7 October

The day in brief

Zenith and USM have created a mirror-dial DEFY Chronograph, a unique piece to be auctioned on 5 December in New York at the third edition of TimeForArt, in aid of Swiss Institute.

The same sale will offer the prototype of the Oshinobi by Toledano & Chan, a titanium bracelet that hides a diamond-set dial. In the United States, independent maker RGM returns to the perpetual calendar with the Model 501-PC and its grand feu enamel dial. France's Yema brings meteorite to the titanium Navygraf, and IWC adds an olive green dial to the Pilot's Watch Chronograph 43.

Zenith and USM take a mirror-dial DEFY to TimeForArt

On 6 October Zenith announced the DEFY Chronograph USM – TimeForArt Unique Piece, a one-off made with USM, the Swiss modular furniture maker. The watch will be sold on 5 December 2026 at 3 pm local time at Phillips in New York, during The New York Watch Auction: XV.

The steel case measures 37 mm and is octagonal with a 14-sided bezel, a screw-down crown and 10 ATM water resistance, on a steel ladder bracelet. The dial is polished to a mirror, and its colours come from the USM catalogue: golden yellow, pure orange, green and gentian blue, spread across the counters and hands. The blue central chronograph hand carries a miniature of the ball joint used in the USM Haller system.

Inside is the El Primero 400, an automatic column-wheel chronograph running at 36,000 vibrations per hour (5 Hz) with a 55-hour power reserve. The escape wheel and lever are made of silicon.

The frequency is what makes this calibre interesting. At 5 Hz the balance makes ten vibrations per second, so the chronograph hand advances in steps of a tenth of a second; at 4 Hz the step is an eighth. The cost is higher energy consumption and a harder-working escapement, which is where silicon, light and free of lubrication, earns its place.

The watch comes with a mirrored USM Haller sideboard, also a one-off, with a glass top and a lockable drawer that holds up to 24 watches.

TimeForArt is organised by Swiss Institute, a non-profit contemporary art institution in New York. According to Phillips, 25 brands are taking part in this third edition, and all proceeds, including the buyer's premium, go to the institution. The first two editions raised 2.4 million dollars.

The piece follows the DEFY Chronograph USM collection launched in September 2025, with dials in the furniture maker's colours.

Find out more on the brand's website.

RGM returns to the perpetual calendar with the Model 501-PC

RGM, the independent maker from Pennsylvania, presented the Model 501-PC on 6 October: a perpetual calendar in a 316L steel case measuring 39 mm across and 11.5 mm thick. According to Monochrome, it is the brand's first watch with this complication since the Model 103-R, a minute repeater with perpetual calendar from the late 1990s.

The dial is white grand feu enamel with Roman numerals, red five-minute numerals and blued steel hands. The date sits at 3 o'clock, the day at 9, the month and leap-year cycle at 12 and the moon phase at 6.

The movement starts from an automatic ETA 2892-A2, modified by RGM, topped by a perpetual calendar module made to order by Dubois Dépraz. It runs at 4 Hz with a power reserve of 52 to 56 hours. Finishing includes côtes de Genève and perlage, and the rotor is solid gold.

A perpetual calendar stores the length of every month over four years in a mechanical part. A cam with notches of different depths tells the mechanism how many days to skip at the end of the month, including 29 February in leap years. Left alone, the date stays correct until 2100, a century year the Gregorian calendar does not count as a leap year.

The modular construction has benefits and costs. It lets a small maker build on a dependable base calibre and concentrate on the dial and finishing, but it adds thickness and leaves the calendar works hidden under the dial. The indications are set with correctors recessed into the case, which calls for some care whenever the watch has stopped.

The case is water-resistant to 50 metres and has sapphire crystals on both sides. The watch comes on a brown alligator strap and costs 39,900 dollars.

Find out more on the brand's website.

Toledano & Chan hides a diamond dial inside a titanium bracelet

Toledano & Chan, the brand of Phil Toledano and Alfred Chan, revealed the Oshinobi on 6 October. At first glance it is a bracelet in sandblasted grade 5 titanium, with integrated links and a butterfly clasp. A cover that slides sideways uncovers the watch.

