Aiguille d'Or for Rexhep Rexhepi: the GPHG 2026 winners, one by one

Rexhep Rexhepi with the Aiguille d'Or trophy, in Geneva, on 7 November. © GPHG

The Chronograph Flyback, Rexhep Rexhepi's first chronograph, won the Aiguille d'Or at the 26th Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève. At the ceremony on Saturday 7 November, at the Bâtiment des Forces Motrices, 20 prizes were awarded among 84 nominated watches. Audemars Piguet, Chopard and Ferdinand Berthoud each took two prizes.

A night in Geneva

The 24-member jury was chaired for the first time by Wei Koh, founder of Revolution. It examined the pieces in hand, behind closed doors, and its vote counted for two thirds of the result; the remaining third came from the GPHG Academy, which has more than a thousand members.

It was also the first edition without men's and ladies' categories. In their place came the Essential and Complication categories, and the Gemset category made its debut. We explained how the voting works in How to win a GPHG.

The GPHG 2026 prizewinners on stage at the Bâtiment des Forces Motrices. © GPHG

Aiguille d'Or: Rexhep Rexhepi Chronograph Flyback

Rexhep Rexhepi Chronograph Flyback. © GPHG

The Aiguille d'Or honours the most remarkable piece of the year, across all categories. This year it went to the Geneva-based independent watchmaker, who started as an apprentice at Patek Philippe at the age of 15. He received the trophy from Breguet, last year's winner.

The Chronograph Flyback (RRCHF) is Rexhepi's first flyback and the first complication to bear his name. The hand-wound calibre was created specifically for this watch: 320 components, 30 jewels, 21,600 vibrations per hour (3 Hz) and a 72-hour power reserve. The chronograph uses a column wheel and a horizontal clutch, and the minute counter jumps instantaneously, thanks to a dedicated system that stores energy in springs, releases it at the right moment and brakes it so the hand does not overshoot.

The architecture is symmetrical and vertical, with the barrel at the top and the balance at the bottom. The bridges and cocks are in German silver (maillechort), with broad rounded bevels, Côtes de Genève interrupted by a full-diameter black-polished bridge, and inward angles polished by hand.

The case, in platinum or 18-carat rose gold, measures 38.8 mm in diameter and 9.7 mm in height, with a screwed sapphire caseback. The dial is Grand Feu enamel fired in the watchmaker's own workshops — the first series-production dial with in-house enamel — storm blue in platinum and black in rose gold, with smoked sapphire sub-dials: hours and minutes at 12, seconds at 8 and chronograph minutes at 4.

Iconic Watch Prize: Audemars Piguet Royal Oak "Jumbo" RD#5

Audemars Piguet Royal Oak "Jumbo" Extra-thin Selfwinding Flying Tourbillon Chronograph RD#5 "150th Anniversary". © GPHG

The full name says almost everything: Royal Oak "Jumbo" Extra-thin Selfwinding Flying Tourbillon Chronograph RD#5 "150th Anniversary" (reference 26545XT.OO.1240XT.01). In the 39 mm titanium Jumbo case, only 8.1 mm high, Audemars Piguet has combined a flying tourbillon and a flyback chronograph. The bezel, pushers and part of the caseback are in bulk metallic glass (BMG), a palladium-rich alloy.

Calibre 8100, self-winding through a platinum peripheral rotor, beats at 3 Hz and has a 72-hour power reserve; it took five years to develop and comes from the manufacture's RD research programme, as it celebrates its 150th anniversary. The chronograph pushers need about 0.3 mm of travel and 300 g of force, against roughly 1 mm and 1.5 kg on a typical chronograph. A patented rack-and-pinion system stores energy while the chronograph runs and returns the hands to zero in less than 0.15 seconds.

The chronograph has a column wheel and a redesigned vertical clutch, and the flying tourbillon at 6 o'clock, with a peripherally driven titanium cage, derives from the high-amplitude tourbillon of RD#3. It is a limited series of 150 pieces.

Special Jury Prize: Patek Philippe, Watch Art Grand Exhibitions

Watch Art Grand Exhibition, Milan, 2026. © Patek Philippe

It is the only prize that did not go to a watch. The jury honoured Patek Philippe's major touring exhibitions, which since 2012 have visited Dubai, Munich, London, New York, Singapore, Tokyo and Milan.

The Milan edition, in 2026, was the brand's largest ever: more than 2,900 m² and 68,000 visitors.

Audacity Prize: Konstantin Chaykin ThinKing Mystery

Konstantin Chaykin ThinKing Mystery. © GPHG

At 1.65 mm high and 41 mm wide, it is the thinnest watch Konstantin Chaykin has ever made. It weighs 12.1 g without the strap. To get there, the Moscow watchmaker spread the components across a single plane, and the caseback itself serves as the mainplate.

