The Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève is regarded as the Oscars of watchmaking, where a jury of experts comes together to decide the best watches of the year across 14 categories. The competition is split into two sections, the first of which sees brands pay a fee of CHF 800 per watch in order to have them considered for the GPHG – this list of watches is known as the competing watches (the six best watches in each category advance as nominated watches). While entries from the likes of IWC and Parmigiani are predictable each year, there are many less well known brands that take part who are rich in creativity. Let’s shine a spotlight on 10 watches competing at the GPHG you’ve never heard of before and which deserve more than a cursory glance.
CEON Watch Co. GR-01
GPHG Category: Time Only
CEON Watch Co is a Brazilian watch brand operated by engineer Ricardo A. Gracioli, who began the project in 2021 and has finally launched their inaugural watch, the GR-01. It uses an unusual alloy of steel for watchmaking called VC-150 that’s used in Brazilian engineering projects – it stands out for its hardness and the fact that it is ferromagnetic, conducting magnetic fields away from the movement.
The GR-01 measures 38mm diameter x 6mm thickness with an integrated bracelet sports watch design. The dial is finished with laser etching that emphasises an industrial aesthetic. Below the dial is the Peseux 7001 manual with 38-hour power reserve. It’s made to order in Brazil. CHF 15,000 (approx. £14,000).
More details at CEON.
Masa & Co. MP Series Shike
GPHG Category: Time Only
Antique Pastime was founded in 1990 by Masaharu Nakajima as an antique wristwatch repair and restoration workshop – with three decades of experience in fabricating components that are no longer produced and reassembling antique movements, Masa decided it was time to create an original piece of work. The brand Masa & Co. was the result, established in 2023 with the goal of utilising an in-house movement that had been in development since 2012.
The MP Series Shike uses that in-house calibre MP1, featuring central hour and minute hands with small seconds at 6 o’clock. It’s a manual-winding calibre with 32-hour power reserve. Protecting the movement is a 37.5mm white gold case and sterling silver dial that is finished with a hand-applied charcoal rubbing texture. The wavy hands and numerals reflect the watch’s name Shike, which means rough seas. CHF 60,000 (approx. £55,000).
More details at Masa & Co.
Quiet Club Fading Hours
GPHG Category: Complication
The Quiet Club Fading Hours was a finalist in this year’s Louis Vuitton Watch Prize for Independent Creatives and while it didn’t win, it’s still a serious contender for the GPHG. While on the surface it appears like a time only watch with hours and minutes, the inner workings hide an important secret. This is an alarm watch. But rather than the normal configuration of hammer and gongs used in conventional chiming watches, the hammer is mounted vertically and the dial itself is the gong.
In order to achieve this, the dial is actually made from multiple components. The outer ring is flame-treated silver while the inner dial that actually chimes is made from white gold with the only decoration being a single line of Grand Feu enamel down the centre. Powering the watch is a calibre by one of the brand’s founders, Norifumi Seki, an award-winning independent watchmaker working in Tokyo. CHF 68,612 (approx. £63,000).
More details at Quiet Club.
Cleguer Inspiration One
GPHG Category: Complication
The Inspiration One is another debut timepiece, this time for the independent brand Cleguer. On a surface level it features hours, minutes, seconds on an off-centre enamel dial and a power reserve indicator. However, the mechanics of the watch go deeper than that.
It features a patented mechanism that founder Mathieu Cleguer calls the Innate escapement – a modern reinterpretation of Abraham Louis Breguet’s Natural escapement that ensures it is self-starting by integrating a tangential impulse transmission. This means that if the balance is interrupted and stops, such as due to a bump, it will automatically resume instead of needing manual restart. CHF 103,020 (approx. £94,600).
More details at Cleguer.
Genesis Machine x Luch GML1
GPHG Category: Challenge
Genesis Machine embodies the direct to consumer model of microbrand watchmaking so much that their only major presence online is via social media where they can interact with collectors directly. They’re a Moscow-based watch brand and for this watch they’ve partnered with the Luch watch factory in Minsk who provided the LUCH 1801.1H movement.
The GML1 is all about a slower pace of life with only the hours visible through a guichets style window built into the brushed case. While most guichets style displays use jumping hours, the GML1 uses a rotating disk with 10-minute graduations so that it provides some timekeeping practicality in addition to being a cool 37.6 mm mechanical object. CHF 400 (approx. £370).
