Good morning. I’m back in Chicago, fighting off jet lag. I’ll have a few more thoughts on Watches and Wonders next week, but thought I’d open it up for our first Q&A of 2026 for this Sunday:
Ask a question, and I’ll answer throughout the day. As always, I’ll save a few of the most interesting inquiries for a future newsletter.
Ask about anything you’d like about new releases, Watches and Wonders, or Geneva. I met with ~30 brands this week across W&W, Time to Watches (eeek), Chronopolis, and elsewhere in Geneva. I also had casual coffees/beers/chats with another handful, along with auction previews at Sotheby’s and Monaco Legend.
Below, a photo dump and more quick thoughts on some of the many, many watches I saw in Geneva (without rehashing everything I covered on Wednesday):
Unpolished is the newsletter for collectors. To join the Q&A and get all the good stuff behind a paywall, become a paid subscriber:
I landed in Geneva on Monday morning. Before the show officially started, I went to Sotheby’s to preview a portion of the single-owner Cartier watches spread across its sales in Hong Kong, Geneva, and New York. It’s gotta be the best selection of Cartiers to ever come to auction at once.
My standout release of the show, the Lange & Söhne Saxona Annual Calendar in 36mm with a new automatic movement.
The new Universal Geneve Polerouter Date and Cabriolet, and the Compax (above). The Cabriolet is the most distinctive. The movements are impressive. Aesthetically, I wonder if the Polerouter and Compax might feel a bit too close to Breitling.
Tudor Monarch, and the new Black Bay 58 next to the previous generation. I like the new Monarch, but wonder if a more impactful font might've worked better? It reminds me of Rolex's 1908 collection, where simple sans-serif numerals can leave the dial feeling sparse.
The Vacheron Constantin Dual Time in titanium, the follow-on to 2023’s “Everest Edition.” Available in four colors, the white is my favorite because you can see the textured dial best. It’s one of those watches that makes me wish I had a larger wrist (it’s 41mm), instead of wishing the watch were smaller. It makes sense at 41mm and looks great, just not on my wrist.
Cartier Santos 'Ghost' coming this fall, and the Cartier Santos-Dumont in platinum with a new bracelet option.
Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Control Chronometre Power Reserve + Date.
Tag Heuer Monaco Evergraph and IWC Perpetual 'Ceralume.' IWC's most important update to the perpetual calendar is the 'ProSet' function that allows it to be set in reverse, but that is NOT in this QP. Meanwhile, in the Evergraph TAG has removed the chronograph's mechanical works and replaced them with two flexible nickel-phosphorus parts.
More stone dials and Warhols from Piaget this year, in addition to some ‘swinging sautoirs,’ etc.
The new Nomos Club Campus Worldtimer with a silver-plated white dial is easily the best of the standard collection now. My biggest complaint about last year’s hit release was that the non-limited sunburst dials didn’t feel very Nomos. That’s fixed! The white dial is also cheaper.
One of the most compelling new complications of the week, the Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF Chronograph Mysterieux. Engage the pusher at 8 o’clock, and a set of chronograph hands appears. A new in-house chronograph movement in a steel case with a platinum bezel (that’s still 40x13mm). Maybe the enamel Daytona skewed my expectations, but the $44,300 price tag felt surprisingly reasonable.
Zenith introduce a new GFJ caliber 135 in platinum with a black onyx dial (along with a yellow gold and bloodstone). There's still a lot going on for me, but the tantalum is my favorite of the bunch. Here's a look at the H. Moser Pump collab with Reebok.
One of the indies I was able to see at Watches & Wonders: The impressive new Armin Strom 12:59 Minute Repeater has a second mode that always allows you to flip the repeater to 12:59 to hear a full chime.
You know what, the Patek 8-day desk clock is cool.
I wrapped up my meetings at Watches & Wonders on Thursday, so spent Friday with indies and other brands in downtown Geneva. My first stop was Berneron. He took meetings in an art gallery and had working prototypes of the QA. He also previewed his September releases. Berneron said he delivered 120 watches last year; this year will be up to 168.
I also visited watchmaker Gregory Proz’s workshop, who’s working on his first project. This is an unfinished prototype, but he’s already got special editions in the works for Seddiqi and Hour Glass. Nicely sized, and the movement architecture is interesting.
Monaco Legend and Davide Parmigiani also had a preview of next week's auction. I'll share a few more lots later this week. This enamel Patek Philippe 605 world timer is a standout.
I spent the afternoon walking around Chronopolis, a casual show with about 20 brands, including Baltic, Furlan Marri, Studio Underd0g, and Serica. Easily the best vibe of the week—despite some hiccups, which I’ll save for the next newsletter—it’s fun to meet with the founders or creators behind the brands. I sat down for a beer with Jerome Burgert, co-founder of Serica, one of my favorites at the show.
I always ask myself (and extend this to you, Tony) - why is Piaget not covered more by the media? They are doing outstanding work with the Polo line, launch of the Warhol line and now the watch inside the pebble. They beautifully marry the jewelry workmanship with watchmaking (their movements are super thin resulting in highly wearable pieces). Yes, I’m a big fan (and owner) who doesn’t understand why they don’t get more respect.
The Black Bay 58 GMT debuted in 2024 and cost $4600 on the oyster bracelet with the T Fit clasp. The same watch in 2026 with a minor case tweak cost $5525 which is a 16.8 per cent increase.
Tony, at what point will buyers realize that many of the price increases do not correspond to quality increases and are simply the brands way to increase profits without giving more watch. Will it come from massively depreciated watches on the secondary market or buyers simply priced out of new watches from their favorite brands???
I always ask myself (and extend this to you, Tony) - why is Piaget not covered more by the media? They are doing outstanding work with the Polo line, launch of the Warhol line and now the watch inside the pebble. They beautifully marry the jewelry workmanship with watchmaking (their movements are super thin resulting in highly wearable pieces). Yes, I’m a big fan (and owner) who doesn’t understand why they don’t get more respect.
The Black Bay 58 GMT debuted in 2024 and cost $4600 on the oyster bracelet with the T Fit clasp. The same watch in 2026 with a minor case tweak cost $5525 which is a 16.8 per cent increase.
Tony, at what point will buyers realize that many of the price increases do not correspond to quality increases and are simply the brands way to increase profits without giving more watch. Will it come from massively depreciated watches on the secondary market or buyers simply priced out of new watches from their favorite brands???