Calibre K.23-3.1 has 284 components, 54 jewels, a Swiss lever escapement, a dual balance at 18,000 vibrations per hour and a 38-hour power reserve, with an ultra-thin barrel. The hours and minutes appear on two transparent sapphire discs, 10.6 mm in diameter and 0.2 mm thick, which draw a smiling face.

There is no crown: the watch is wound and set with two dedicated tools, a small winding box and a slim key, both protected against excessive force. There are only 12 pieces.

Chronometry Prize: Ferdinand Berthoud Naissance d'une Montre 3

Ferdinand Berthoud Naissance d'une Montre 3. © GPHG

The third Naissance d'une Montre project was built with historical production methods and tools, with almost no digital manufacturing, over six years of work between Chronométrie Ferdinand Berthoud and Chopard craftsmen. Calibre FB-BTC.FC, inspired by Ferdinand Berthoud's Astronomical Pocket Watch No. 3, measures 37.5 mm by 8.35 mm, beats at 21,600 vibrations per hour and has a 50-hour power reserve.

Transmission is by fusée and chain: the chain, 172 mm long with 477 components, is assembled by hand with 191 pins of no more than 0.30 mm. The Guillaume-type bimetallic balance, in Invar and brass, measures 12.56 mm and has 18 components, and the steel hairspring is finished by hand by a timing specialist.

The case measures 44.3 mm by 13 mm; the first piece is in steel, the following ones in white gold. The off-centre white gold dial has Roman numerals for the hours and Arabic numerals for the minutes; the hour hand alone takes almost two days to make, with 54 operations and 13 decoration steps.

Horological Revelation Prize: Dominique Renaud Pulse60 Titanium Black

Dominique Renaud Pulse60 Titanium Black. © GPHG

Dominique Renaud founded Renaud & Papi in 1986 with Giulio Papi in Le Locle; in 1992 the company passed to Audemars Piguet. The Pulse60 is the first watch to carry his full name in about a decade.

Calibre BUA2024 beats at 1 Hz, that is 7,200 vibrations per hour, with a 20 mm variable-inertia balance. The lever escapement, with a geared roller, was designed to let the balance swing beyond the usual limits, above 360 degrees. The result can be seen on the dial: the seconds advance by half-seconds, in a natural rhythm. Winding is manual and lasts 96 hours, with a torque indicator.

The titanium case measures 40 mm in diameter and 12 mm in height, and the regulator has its own bridge, inside the seconds sub-dial at 9 o'clock.

Mechanical Exception: Blancpain Grande Double Sonnerie

Blancpain Grande Double Sonnerie. © GPHG

Eight years of development, more than 1,200 technical drawings and 21 patents, 13 of which made it into the final watch. The hand-wound calibre 15GSQ has 1,053 components and combines grande sonnerie, petite sonnerie, minute repeater, retrograde perpetual calendar and flying tourbillon, with a silicon hairspring at 4 Hz. The mainplate and the 26 bridges are in 18-carat gold.

The sound comes from four hammers, each with its own note. A pusher at 9 o'clock, with a column wheel, selects the melody: the Westminster chime or an original composition by Eric Singer. A silent magnetic regulator sets the tempo of the music, and two barrels wound in both directions power the timekeeping and the striking.

The case measures 47 mm by 14.5 mm, and the patented calendar correctors sit under the lugs, so it can be set without tools. Blancpain will make only two a year, each by a single watchmaker.

Complication: Cleguer Inspiration One

Cleguer Inspiration One. © GPHG

It is the first watch by Mathieu Cleguer, a Breton engineer who has designed calibres for several independent brands, and it has already won a prize. At its heart is his own Innate escapement: two mirrored steel escape wheels with ruby pallets and indirect tangential impulse through a central lever, in an architecture inspired by Breguet's natural escapement and Fasoldt's chronometer escapement. The aim is to help the watch start by itself more easily.

The hand-wound calibre I1 beats at 18,000 vibrations per hour (2.5 Hz), with a 12.9 mm free-sprung balance and a blued Breguet overcoil, visible at 7:30. It has a 36-hour power reserve, with an indicator, and a Maltese cross on the barrel so that only the steadiest part of the mainspring is used.

The case measures 38.5 mm by 12 mm. The off-centre dial, at 2:30, is in Grand Feu champlevé enamel. The first series of 12 titanium pieces is sold out; pieces in precious metals will follow.

Chronograph: Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF Chronographe Mystérieux

Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF Chronographe Mystérieux. © GPHG

At rest, it looks like a three-hand watch. There are in fact five coaxial central hands: the two rose gold chronograph hands hide beneath the hour and minute hands.