More details at Genesis Machine’s Instagram.
LOTH Watch 1
GPHG Category: Challenge
The Lab of Tristan Ho, known as LOTH, is a Singaporean watch brand dedicated to the art of hand-finishing. For their debut piece, the Watch 1, they’ve re-dressed the ETA 6498 calibre with custom German silver bridges that are hand-finished with anglage, hand-polishing and snailed surfaces designed to turn an industry staple movement into a work of art.
Watch 1’s dial follows a similar philosophy. The main face of the watch is made from a mosaic of micro-etched German silver while the hour scale is presented as brushed ring of stainless steel. This combination gives the watch a distinctive aesthetic that has one foot in industrial design and one foot in dress watch design. Due to the level of hand-finishing, no two watches are identical. CHF 4,057 (approx. £3,700).
More details at LOTH.
Aubert Ramel Ouréa Souscription
GPHG Category: Essential
Aubert Ramel is proof that the future of watchmaking is in good hands, operated by a pair of 25 year old independent watchmakers with their workshop in Switzerland. The Ouréa Souscription is a 6-piece limited edition produced through a subscription model where the clients helped to shape the project.
It’s a platinum timepiece measuring 40.4mm in diameter with a partially openworked display consisting of multiple hand-finishes such as frosting and micro-engraving. It’s actually the fact that it’s openworked to reveal the inner workings of the balance and power barrel that means the Ouréa Souscription qualifies for the Essential category rather than Time Only because the latter requires watches to have closed dials. CHF 77,832 (approx. £71,500).
More details at Aubert Ramel.
Stéphane Pierre L’Impétrant
GPHG Category: Essential
Stéphane Pierre had his start in watchmaking as a subcontractor producing watch hands. After working in other sectors for a time he returned to watches as a consultant advising established fine watch brands. Then, in 2022, he decided to establish his own eponymous brand with the skills and experience he had gained. The L’Impétrant is the culmination of that project and the brand’s debut watch.
It’s a bi-retrograde watch with the hours and minutes each displayed on independent retrograde scales made from white ceramic. The movement with its 70-hour power reserve was developed in-house with a dial-side balance that’s positioned in pride of place between the two hands. It’s housed in a 39mm Grade 23 titanium case. CHF 90,800 (approx. £83,400).
More details at Stéphane Pierre.
ZLTD Series 2
GPHG Category: “Petite Aiguille”
ZLTD is a truly trans-Pacific endeavour, uniting the vision of Kenny (Z.L.Toh) from Singapore and Canadian watchmaker Raf Dzwonek. They design their movements and complications in-house along with hand-finishing. For the Series 2 they wanted to expand the number of processes and manufacturing done in-house, which they achieved with the mainplate, bridges, selected keyless works components, hands, and chapter ring. The primary elements not yet in-house are the gear train, escapement, case and guilloché dial.
The heart of the Series 2 is the RD01 movement, which is a reimagined take on the ETA 6498 calibre that moves the escapement to the dial side of the watch and places it on a 20 degree incline. It’s cool to see a young brand (founded 2023) tackle a concept that is typically seen from industry veterans like Greubel Forsey. CHF 6,790 (approx. £6,200).
More details at ZLTD.
Mineroci RD002
GPHG Category: Mechanical Exception
Mineroci is a brand aiming to put Chinese independent haute horology on the map with their high quality engineering. The RD002 is a 38.5mm platinum watch housing an openworked constant force movement. At 6 o’clock is the dial-side balance wheel and on its left is the remontoir d’égalité, a secondary spring that ensures the watch is applying a consistent level of force to the escapement even as the mainspring loses energy and torque.
Adding to the RD002’s complexity, it utilises a deadbeat seconds display where the seconds hand moves once per second instead of in a constant flow. While this is the norm for a quartz watch, it’s actually impressive for a mechanical timepiece as each jump needs utter precision and is more energy intensive. The watch also demonstrates fine finishing with a guilloché subdial above a power reserve indicator at 12 o’clock. CHF 78,000 (approx. £71,600).
More details at Mineroci.
Whether any of these watches advance to the next round of the GPHG remains to be seen. The final nominated watches in each category will be announced in September ahead of the final awards ceremony on November 7th.
