A look back at the highlights from Watches and Wonders 2025 (part 1 of 4)

The largest salon to date with 60 brands, the 2025 edition of Watches and Wonders showed a centuries-old industry experimenting and continuing to push bold, fresh and forward-looking ideas. Stephenie Gee reports

A. Lange & Söhne

This year marks the 30-year milestone for the A. Lange & Söhne 1815 collection, named for the year of Ferdinand Adolph Lange’s birth. To celebrate, the German watchmaker created two new 1815s equipped with beautiful blue dials. Crafted in 750 white gold and lustrous pink gold, the latest editions come in a refined 34mm x 6.4mm build. At the heart of each lies the newly developed calibre L152.1 manual winding movement, which incorporates an innovative oscillation system with an in-house crafted balance spring and large screw balance, ensuring remarkable precision and a 72-hour power reserve.

Six years since it was first launched, the Odysseus is also now available for the first time in full 18k Honeygold in a limited run of 100 pieces. Its soft, sandy tone is complemented by a brown dial featuring large displays for the date and day of the week, alongside luminous lancet-shaped hands and hour markers, ensuring excellent readability.

Topping Lange’s lineup is the Minute Repeater Perpetual, a 50-piece limited-edition combining two highly complex complications – a minute repeater and a perpetual calendar – showcasing the brand’s technical mastery and exceptional craftsmanship. This horological masterpiece delivers crystal-clear sound through hand-tuned gongs that harmonise perfectly with the platinum case’s acoustic properties. When activated via the case’s integrated slide, the chiming mechanism strikes the hours at a low pitch, quarter hours with a double tone, and minutes with a higher-pitched tone.

Baume & Mercier

Baume & Mercier presented timepieces for everyday living and wearing across its three signature collections: Hampton, Riviera and Clifton. Since its debut in 1994, the Hampton line has been inspired by the Art Deco era, channelling geometric symmetry and streamlined elegance. The 2025 additions remain true to this legacy while introducing subtle refinements. The standout piece, the Hampton M0A10795, exemplifies this approach. Its polished stainless steel case measures 35mm x 22.2mm – a deliberate nod to feminine proportions – and is just 6.92mm thick, ensuring it sits comfortably on the wrist. The silver opaline dial serves as a canvas for rhodium- plated numerals, blue glaive hands and a grey minute track, creating a high-contrast aesthetic that feels both classic and fresh.

Embodying the spirit of the French coast – dynamic, sun-drenched and effortlessly styled – the Riviera collection expands with four new chronographs. The first and most notable novelty is the Riviera M0A10828, a limited edition of just 73 pieces – a number that pays tribute to the launch year of the Riviera collection, 1973. Housed in a 41mm dodecagonal case, this flyback chronograph features a flyback function, tachymeter and telemeter, allowing for seamless timing precision. The vintage aesthetic is reinforced by a vertically brushed gold dial, enhanced by Roman numerals and riveted rhodium-plated indexes coated with beige Superluminova.

From the Clifton collection, the Clifton Baumatic returns in three new iterations that revisit the grace of 1950s watchmaking. With slimmed-down 39mm cases and domed sapphire crystals, they capture the essence of mid-century elegance, but with thoroughly modern inner workings.

Bell & Rose

For its 20th year, Bell & Ross offered novelties across two of its lines: the BR-03 and BR-05. The former receives three new skeleton dial versions, all powered by a newly developed movement specifically designed by Bell & Ross. The first is the BR-03 Skeleton Black Ceramic. Inspired by the world of aviation, this technical and functional watch features an X-shaped skeleton movement, enhanced by a fumé crystal dial and luminescent details.

Next, the Grey Steel variant, limited to just 250 pieces, features an openworked dial, faceted and treated with ruthenium for extra brilliance – revealing a skeleton movement with precise finishing that evokes the modernity of industrial design. The third of the trio is the Lum Ceramic, which sports an openworked black dial highlighted with luminescent Super-LumiNova C3 that creates a neo-futuristic effect.

The BR-05 line, meanwhile, reinvents itself with a more compact 36mm case (down from the original 40mm), a new size for the brand in this line. This scaled-down version required complete recalibration of proportions to maintain the distinctive Bell & Ross DNA while ensuring the watch wasn’t merely a miniaturised copy of its larger siblings.

Bremont

After a not-so-favourable debut at last year’s Watches and Wonders, British watch brand Bremont’s output at this year’s event was a welcome departure from the failures of the past.
The Altitude collection brought fresh energy to the brand’s iconic Martin-Baker designs. The Altitude MB Meteor, crafted from lightweight titanium, offers a new level of sophistication and versatility with its 42 mm case. Presented in 904L steel on a choice of bracelet, leather or NATO strap, and available in both black or brushed silver dials, the Altitude Chronograph GMT combines the proven resilience of the MB series with the added functionality of a chronograph and GMT complication. A cleaner, pared-back everyday option is the Altitude 39mm Date. And last but not least, the Altitude Perpetual Calendar GMT is a rare and refined timepiece of 50 pieces housed in a lightweight 42mm titanium case, with a brushed “Air Force Blue” dial and case barrel. Each of the new models retains Bremont’s emblematic Trip-Tick case, redesigned to improve comfort without jeopardising its extreme resilience, which meant a slimmer profile and thinner lugs and bezels.

