{"id":58322,"date":"2026-04-30T16:34:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T16:34:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/58322\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T16:34:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T16:34:13","slug":"the-pieces-from-geneva-watch-week-2026-that-collectors-loved-most","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/58322\/","title":{"rendered":"The Pieces From Geneva Watch Week 2026 That Collectors Loved Most"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThis story is from an installment of\u00a0In the Loupe<\/a>, our weekly insider newsletter about the best of the watch world.\u00a0Sign up here.<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tOn the Friday night of Watches and Wonders<\/a> week in Geneva, a swirl of competing events vied for collectors\u2019 attention. The insiders, however, appeared to converge on a single time slot\u2014and a single address. From 5 to 7 p.m., the place to be for the likes of Phil Toledano, cofounder of Toledano & Chan<\/a>; Mike Nouveau<\/a>, a.k.a. \u201cKing of WatchTok\u201d; and Eric Ku<\/a>, cofounder of the auction site Loupe This, was Coffee Up<\/a>, a caf\u00e9 and enthusiast hub in central Geneva. The draw: a party celebrating Loupe This\u2019s new partnership with the Patek Philippe resale platform Collectability.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cPeople always ask, \u2018How do I buy a Patek Philippe for under $5,000?\u2019 This is the answer to that,\u201d Collectability founder John Reardon told Robb Report. \u201cStarting very soon, you\u2019re going to be able to click on Collectability or on Loupe This and see Collectability\u2019s Patek Philippe watches on offer, priced mostly under $30,000.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen we stopped by, the crush of collectors eager to speak with Reardon and Ku created a ready-made focus group. It was an ideal vantage point for real-time feedback on which of the week\u2019s new releases truly resonated.<\/p>\n

\n\tBelow, a sampling of what we heard at Coffee Up\u2014and from a few collectors we caught up with later.<\/p>\n

\t\tFred Savage, founder of Timepiece Grading Specialists<\/a>: Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda\u00a0PF\u00a0Chronograph Myst\u00e9rieux\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cSometimes people work so hard to show you how hard they\u2019re working and Parmigiani does the opposite. Whether it\u2019s their GMT, or the new Myst\u00e9rieux chronograph<\/a>, or even the layout of the perpetual calendar they introduced last year, it\u2019s all about looking effortless and simple. There are so many incredible watch brands that are beautiful, but they\u2019re showing you all the effort. \u2018Look how hard we\u2019re working. Look at all the effort we\u2019re putting in.\u2019<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI love what Parmigiani is doing because they\u2019re reinventing the chronograph, they\u2019re reinventing the GMT, they reinvented the perpetual calendar\u2014at least the layout\u2014but they\u2019re doing it in a totally understated way. And I think that\u2019s what really embodies luxury and skill. You can say that about a singer or an actor or a painter. It should look effortless. And the people that really work hard to show you how hard they\u2019re working, to me, is less compelling.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tThe Audemars Piguet \u00c9tablisseurs Galets<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAudemars Piguet<\/p>\n

\t\tEric Ku, cofounder of Loupe This<\/a>: Audemars Piguet \u00c9tablisseurs Galets\t<\/p>\n