The automatic calibre PF053, with a central 22-carat gold rotor, beats at 4 Hz, has a 60-hour power reserve and is 6.9 mm high. It uses two horizontal clutches, for the chronograph hours and minutes, and a vertical one for the seconds hand, which serves both functions. At the first press of the monopusher at 8 o'clock, the three chronograph hands return to zero and start; at the second, they stop; at the third, the chronograph hours and minutes realign with the time hands.

The case, in steel or platinum, measures 40 mm by 13 mm and is water-resistant to 100 metres, with a grain d'orge guilloché dial. The platinum version is limited to 30 pieces.

Tourbillon: Ferdinand Berthoud Chronomètre FB 2TV

Ferdinand Berthoud Chronomètre FB 2TV. © GPHG

A second prize of the night for Ferdinand Berthoud. The hand-wound calibre FB-TV.FC is inverted: the flying tourbillon, the fusée and chain and much of the regulating organ sit on the dial side. The titanium tourbillon cage measures 15 mm and has a single lower bearing; the balance measures 11.2 mm, with a Phillips-curve hairspring, and beats at 3 Hz.

The chain has 465 links and one hook, held by 311 pins, and the fusée has a double Maltese cross stopwork and a three-planet differential. The power reserve is 60 hours, with a cone-and-feeler indicator. The watch is a COSC-certified chronometer.

It has central seconds, with stop-seconds for setting the time and a pusher in the crown that returns the seconds hand to zero, even while the watch is running. The white gold case measures 44.3 mm by 15.46 mm. Ten to twelve are made each year.

Calendar and Astronomy: Audemars Piguet 150 Heritage

Audemars Piguet 150 Heritage. © GPHG

It is not a wristwatch: it is a platinum pocket watch (reference 75150PT.OO.01), 50 mm in diameter and 23.4 mm high, with a hand-engraved case band. The hand-wound calibre 1150 has 1,099 components, a 60-hour power reserve and a free-sprung balance with a Breguet overcoil, and adds up to 47 functions, including 30 complications: grande and petite sonnerie, minute repeater with Supersonnerie acoustics, flying tourbillon, flyback chronograph with a rattrapante hand, moon phases and a semi-Gregorian perpetual calendar that respects the centennial leap-year exceptions.

In the back cover, with its own mechanism independent of the movement, is a universal calendar with the solar, lunar and lunisolar systems in 18 indications, from 1900 to 2099: years, leap years, months, dates, weeks, moon phases, equinoxes and solstices, and nine celebrations from various cultures, such as Christmas, Ramadan, Chinese New Year, Diwali and Vesak. There are two unique pieces in platinum and eight in white gold.

Sports: Grand Seiko Spring Drive U.F.A. Ushio 300 Diver

Grand Seiko Spring Drive U.F.A. Ushio 300 Diver. © GPHG

Calibre 9RB1 is a self-winding Spring Drive U.F.A. (Ultra Fine Accuracy), accurate to ±20 seconds a year, about ±3 seconds a month, with a 72-hour power reserve. It has 33 jewels, a 30 mm diameter and 4.7 mm height, and is assembled by hand at the Shinshu Watch Studio in Shiojiri; the quartz oscillator is vacuum-sealed with the IC and aged for three months.

The High-Intensity Titanium case measures 40.8 mm by 12.9 mm and is water-resistant to 300 metres, with a 120-click bezel with ceramic insert and magnetic resistance of 4,800 A/m: it is the smallest dive watch Grand Seiko has ever made. "Ushio" means tide in Japanese and names the dial pattern, in blue or green (references SLGB023 and SLGB025).

The titanium bracelet has a new clasp, with three-step micro-adjustment of up to 6 mm and an 18 mm extension for a diving suit.

Essential: Daniel Roth Extra Plat Rose Gold Skeleton

Daniel Roth Extra Plat Rose Gold Skeleton. © GPHG

The double-ellipse case, a Daniel Roth signature, is in 18-carat 5N rose gold and measures 38.6 mm by 35.5 mm, with a height of 6.9 mm. Calibre DR002SR, developed and assembled at La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton, was redesigned from scratch to be openworked, instead of being cut out of an existing calibre, and follows the shape of the case.

It is hand-wound, with 141 components, 21 jewels, a height of 3.1 mm, a free-sprung balance at 4 Hz and a 65-hour power reserve. The plates and bridges are in solid 18-carat 5N rose gold, finished by hand, with black-polished steel parts. It shows hours and minutes only, with blued steel arrowhead hands.

Time Only: Chopard L.U.C 1860

Chopard L.U.C 1860. © GPHG

Launched for the 30th anniversary of Chopard's Fleurier manufacture, the L.U.C 1860 returns to the proportions of the original model: a 36.5 mm case, 8.2 mm high, in Lucent Steel, and a gold-based dial guilloché by hand.