Unveiled alongside the Altitude are two distinct Terra Nova Jumping Hour references: a modern variation made from polished and brushed 904L steel with a glossy black dial and sweeping seconds hand; and a limited-edition 38mm model bronze model crafted in cupro-aluminium bronze with a montre à guichet–style display and linear apertures for the hour, minute and second indications. Both feature the BC634 calibre, developed through Bremont’s exclusive partnership with Sellita. Operating with high torque and precision, the movement ensures a seamless jump in less than 1/10 second as the hour disc transitions. This mechanism not only delivers accurate timekeeping but also offers a visually dynamic display of time with a 56-hour power reserve.

Bulgari

Bulgari made its inaugural appearance at Watches and Wonders with two groundbreaking timepieces. At just 1.85mm thick, the Octo Finissimo Ultra Tourbillon is Bulgari’s 10th world record, arriving as the thinnest tourbillon ever created. The skeletonised design draws light across the movement, accentuating the decorative contrasts of polished slopes, rhodium-plated components and sunburst finishes. Inside is the manually wound BVF 900 calibre, operating at 4 Hz with a 42-hour power reserve.

While the Octo Finissimo Ultra Tourbillon represents the current pinnacle of technical achievement, Bulgari’s second major release showcases the brand’s artistic mastery. Considered their boldest evolution of the iconic serpent, the Serpenti Aeterna strips away all superfluous elements – no eyes, no scales, no artifice – leaving only the serpent’s most elemental form, a sensual curve that’s designed to wrap around the wrist with fluid elegance thanks to an ingenious clasp mechanism that required two years of development. The first of two kinds of precious metals, the pink gold models are available in small and large sizes and feature a sinuous rose gold case and bracelet that are snow-set with brilliant-cut diamonds.

For a more high jewellery interpretation, the white gold takes it up a notch with a diamond-pavé case, bracelet and bezel. Both models feature pavé diamond dials, with extra sparkle accentuated by the diamond-set crown (a brilliant-cut emerald is distinguished on the white gold model), and run on quartz movements to easily keep time.

Cartier

At the latest Watches and Wonders, Cartier continued to exemplify its creativity and technical virtuosity, reaffirming its reputation as a watchmaker in haute horology. Each year, the Cartier Privé collection reveals a new interpretation of one of the maison’s iconic timepieces, showcasing limited- edition creations. This year, it’s the turn of the Tank à Guichets, a watch that first appeared in 1928. The 2025 version sports the same appearance as the original – with the hour aperture at 12 o’clock, minute aperture at 6 o’clock and winding crown positioned at 12 o’clock – equipped with the 9755 MC hand-wound movement with jumping hours and dragging minutes. There are three options for the case – yellow gold, rose gold or platinum.

Throughout its history, the Tank watch has undergone a remarkable transformation. Now, the model has been upsized to allow for an automatic calibre, named 1899 MC. Integrated while respecting the lines and proportions of the Tank, the perfect proportions remain, measuring 38.1mm high by 27.75mm wide and 8.18mm thick. It is offered in rose and yellow gold featuring a guilloché dial with a hand-applied radiant sunburst pattern. Above that in shiny lacquer are the famous Roman numerals, railroad minute track, Cartier logo and “Automatic” text.

On the jewelled side, Cartier introduces four new Tressage models housed in an elongated rectangular case wrapped on both sides by a series of asymmetrical twists. The four configurations range from an elegantly minimalist yellow gold model with a black dial and strap to two extravagant white gold models. The first features a full pavé white gold case set with
916 diamonds on a navy-blue strap, while the second combines 570 diamonds with 330 sapphires for a more colourful presence. There’s also a mixed gold model set with 466 diamonds.

Chanel

This year, Chanel played with colour, a step away from its usual monochrome palette. Spearheading this is the new J12 Bleu to celebrate the model’s 25th birthday. The collection comprises nine references, each casting light on a different facet of Chanel’s savoir-faire. Eight are clad in an exclusive blue ceramic forged through five years of research and development at the brand’s manufacture. This includes a pair of J12 Bleu watches housed in 33mm cases. One version opts for sparkle with 12 brilliant-cut diamond hour markers on the time-only dial, while the other goes full tonal, replacing diamonds with a dozen baguette-cut blue sapphires for a monochromatic effect.

Breaking away from the collection’s dark matte-blue ceramics, the J12 Bleu X-Ray conjures a new shade of blue for this collection, inspired by the colours of the sea and the sky on a clear day. Over 1,600 hours of work were required to sculpt the case and bracelet of this model from a single block of synthetic sapphire. Crafted in white gold, the bezel and links are set with 196 bright blue baguette-cut natural sapphires.

Then comes the Blush capsule collection, rooted in the brand’s beauty codes. Take the J12 Pink Palette, crafted in highly resistant glossy black ceramic and illuminated by a gradient of baguette-cut pink sapphires that echo the colours of Chanel lipsticks set on the bezel and index of the watch. Or the “Kiss Me” sautoir, which revamps the iconic lipstick tube into a black opal-adorned secret watch. The true standout, however, is the J12 Box ‘Dripping Art’ set: a set of five watches embellished with glossy splashes of Grand Feu enamel in shades that recall the house’s nail polish colours.

Also see: Watches and Wonders 2025: Chanel turns to its fashion roots for its latest novelties