\n\tThe \u00c9tablisseurs Galets<\/a> watch from AP was \u201cmy favorite thing at the show. It has a shaped movement\u2014it\u2019s really nerdy of them to make a completely new movement for an obscure ladies\u2019 watch that they\u2019re going to make very few of. And then the bridges on the movement are shaped like pebbles. It was really cohesive and well thought-out.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe whole idea of that \u00c9tablisseurs line with the three ladies\u2019 watches is about doing cool things the old way, with different craftsmen collaborating. That\u2019s a really great project to show off a proud watchmaking tradition. And clearly it\u2019s not motivated by financial reasons.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAt Cartier, an unexpected piece that my wife and I both really liked was the Grain de Caf\u00e9, a ladies\u2019 watch based on a Jeanne Toussaint\u00a0design motif inspired by coffee beans. That was so amazing, especially when you touched it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cZenith knocked it out of the park for me. They launched a line called G.F.J. last year which won the chronometry prize<\/a> at the GPHG. It\u2019s like this little sub-brand and they\u2019re building it around the Calibre 135. And they\u2019ve now done one in a full-gold bracelet with a bloodstone dial<\/a>. It sounds like it\u2019s red, but it\u2019s actually green with red flecks in it. That was great. But the better one was a 20-piece limited edition in a tantalum case<\/a>. It has a black onyx dial with natural diamond indices and a mother-of-pearl subdial. Tantalum is really tricky to work with. It\u2019s very sticky. It kind of destroys your tools. And so seeing that was great. No notes. It\u2019s stunning. And very much my vibe.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\tGiancarlo Rosselli, founder of The Watch Society<\/a>: IWC<\/a> Schaffhausen Big Pilot\u2019s Watch Perpetual Calendar Ceralume (among others)\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe Ceralume<\/a> from IWC was incredible. I just love lume and you could see that from space. I also loved the new releases from Zenith, but what I really loved was their new clasp, on their sport models. I\u2019m a big Moser fan\u2014the Pump watch<\/a>, to me, a kid of the \u201990s, early 2000s, I love the Pump [sneakers]. I still have them. And I love that watch.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cEverything Vacheron did, they knocked it out of the park. The Ultra-Thin<\/a>\u2014having that on the wrist was incredible. I\u2019m a huge fan of the Dual Times<\/a> and putting them in titanium, that was incredible. I love what Bernhard Lederer is doing as an indie. They came out with the CIC in 39 mm in racing green<\/a> a couple months back, and I was able to see it in the flesh that week. Having a chance to talk to Bernhard himself\u2014he\u2019s a legend.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"IWC<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tIWC Big Pilot\u2019s Watch Perpetual Calendar Ceralume<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tIWC<\/p>\n

\t\tAsher Rapkin, cofounder of Collective Horology<\/a>: Armin Strom Minute Repeater Resonance 12:59 and Niton Prima\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAt Watches and Wonders, two watches that stayed with me were not necessarily the biggest releases, but the ones that nailed their respective briefs. The <\/a>Armin Strom Minute Repeater Resonance 12:59<\/a> is almost absurd on paper: a resonance watch, a Westminster minute repeater, and then a second chiming mode based entirely on the watchmaker\u2019s understanding of how collectors like to share the pleasure of a minute repeater. In person, the complexity felt simple and integrated rather than forced. It represents serious high watchmaking and a major step forward for Armin Strom.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe Niton Prima<\/a> also stuck with me. Here is a revived Geneva-based manufacture coming back not with a generic heritage watch, but with a very specific point of view: a jump-hour display rooted in the brand\u2019s 1928 history, a shaped, modernist, in-house caliber bearing the Geneva Seal, and proportions that feel elegant while still significant on the wrist. It has the restraint of a period object without feeling like a reissue.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cBoth watches reminded me that the most interesting releases are often the ones that do not fit neatly into the dominant fair narrative.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\tStephen Pulvirent, founder and principal, Rime & Reason<\/a>: Bulgari<\/a> Octo Finissimo 37\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe new 37 mm version of the Bulgari Octo Finissimo<\/a> is a clear standout and one of the watches that I can\u2019t stop thinking about after Watches and Wonders. The watch had been in the works for around three years and it\u2019s been one of the worst-kept secrets in the industry\u2014but it turned out to be well-worth the wait.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAt this size, the watch fits and balances beautifully on the wrist without giving up any of the style of the original. The proportions have been tweaked a bit, and, honestly, I think they\u2019re even better now that Bulgari isn\u2019t trying to make the watch as thin as possible. The Octo Finissimo is one of the very few 21st-century watches that I feel 100 percent comfortable calling iconic and I\u2019m confident it\u2019s one we\u2019ll still be talking about 10, 20, 50 years from now. And, finally, it\u2019s one that I could see rocking daily on my own wrist.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tAuthors<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\"Victoria<\/p>\n

\n\t\tVictoria Gomelsky\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Victoria Gomelsky is editor-in-chief of the jewelry trade publication JCK and a frequent contributor to the New York Times and Robb Report. Her freelance work has appeared in AFAR, WSJ Magazine, The\u2026<\/p>\n

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