with gem settings weighing up to 9 carats.
2025 Winners: Gerald Genta’s Gentissima Sea Urchin Fire Opal
Over-decoration is prohibited for watches competing for this award, so Genta’s watch instead makes a statement with a flame-colored dial surrounded by 137 individually set fire opals. GPHG’s description aptly calls it “bold elegance.”
Women’s complications: A feminine watch, remarkable for its mechanical creativity and complexity. These watches may have all kinds of classic and/or innovative complications and displays (e.g. annual calendar, perpetual calendar, equation of time, complicated moon phase, tourbillon, chronograph, world time, dual time, or other types of models) and do not meet the definitions of the ladies and mechanical exception categories.
2025 Winners: Chopard Imperiale Four Seasons
At the center of the piece is a rotating disk that rotates completely every 365 days, following the cycles of the seasons. Crafted from painted, textured mother-of-pearl marquetry, this miniature tableau is a moving landscape that subtly changes over time.
Its upper half is adorned with an 18-carat ethical white gold lacework pattern carved into the silhouette of a lotus flower, a recurring motif in the IMPERIALE collection.
Time only: A watch with two or three hands, without a jewel setting, that displays only an analogue time display such as hours, minutes and seconds.
2025 Winners: Daniel Roth Extra Plat Rose Gold
The jury said: “Extra Plat Rose Gold represents purity and savoir-faire, striking a perfect balance between modern elegance and time-honored craftsmanship.”
For men: Masculine watches with only the following displays – hours, minutes, seconds, simple date (day of the month), power reserve display, classic moon phase – can have a digital/retrograde display or be decorated with a gem setting of up to 9 carats.
2025 Winners: Urban Jurgensen’s UJ-2: Twin-wheel natural escapement
At the heart of this watch is a twin-wheel natural escapement, a mechanism whose elegance belies its complexity. The jury said: “From the hand-finished wheels to the pure white bridge to the decorations that are invisible to the naked eye, each part exists because it is meant to be.”
Complications for men: A masculine watch that is notable for its mechanical creativity and complexity. These watches may have all kinds of classic and/or innovative complications and displays (e.g. world time, dual time, or other types of models) and do not meet the definitions of the men’s and mechanical exception categories.
2025 Winners: Bovet 1822 Recital 30
Prior to Recital 28 and Recital 30, all world timers were incorrect during daylight saving time. The collector had to set the world timer to either the country that changed or the country that did not change.
The breakthrough was the decision to use rollers instead of traditional displays. The 24 City Roller is printed on four sides and the Era Roller has four different eras printed on it. When you press the pusher on the Récital 30, all rollers rotate 90 degrees at the same time.
Symbolic: Watches born from iconic collections and models that have had a lasting impact on the history of watchmaking and the watch market for more than 20 years, or offered modern reinterpretations.
2025 Winners: Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar
To mark the beginning of its 150th anniversary celebrations, Audemars Piguet has unveiled a new generation of automatic perpetual calendar movement, Caliber 7138. For the first time ever, this movement allows all functions to be modified via an “all-in-one” crown, increasing user comfort.
Tourbillon: A mechanical watch with at least one tourbillon. Additional signs and complications are acceptable.
2025 Winners: Bvlgari Octo Finissimo Ultra Tourbillon
By incorporating a skeleton tourbillon into the movement of this watch with a total thickness of just 1.85 mm, Roman Jeweler’s Swiss watchmaking division is demonstrating its horological expertise in watchmaking’s most iconic complications.
Today, Bvlgari has taken the skeletonization of its new Octo Finissimo Ultra Tourbillon to the next level, maximizing light dispersion throughout the movement.
Mechanical exception: Watches with innovative or sophisticated displays, special mechanisms such as automatons, percussion functions or other acoustic functions, special escapements, belt-driven movements, or with another original and/or exceptional watch concept.
2025 Winners: Greubel Forsey Nano Lightning
At the heart of this watch lies an innovative idea: nanomechanics, i.e. the control of energy on the nanojoule scale inside mechanical movements. This allows the Nano Foudroyante to operate its eponymous complication using just 16 nanojoules per jump. This is a staggering 1,800x reduction compared to the 30 microjoules of the previous design, making it “ultrafast” as the name suggests.
Chronograph: A mechanical watch with at least one chronograph display. Additional signs and complications are acceptable.
2025 Winners: Angelus Chronograph Telemeter Yellow Gold
“This clock calculates the distance of events based on the distance between the speed of light and the speed of sound, an indicator that is comparable to even the most sophisticated modern equipment,” the jury said.
Sports: A watch linked to the world of sports that pursues functions, materials, and designs suitable for exercise.
