Editor’s Picks: The 10 most memorable luxury watches of 2025

In a year crowded with major launches, few timepieces truly stood out — whether through artistic mastery, breakthrough innovation, or sheer audacity. These 10 creations sparked not just conversations, but delight for journalists who must have seen thousands of new references across the months. And still, at the end of the year, they have remained top-of-mind.

If this is the confidence and character that have defined watchmaking over the past year, then we cannot wait for what’s to come in 2026.

Rolex Oyster Perpetual GMT-Master II with Tiger Iron Dial

Rolex took its long-held mastery of natural stone dials into new territory with the debut of tiger iron in its visual narrative. And the watch receiving that honour is the ever-popular Oyster Perpetual GMT-Master II, whose cosmopolitan personality is enlivened with tiger iron, a rare metamorphic rock composed of iron oxide, red jasper, and tiger’s eye. 

Each dial is unique, with dramatic, hypnotic striations that play against the warm Everose Gold case and bracelet. The celebrated dual-time architecture remains intact, powered by Rolex’s robust automatic calibre with its signature Chronergy escapement. It is equal parts aesthetic showpiece and everyday performance tool. Read more about it here.

Vacheron Constantin Les Cabinotiers Solaria Ultra Grand Complication – La Premiere

Taking the horological stage as one of the most ambitious wristwatches ever conceived, this incredible masterpiece combines 41 grande complications — including perpetual calendar, minute repeater, astronomical displays (sunrise/sunset, equation of time, solstice/equinox), world-time, and more — into a single wristwatch

Crafted in the traditions of the great Genevan cabinotiers, this refined yet densely functional timepiece represents the highest and most exacting expression of horology this year. It is essentially a miniature heavens map and calendar, destined for the discerning few who demand the very best — creatively and mechanically. Read more about it here.

Ulysse Nardin Diver [AIR]

Ulysse Nardin’s experimental spirit is on full display in the Diver [AIR], the world’s lightest mechanical dive watch at 52g that can go as far as 200m deep. The titanium case and extreme skeletonisation are complemented by other lightweight materials chosen to maximise comfort and performance.

With impressive sustainability credentials to boot, especially through the clever upcycling of marine resources, the Diver [AIR] reflects a future-facing approach to tool watches — geometric lines, technical clarity, and a conscience shaped by those who care about our planet’s future. Read more about it here.

TAG Heuer Monaco Split-Seconds Chronograph F1

One of the year’s most adrenaline-charged releases, TAG Heuer’s Monaco Split-Seconds Chronograph is a love letter to motorsport enthusiasts — especially with its Singapore Night Race connection. The square-cased icon gains a cutting-edge rattrapante mechanism, allowing drivers to measure split times with absolute precision. 

Lightweight materials, racing-livery accents, and a powerful in-house movement give the piece a modern, track-ready identity. It remains unmistakably Monaco, but with a futuristic energy befitting Formula 1 in 2025. TAG Heuer’s motorsport credentials have rarely looked stronger. Read more about it here.

Hermes Arceau Rocabar de Rire

Can anyone combine horology and humour as well as Hermes? So far, no. The maison continued its exploration of artistic whimsy through the Arceau, this time inspired by Rocabar, an emblematic silk scarf horse motif that isn’t just reborn on a dial but sticks its tongue out on demand.

Beyond the dial’s playful animation that seeks to suspend time and evoke joy in its wearer, the exquisite demonstration of horsehair marquetry, engraving, and miniature painting also showcase the maison’s cheerfully imaginative approach to watchmaking. The piece’s Arceau’s asymmetrical stirrup-shaped lugs, designed by Henri d’Origny in 1978, also harks back to the house’s equestrian roots — worth knowing for what to collect in the Year of the Horse. Read more about it here.

Ferdinand Berthoud Naissance d’une Montre 3

Few watches released in 2025 take heritage as close to heart as the Naissance d’une Montre 3, which is a six-year horological odyssey crafted entirely by hand, without digital assistance. Limited to just 11 pieces, it features a COSC-certified movement showcasing a fusee-and-chain transmission, a thermo-compensated bimetallic Guillaume balance, and an openworked architecture that reveals every mechanical tension and release. 

Housed in a new 44mm gold case, the watch is both an educational manifesto and a living archive of endangered techniques, created by more than 80 artisans across the workshops of Ferdinand Berthoud and Chopard, which owns the brand. It is, quite literally, time — taught by time.

Franck Muller Round Triple Mystery

Franck Muller pushed kinetic art to new extremes with the Round Triple Mystery, a 39mm complication whose dial appears to float in motion. Instead of hands, three rotating discs — for hours, minutes, and now seconds — perform a hypnotic ballet beneath a diamond-encrusted surface, boasting 237 brilliant-cut stones on the dial alone. 

The central seconds disc is skeletonised for ultra-light efficiency, weighing just 0.052g, with machining tolerances as thin as 0.3mm. Available in rose or white gold across full diamond, emerald, ruby, and sapphire variations, the watch delivers both technical ingenuity and high jewellery extravagance.

Bvlgari x MB&F Serpenti

Surely, a masculine Serpenti was what many were hoping for this Year of the Snake, and they got their wish fulfilled in spectacular fashion. The legendary snake-inspired design that for decades symbolised sinuous femininity has been reimagined, together longtime Bvlgari collaborator Max Busser of MB&F, as a 99-piece technical statement in three metal variations. 

A serpent-head case enclosed with five sapphire crystals reveals a pioneering 310-component calibre with a flying balance wheel, and tells the time with hour and minute domes. In creating this sculptural time machine, Bulgari not only honours the Serpenti’s storied past, but writes its next chapter as a piece of bi-gender wearable art. Read more about it here.

Patek Philippe 2025 Rare Handcrafts Collection

Rare Handcrafts creations from Patek Philippe are always a sight to behold, but the 2025 edition felt especially rich. Miniature painting, wood marquetry, gem-setting, paillonne enamel, and hand-engraving come together in a series that celebrates metiers d’art at their highest level. 

The pieces span pocket watches, dome clocks, and wristwatches, each steeped in narrative — from landscapes and cosmic motifs to architectural studies. What makes this year’s series exceptional is its intimate scale: every artwork feels personal, profound, and deeply tied to Patek’s cultural guardianship. Read more about it here.

Jacob & Co. Astronomia Solar Dragon 

The new Astronomia Solar Dragon is the latest chapter in Jacob & Co.’s long-running fascination with dragon-themed high horology. The previous 50mm Astronomia Dragon models with rotating double-axis tourbillons had established the brand as the “House of Dragons”, and this latest edition distils that spectacle into a more wearable 44mm format while preserving the collection’s theatrical DNA.

A hand-engraved and hand-painted solid rose gold dragon coils around the vertical Astronomia Solar movement, with its scales hovering just fractions of a millimetre above the mechanics. Beneath the domed sapphire crystal, the flying tourbillon, rotating earth globe, and signature 288-facet Jacob-cut gemstone anchor the composition. Not just fierce, fiery, and fabulous, it is also inspired by our very own Asian dragon.