The Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève named its 84 finalists on 1 September, setting up one of the most closely watched evenings in the watch calendar. Chosen by the GPHG Academy, a body of about 1,000 members, the finalists are spread across 14 categories of six, covering wristwatches and mechanical clocks. The winners are due to be announced on Saturday 7 November at the Bâtiment des Forces Motrices in Geneva, in a ceremony that will be streamed live on gphg.org.
For readers in the Gulf, this year’s prize has a direct connection. Two of the 24 jurors who will choose the winners are based in Dubai: Hind Abdul Hamied Seddiqi, CEO of Dubai Watch Week, and Adel Al-Rahmani, co-founder of Dubai Watch Club.
The GPHG was founded in 2001 and is often described as the Oscars of watchmaking. This year’s will be the 26th ceremony. Its top award, the Aiguille d’Or, goes to the best watch of the year across all categories, and past winners named by WorldTempus include TAG Heuer in 2012, Chopard in 2017 and Breguet last year.
Who decides
The 2026 jury is chaired by Wei Koh, founder of the magazines Revolution and The Rake. He succeeds Nick Foulkes, who chaired the jury from 2021 to 2025. Half of the 24 members are drawn by lot from the GPHG Academy, and the other half are chosen by the jury president.
The jury meets behind closed doors a few days before the ceremony. According to Watch Collecting Lifestyle, its members examine every competing piece in person before casting a secret ballot under the supervision of a notary. The jury’s verdict counts for two-thirds of the result, and the remaining third comes from members of the Academy, who vote digitally.
The panel spans the trade, the press and private collecting. Gregory Kissling, CEO of Breguet, holds a seat under the GPHG rule that gives one to the brand that won the previous year’s Aiguille d’Or. Other jurors include Michael Tay of The Hour Glass, Tiffany To of Phillips, Mark Kauzlarich of Hodinkee and the automaton-maker François Junod.
A Gulf voice in Geneva
Hind Abdul Hamied Seddiqi leads Dubai Watch Week, which Ahmed Seddiqi & Sons founded in 2015. The event started with about 2,500 guests and has since drawn more than 23,000, according to FACT Magazine, and its 2025 edition at Burj Park in Dubai brought together more than 90 brands. Adel Al-Rahmani co-founded Dubai Watch Club.
Their places on the jury give the Gulf’s collecting community a direct say in which watches are honoured. They will sit at the same table as a retailer from Singapore, an auction specialist from Phillips and an editor from Hodinkee, and their votes will count equally with the rest.
The finalists themselves will travel before the ceremony. The tour is scheduled to visit Mumbai, Bangkok, Geneva and London, with no stop in the Middle East this year, so Gulf collectors who want to see the shortlist in person will need to travel.
The shortlist at a glance
Audemars Piguet leads the field with four finalists, two of them tied to the 150th anniversary it celebrated last year. They are the Neo Frame Jumping Hour in the Essential category, the Royal Oak "Jumbo" Extra-thin Selfwinding Flying Tourbillon Chronograph RD#5 "150th Anniversary" in Chronograph, the 150 Heritage in Calendar and Astronomy, and the Établisseurs Nomade in Artistic Crafts.
The Chronograph category is among the strongest. Alongside the RD#5, it includes the H. Moser & Cie. Endeavour Flyback Chronograph Dual Time Date, the Louis Moinet 1816 Chronograph, the Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF Chronographe Mystérieux, the Rexhep Rexhepi Chronograph Flyback and the TAG Heuer Monaco Evergraph. It sets large houses directly against a small independent workshop.
In Sports, Hermès is shortlisted for its H08 squelette, alongside the Chopard Zagato Lab One Concept, the Grand Seiko Spring Drive U.F.A. Ushio 300 Diver, the H. Moser & Cie. Streamliner Pump, the IWC Big Pilot’s Watch Perpetual Calendar Ceralume and the Laurent Ferrier Sport Traveller Slate Grey.
The Time Only category rewards restraint. Its six finalists are the Bvlgari Octo Finissimo 37 Satin-Polished Titanium, the Chopard L.U.C 1860, the Laurent Ferrier Classic Origin Beige, the Naoya Hida & Co. NH Type8A, the Parmigiani Fleurier Toric Petite Seconde and the Piaget Polo 79 Sodalite.
At the other extreme, Mechanical Exception gathers the year’s most complex pieces, including two chiming watches, the Blancpain Grande Double Sonnerie and the Chopard L.U.C Grand Strike, which strike the time on tiny gongs, and Konstantin Chaykin’s Thinking Mystery. The Challenge category includes the Beaubleu La Pièce No.2, the Beda’a Angles Guichets, the Favre Leuba Chief Skeleton, the Frédérique Constant Classics Moneta Handwinding, the King Seiko VANAC and the SpaceOne X Baltic Seconde Majeure.
What comes next
The jury will meet in Geneva in the days before 7 November. Until then, the shortlist works as more than a list of nominees. A selection of 84 watches is, in effect, a guide to the pieces collectors will be chasing next year, and with two Dubai-based jurors in the room, the Gulf will have a hand in deciding which of them goes home with a prize.
Sources: WorldTempus, Watch Collecting Lifestyle, FACT Magazine