2025 Winners: Chopard Alpine Eagle 41 SL Cadence 8HF
With the third edition of its High Frequency watches, Chopard has achieved the feat of introducing the lightest timepiece in the collection’s history. Cutting-edge technology is complemented by sophisticated aesthetics. The ceramized titanium features a sporty bead-blasted finish, while the pitch-black titanium dial contrasts with subtle orange accents.
jewelry: These watches demonstrate exceptional mastery in the art of jewelry and gem setting, and are also distinguished by their stone selection.
2025 Winners: Dior watches La D de Dior Buisson Couture
This timepiece is part of the Les Jardins de la Couture High Jewelery collection and marks the beginning of a new way to express nature with a wreath of blossoming “couture bushes” that evokes the artistry of intricate floral embroidery. The new La de Dior reflects meticulous craftsmanship, with stones selected for color and shape to recreate a rich yet delicate garden. “You could almost smell the perfume,” the juror said.
Artistic crafts: A watch that demonstrates exceptional mastery of one or more artistic techniques, such as enameling, lacquering, engraving, guilloché (engine turning), or skeletonizing.
Winners of 2025: Voutilainen’s 28GML SOUYOU
This sparkling clock showcases Tatsuo Kitamura’s mastery of the lacquer art, which requires over a thousand hours of meticulous care. The raw materials used include “lacquer” (tree sap), “gold powder” (all types of gold powder), “kirigane” (cut from gold plates), and “kirigai” (cut from New Zealand abalone and turban shells).
“Little needle”: The watches retail for between CHF 3,000 and CHF 10,000. Smartwatches qualify for this category.
Winners of 2025: MAD2 Green by MAD Editions
The MAD Editions project was created by MB&F as an alternative and accessible label. MAD2 comes from the mind of designer, rebel, and long-time MB&F friend Eric Giroux. Incorporating DJ decks and strobe lighting, it’s a love letter to the wild and exciting spirit of 1990s club culture. It will be a lottery only.
Challenge: Watches with a retail price of CHF 3,000 or less. Smartwatches qualify in this category.
2025 Winners: Dennison’s Natural Stone Tiger Eye Gold
This watch pays homage to the elegance of the 1960s and revives the classic Denison cushion case. The dial features a natural tiger’s eye, a striking stone chosen for its warm depth and pattern, each cut and polished to reveal its unique personality.
The jury found that producing a watch like this for less than 3,000 Swiss Francs was in itself a “novelty feat.”
Mechanical watch: Mechanical devices whose main function is to measure time, such as long case clocks and table clocks. Wristwatches are not allowed in this category.
2025 Winners: Albatross of Lepee 1839 Lepee 1839 X MB&F
The Albatross has a time signal function that sounds both a specific hour on the hour and one strike on the half-hour, as well as the ability to operate an automaton consisting of 16 pairs of propellers on an hourly basis. Mechanical computers allow owners to choose between full operating mode, completely silent mode, silent mode with propellers running, or chime only. There is also an “on-demand repeat” button that repeats predefined chime/automaton settings or activates the propeller in a stand-alone continuous motion.
Bold Award: It recognizes the most outstanding timepieces characterized by an unconventional and unconventional approach to watchmaking. It aims to foster creative boldness.
2025 Winners: Moebeus of Fam al-Hat
Femme Al Hat’s Mark 1 Möbius is a bold debut that redefines technical miniaturization and spatial design in luxury watchmaking. At its heart is an in-house two-axis tourbillon housed in one of the most compact formats of any wristwatch ever created.
This is the first time that a Chinese company is participating in the award.
Watch Revelation Award: This award recognizes competing watches created by young brands (first models commercialized less than 10 years ago).
2025 Winners: Anton Sukhanov’s St. Petersburg Easter Egg Tourbillon Watch
Anton Sukhanov’s St. Petersburg Easter Egg Tourbillon watch is far from traditional. In contrast to the luxurious designs of Carl Fabergé, Sukhanov pursued minimalism and wanted to give the Easter egg clock genre a different, modern and relevant vision.
This version curiously maintains a perfectly vertical position as there are no supporting parts.
Chronometry Award: This award recognizes the most outstanding timepieces, which are distinguished by their excellent timekeeping performance (special escapement or characteristic regulating device) and which have been officially certified (ISO 3159 standard) by testing agencies such as COSC, TIMELAB or Besançon Observatory.
2025 Winners: Zenith GFJ Caliber 135
This watch embodies the history of Zenith, which has been making watches for 160 years. This new version of the movement adopts the dimensions, appearance and construction of its ancestor. However, this is a modern re-engineering that integrates the latest possible technological solutions and materials.
Special Jury Award: It recognizes a person, organization or initiative that has played a fundamental role in promoting quality watchmaking. The award is not awarded to the watch or brand itself.
2025 Winners: Alain-Dominique Perrin, founder of the Cartier Foundation for Contemporary Art.