15 of the best Year of the Horse luxury watches to celebrate Chinese New Year 2026

With the arrival of the new calendar year comes a flurry of the most interesting western zodiac-themed collections and Chinese New Year 2026 limited editions. Among the most popular are Year of the Horse creations from the top luxury watch brands.

Always new expressions based on the most iconic watch models, they combine fine mechanical watchmaking with stunning decorative crafts and each house’s own interpretation of traditional cultural symbolism. Importantly, their exclusive production numbers also make them highly collectible, and possibly, cherished through generations.

Here are 15 incredible horse-motif luxury creations that span artistic showpieces to sporty chronographs and elegant dress watches.

1. Vacheron Constantin Les Cabinotiers Homage to Epic Warriors Minute Repeater – Genghis Khan

Continuing its 270th anniversary celebration themed The Quest, Vacheron Constantin pays tribute to history’s greatest conquerors — Alexander the Great, Antar, Genghis Khan, and Sasaki Moritsuna. Each a single-piece 41mm yellow gold edition, the watch is a masterpiece that highlights the maison’s expertise in grand complications, enhanced by decorative crafts.

Temujin, depicted here, is portrayed charging into battle, falcon on arm, against the backdrop of the Mongolian steppes. Bringing the dial to life are taille-douce line gold engraving, and enamel miniature painting.

Beating within is the ultra-thin hand-wound Calibre 1731 minute repeater movement, renowned for its pure resonance and 65-hour power reserve.

2. Hermes Arceau Hermes Locomotion

Irreverence meets pop-art meets the Parisian house’s equestrian heritage in this 38mm white gold creation inspired by French artist Ugo Bienvenu’s design for the Locomotion silk scarf. The case, set with 71 diamonds and a rose-cut diamond crown, frames a dial executed in layered miniature painting — both on its base and on the underside of the sapphire crystal.

Pinks, yellows, blues, and greens are applied to create a multi-dimensional diorama that evokes the Hermes boutique on Faubourg Saint-Honore.

Driven by the self-winding in-house H1912 movement with a 50-hour reserve, this 12-piece limited edition is paired with a pale mauve alligator strap.

3. Patek Philippe Calatrava Horse Ref. 5278/500G-001

From Patek Philippe’s latest Rare Handcrafts collection, this 40mm white gold minute features a dial adorned with a hand-engraved applied horse motif inspired by the ancient Chunar horse sculptures of India.

Crafted entirely in white gold, the steed sits atop a finely granulated base, accented with a subtly graduated coat of varnish. Both the bezel and the prong buckle are etched with a plaited motif recalling a horse’s braided mane, while the calfskin strap boasts a vintage finish.

Beneath this artistry lies the self-winding R 27 PS minute repeater calibre, chiming on “cathedral” gongs, which can be admired through the sapphire caseback.

4. Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Tribute Enamel Xu Beihong The Standing Horse

Is there a better tribute to 20th-century painter Xu Beihong, renowned as the father of modern Chinese painting and master of horses, than this?

There are three hand-painted enamel models, each limited to 10 pieces and requiring 80 hours of work, inspired by his original artworks. The one exuding strength and majesty is this Standing Horse illustration on the caseback referencing his eponymous 1939 ink-and-wash portrait.

Housing the manually wound proprietary Calibre 822, the white gold Reverso case flips over to reveal a herringbone hand-guilloche dial in translucent crimson dawn orange grand feu enamel.

5. IWC Portugieser Automatic 42 Year of the Horse

This edition, the latest in IWC’s annual series of Chinese zodiac watches, fuses cultural homage with the maison’s modern expression and most iconic watches of all time, the Portugieser. Illuminating the burgundy dial — a hue chosen for its symbolism of prosperity — on the 42.4mm stainless steel case are gold-plated hands, numerals, and appliques.

The discreet galloping horse on the seven-day power reserve display is a prelude to the muscular stallion engraved into the gold-plated rotor of the in-house mechanical Calibre 52011 movement. Limited to 500 pieces, it comes with a set of black and burgundy alligator straps.

6. Dior Grand Soir Year of the Horse

Rendered with Dior’s signature feminine elegance, this 30-piece watch depicts a pair of steeds on an idyllic tableau of preciousness, encased in 36mm polished stainless steel.

On a mother-of-pearl dial printed with a floral pattern, pink gold horses wander in a garden replete with gem-set foliage and gold-carved butterflies and blooms.

In total, this creation boasts 1.48 carats of diamonds, including the 18 brilliant-cut ones on the pink gold bezel, as well as an automatic Sellita SW300 movement with a gold-metallised rotor visible through a milky translucent sapphire crystal caseback.

7. Hermes Slim d’Hermes Faubourg of Dreams

The house reimagines the 39.5mm Slim d’Hermes Faubourg of Dreams, inspired by its namesake silk scarf, the brainchild of London-based illustrator Stuart Patience, as a celestial cabinet of curiosities.

Fronting the aventurine dial base, sparkling with miniature-painted planets and stars, is a silvery faceted prancing horse crafted from micro-engraving, then a dyeing and abrasion process. Levitating around it on a sapphire ring are whimsical objects, from a horseshoe to an open bag and an old-school phone handset, painted in yellow and blue.

