THE BEST FIRST IMPRESSIONS FROM DAY ONE AT WATCHES AND WONDERS 2025

1st April 2025

It’s that time of year again, when the world’s watch elite make their way to the Palexpo next to Geneva airport for the nexus of luxury, also known as Watches and Wonders. This year is all about celebrating anniversary’s – 160 years of Zenith and 20 years of the HUBLOT Big Bang. Here’s our pick of the five watches that turned heads on day one.

In 2005 the launch of the HUBLOT Big Bang marked the advent of a new era in watchmaking. Few timepieces have transformed contemporary watchmaking like the Big Bang. To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Maison’s most emblematic collection, HUBLOT has revisited some of the most significant milestones in the collection’s history in a true act of fusion, combining the original Big Bang’s design with the current Big Bang Unico, resulting in five limited edition Big Bang models.

The original 1986 TAG Heuer Formula 1 series is back, but re-envisioned. Channelling the bold energy of the original design, the new TAG Heuer Formula 1 Solargraph takes everything that made its predecessor iconic and pushes it into the future. Featuring a robust 38mm sandblasted case, a re-engineered bezel and re-designed bracelet, the new collection doesn’t’ just keep up – it takes the lead.

The new Black Bay 58 gets the Master Chronometer certification, one of the industry’s most demanding standards in terms of chronometry and resistance to magnetic fields. Each fully assembled watch is tested in Switzerland by the Federal Institute of Metrology or METAS. To tie the whole package together, the new Black Bay 58 is now available on a 5-link bracelet, a 3-link bracelet, or a rubber strap. All three have TUDOR’s rapid adjustment system known as T-fit, making the watch more wearable than ever before.

In celebration of its 160th anniversary, ZENITH unveils an exceptional trio of watches reimagined in monochromatic blue , the Maison’s signature colour. Three of the most emblematic ZENITH chronographs are now available in blue ceramic specially developed for the occasion: a CHRONOMASTER Sport, a DEFY Skyline Chronograph and a PILOT Chronograph. Available in exclusive limited editions of 160 pieces each, they can be purchased individually or in a special anniversary box set.

Bulgari’s new Octo Finissimo Ultra Tourbillon sets a 10th world record for ultra-thin watchmaking confirming its status of icon of the 21st century as well as an unrivalled watchmaking expertise. Beyond setting a new thinness record, the new Octo Finissimo Ultra Tourbillon stands as a manifesto. By integrating a skeleton tourbillon into the movement of a watch with a total thickness of just 1.85 mm, the Roman jeweller’s Swiss watchmaking division demonstrates its horological expertise with watchmaking’s most emblematic complication.

CONTINUE READING

Just when you thought road-cycling couldn’t get more gadget-strewn, Tudor is bringing something …genuinely novel, as well as typically utilitarian: a chronograph version of its Pelagos specifically engineered around the needs of the Giro d’Italia riders of the Swiss watchmaker’s ‘TUDOR Pro Cycling Team’

For him, or for her? Does it really matter any more..? Even sheltered Switzerland is peeping above its parapet of surrounding Jura mountain crests, growing less and less categoric in cataloguing a watch these days.

Captain of ‘Pilot’ as livery adorning any watch dial, Zenith has charted the skies since 1909 – continuing in magnificent fashion with an all-new fleet of flying machines.