According to Hodinkee, the dial is concave and organically shaped, and covered with two carats of diamonds in varying sizes, snow-set: the stones are packed against one another irregularly until almost no metal shows.

The hand-wound movement comes from Le Temps Manufactures, runs at 25,200 vibrations per hour (3.5 Hz) and has a 38-hour power reserve. The crown is hidden on the underside of the case at 12 o'clock.

"The idea behind the Oshinobi is that you can now safely wear a diamond watch in public," said Phil Toledano, quoted by Hodinkee.

The piece shown is a prototype, to be sold on 5 December at the TimeForArt auction at Phillips in New York. The brand plans a limited series for 2027, with the price yet to be set.

The secret watch, in which a cover conceals the dial, is an old genre of jewellery watchmaking. The difference lies in material and tone: sandblasted titanium in place of gold, and a piece that from the outside reveals neither the diamonds nor the time.

Find out more on the TimeForArt website.

Yema brings meteorite to the titanium Navygraf

Yema has released the Navygraf Meteorite CMM.10, a limited edition of its dive watch with a Muonionalusta meteorite dial, in two versions: black (ref. 22.26.10.66.TNL.M) and green (ref. 22.26.10.64.TNL.M). Each is limited to 150 numbered pieces.

The case and bracelet are grade 2 titanium, vertically brushed with polished bevels. The case measures 39 mm across and 11 mm thick and is water-resistant to 300 metres. The sapphire crystal is double-domed, and the caseback, also sapphire, shows the movement.

Muonionalusta is an iron meteorite found in northern Sweden. Its signature cross-hatched design, the Widmanstätten pattern, comes from the extremely slow cooling of the iron-nickel alloy, which crystallises into lamellae. Revealed by acid etching, the pattern differs in every slice, so no two dials are alike.

The CMM.10 calibre is automatic and was developed by Yema in Morteau. It runs at 4 Hz with a 70-hour power reserve, and the brand states an accuracy of −3 to +5 seconds per day.

According to Time+Tide, the price is 2,900 euros.

Find out more on the brand's website.

IWC adds olive green to the Pilot's Watch Chronograph 43

On 1 October, the opening day of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, IWC presented the Pilot's Watch Chronograph 43 with an olive green dial (ref. IW378008). The Schaffhausen brand was official timing partner of the golf tournament for the sixth year running; it was played until 4 October at St Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns in Scotland.

The steel case measures 43 mm across and 14.8 mm thick, with a screw-down crown and 100 metres of water resistance. The dial has a sunray finish, white printing and luminous gold-plated hands, and keeps the day and date display.

Calibre 69385 is an automatic column-wheel chronograph running at 4 Hz with a 46-hour power reserve. The column wheel coordinates start, stop and reset through a turned part with pillars, in place of the stamped cam of simpler chronographs; the result is felt mostly in the smoother, more even action of the pushers.

The watch comes on a five-link steel bracelet with a second strap in olive green rubber, swapped without tools. It is not a limited edition. Monochrome gives a price of 9,700 euros.

Find out more on the brand's website.

Worth watching

Two of the day's watches are heading to the same place: the TimeForArt auction on 5 December. Zenith arrives with a unique piece built on a calibre with more than half a century of history; Toledano & Chan uses the occasion to show a prototype ahead of production. Charity auctions increasingly work as launch platforms, for large houses and independents alike.

RGM's perpetual calendar is a reminder that complicated watchmaking exists outside Switzerland and Germany, even when it leans on Swiss suppliers. Those suppliers are the subject of this year's Deloitte study of the Swiss industry: since 2016, export volumes have fallen 43% while value has risen 34%. According to WatchPro, which analysed the study on 6 October, the share of suppliers with a negative view of the sector dropped from 63% to 17% in a year.

To follow: A. Lange & Söhne takes its "Challenging Chronographs" exhibition to Singapore from 18 to 30 October, covering its chronographs since the 1999 Datograph, according to SJX. In Geneva, auction house Marteau & Co. opens its online sale "The Encore" on 8 October, with 40 lots of independent watchmaking, according to Watchonista.