Available in a numbered, limited-edition run of 24, this dreamy space capsule is powered by the ultra-thin H1950 self-winding movement.

8. Vacheron Constantin Metiers d’Art The Legend of the Chinese Zodiac Year of the Horse

The maison continues its Metiers d’Art Zodiac tradition with two 40mm Year of the Horse editions, in platinum or pink gold. The dial, animated by the mechanical self-winding Calibre 2460 G4, combines relief engraving, miniature painting, and multi-layered grand feu enamelling.

This platinum version features a highly detailed stallion taking flight over a large boulder, both hand-sculpted in white gold, against an enamelled landscape of delicate gradient hues.

Hours, minutes, day of the week, and date are displayed through four peripheral apertures. Limited to 25 pieces per reference, each dial requires nearly three weeks of patient labour.

9. Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Tribute Enamel Horse

This year’s zodiac creation from Jaeger-LeCoultre marries modelled engraving with grand feu enamelling, Oriental decorative elements, and the iconic Art Deco-style swivelling Reverso case in pink gold.

Read the time on a glossy, opaque black front dial, which conceals, on the reverse side, a majestic hand-engraved golden horse that appears to leap through clouds. Together, the steed’s polished surfaces and hand-drawn black rhodium details, as well as the clouds’ sand-blasted texture, evoke a sense of dynamism.

Driven by the Calibre 822 mechanical manual-wind movement offering 42 hours of power reserve, the watch is limited to 10 pieces.

10. Hublot Spirit of Big Bang Year of the Horse Frosted Carbon

Hublot marks the upcoming Lunar New Year with this 42mm tonneau-shaped creation that pushes carbon into artistic territory. The matte-frosted carbon case frames a dial composed of hand-laid carbon marquetry, meticulously cut and assembled to form a dynamic horse motif, accented with yellow-gold-plated appliques inspired by Tang-dynasty ornamentation.

A black lacquer base enhances depth and contrast, while the smoked sapphire caseback reveals the automatic HUB1710 calibre with a 50-hour power reserve.

Water-resistant to 100m and fitted with a calfskin-and-rubber strap, this edition is limited to 88 pieces.

11. TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph Year of the Horse

A modern chronograph silhouette anchors this Lunar New Year edition built around symbolic detail. The 39mm stainless steel Glassbox case features a domed sapphire crystal over a champagne sunray dial, accented with red and gold tones associated with the Fire Horse.

At 9 o’clock, the date display replaces the numeral seven with the Chinese character for horse, marking its zodiac position.

Power for this 250-piece limited edition comes from the automatic Calibre TH20-07, offering an 80-hour reserve and visible through a sapphire caseback engraved with a galloping stallion.

12. Arnold & Son Perpetual Moon 41.5 Red Gold “Year of the Horse”

Astronomy takes precedence in this Year of the Horse edition centred on the moon. Crafted in a 41.5mm red gold case, the Perpetual Moon pairs a deep blue aventurine glass dial with a hand-engraved gold horse set beneath an oversized lunar display.

The moonphase mechanism, driven by the manually wound calibre A&S1512, is accurate to one day every 122 years and offers a 90-hour power reserve.

Measuring 11.3 mm thick, the watch balances visual depth with classical proportions. Limited in production, it highlights Arnold & Son’s long-standing focus on astronomical complications as well as its artistry in precious metal engraving.

13. Blancpain Villeret Calendrier Chinois Traditionnel

Rather than pictorial symbolism, this 50-piece Year of the Horse interpretation relies on mechanical and calendrical complexity.

The 45.2mm platinum case houses a multi-layered, salmon-coloured grand feu enamel dial displaying the complete Chinese calendar, including zodiac sign, double hours, celestial stems, earthly branches, and leap months, alongside Gregorian indications.

Powering the display is the automatic calibre 3638, equipped with a 168-hour power reserve and a ruby-set rotor. The movement was developed exclusively for this collection and remains unique in contemporary watchmaking.

14. Breitling Top Time B01 Shadow Rider

Motorsport cues frame this compact 38mm chronograph dedicated to the Year of the Horse. Executed in stainless steel, the cushion-shaped case encloses a high-contrast black-and-white dial punctuated by red chronograph accents.

A stylised horse motif appears within the small seconds display, while zodiac references are subtly integrated into the tachymeter scale.

Inside, the COSC-certified Manufacture Calibre 01 provides column-wheel architecture and a 70-hour power reserve. Limited to 288 pieces, the Shadow Rider combines retro proportions with a chronograph construction and interpretation of ancient symbolism in a fresh, contemporary way.

15. Piaget Altiplano Zodiac Horse Edition

Ultra-thin watchmaking becomes a canvas for decorative craft in this diamond-set Altiplano. The 41mm white gold case frames a dial created through a combination of hand-engraving, cloisonne enamel, and gem-setting, depicting a leaping horse in graduated tones of blue and white.

Each dial for this 18-piece limited edition is executed individually by renowned Swiss enameller Anita Porchet, ensuring no two are identical. Beneath the incredible beauty, the hand-wound calibre 830P measures just 2.5mm thick while delivering 60 hours of power reserve.