The automatic L.U.C 96.40-L calibre, 3.3 mm high, with 176 components and 29 jewels, has a 22-carat gold micro-rotor and two stacked barrels, the Twin technology, which give about 65 hours of power reserve. It beats at 4 Hz, with stop-seconds. It is a COSC-certified chronometer and bears the Geneva Seal.

Jewellery: Chopard Mystery Nut

Chopard Mystery Nut. © GPHG

A second prize of the night for Chopard. It is a one-of-a-kind piece: a walnut-shaped pendant in ethical rose gold, with brown and cognac diamonds, measuring 49 mm by 40 mm.

A purpose-made, diamond-set hinge opens it to 180 degrees and reveals a hidden watch, with hours, minutes and moon phases. The movement is mechanical and self-winding, at 25,200 vibrations per hour, with a 42-hour power reserve. It took about 600 hours of craftsmanship.

Artistic Crafts: Louis Vuitton Tambour Taiko Arty Automata

Louis Vuitton Tambour Taiko Arty Automata. © GPHG

The mechanics come from La Fabrique du Temps and the artistic work from La Fabrique des Arts, Louis Vuitton's two workshops. The dial combines Grand Feu enamel, champlevé and miniature painting: 23 colours on 20 parts, on several levels, with more than 250 hours of handwork. The eyelashes are made of tiny bird feathers.

A pusher at 8 o'clock sets off seven independent automaton animations — stars, a heart, an eye, a cloud — alongside a one-minute flying tourbillon at 6 o'clock. The automatic calibre LFT AU05.01 has a 65-hour power reserve. The 18-carat white gold case measures 42 mm by 13.6 mm, and the bezel is set with 48 baguette-cut sapphires and rubies.

Gemset: Piaget Swinging Pebble

Piaget Swinging Pebble. © GPHG

A sautoir watch on a long gold chain, inspired by Piaget models of the late 1960s and the 1970s and by the "Kimono" pocket watches.

Each case is carved from a single slice of tiger's eye, verdite or pietersite, hollowed out to house the movement, with gold and diamonds; the stone also serves as the dial. There are versions in white gold with pietersite, rose gold with tiger's eye and yellow gold with verdite; the white gold one uses the Piaget 355P quartz calibre.

Petite Aiguille: Otsuka Lotec No.8

Otsuka Lotec No.8. © GPHG

Japan's Jiro Katayama designed it more like an instrument panel than a watch. The hours jump on a disc on the left, and the minutes climb a vertical 0 to 60 scale on a retrograde pointer that returns to zero under the control of a visible regulator. The seconds run on their own disc.

The in-house display module has 62 components and ball bearings, and sits on an automatic Miyota 90S5 calibre at 28,800 vibrations per hour, with about 32 hours of power reserve. The brushed 316L steel case measures 31 mm wide, 47.8 mm lug to lug and 10.8 mm high, within the price limit of the Petite Aiguille category.

Challenge: SpaceOne X Baltic Seconde Majeure

SpaceOne X Baltic – Seconde Majeure. © GPHG

A collaboration between SpaceOne and Baltic, built around a jumping-hour module created by independent watchmaker Théo Auffret, on an automatic Soprod P024 calibre at 4 Hz. A control wheel turns once an hour and advances a 12-tooth star; when the jumper drops into the next tooth, the hour jumps.

The hours are read at 12 and the minutes at 6, on transparent discs, and a long seconds hand just below the centre gives the watch its name. The dial is in German silver, brushed or with a hand-applied charbonné finish, and the steel case measures 38.5 mm by 12.3 mm.

Mechanical Clock: La Vallée Cosmo

La Vallée Cosmo. © GPHG

La Vallée, founded in Venice in the 1930s as a clock repair workshop and now based on Lake Como, is run by the third generation of the Quintavalle family. Under a hand-blown Murano glass dome, 402 mm by 242 mm and weighing about 16 kg, the Cosmo makes one full turn per sidereal day, that is 23 h 56 min 4 s.

It shows the time, the date, the zodiac sign, sunrise and sunset, the length of dawn and dusk and the positions of the stars above a chosen place. A single winding, done by turning the dome, runs it for 406 days, thanks to a patent-pending transmission.

The new low-frequency escapement is driven by a one-minute remontoir, and the 72 mm balance is magnetically suspended and can be set to the owner's resting heart rate. Three to five are made each year.

Where to see the watches

Outside the 20 prizes, the Young Student Prize went to Matt Jorgensen and Yuma Miyai.

The 84 nominated watches are on show at the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire in Geneva until 15 November. They then travel to London, to the Watches of Switzerland boutique in Knightsbridge, from 18 to 23 November. More information at gphg.org.