Every two years, Dubai Watch Week brings all manner of special editions and new releases to the fore during a time when the industry is typically relatively quiet — and this year was no exception, so much so that we dedicated an entire buying guide to the newness. But beyond the DWW releases, plenty of brands dropped new wares, from an updated vintage reissue to an affordable mechanical chronograph to a collab between a high-end manufacture and one of the most celebrated rappers in America. So pour yourself a glass of wine and get ready for the best watches of November ‘23.
Longines Legend Diver 39mm
Longines effectively kicked off the vintage watch reissue trend back in the mid-2000s with its Legend Diver. Based on a Super Compressor-cased watch from the late ‘50s, the first reissue measured 42mm wide in keeping with the original. However, the brand’s latest version clocks in at 39mm — smaller than the positively oversized OG, yet perfectly in line with contemporary tastes. While retaining the Super Compressor internal bezel and dual-crown design, it adds the Longines Caliber L888.6, an ETA-based, COSC-certified automatic movement with 72 hours of power reserve and a silicon balance spring. Available in blue or black, it comes on either a NATO-style strap (blue dial) or a brown leather strap (black dial) — or on a steel beads-of-rice bracelet.
- Diameter: 39mm
- Movement: Longines Caliber L888.6 automatic
- Water Resistance: 300m
- Price: $3,000-$3,200
Grand Seiko 44GS Midsize
Some of Grand Seiko’s best designs are also its oldest. Take the 44GS, for example: Launched in 1967, its clean lines and excellent proportions came to embody many of the Japanese brand’s design principles. Now, GS is launching three new dial colors of its midsize 44GS, which debuted in 2022. Exclusive to the U.S. market, each measures 36.5mm in stainless steel and contains the manually-wound Caliber 9S64 with a power reserve of 72 hours, plus a dial in the brand’s handsome Mt. Iwate pattern. With a choice of pink, green, or blue dials — the last being available only to GS9 Club members — the midsize 44GS has the look of a vintage piece, complete even with a box-shaped sapphire crystal.
- Diameter: 36.5mm
- Movement: Grand Seiko Caliber 9S64
- Water Resistance: 100m
- Price: $5,900
Mathey-Tissot x Massena LAB Chronograph ’68
Helmed by watch industry veteran and noted collector William Massena, Massena LAB makes some of the best standalone and collaboration timepieces on the market. And while some are highly limited and relatively expensive, others are much more affordable and more widely available. The brand’s latest collaboration with Swiss brand Mathew-Tissot is an excellent case in point: Based upon classic chronographs from the mid-20th century, it features a 41mm stainless steel cased paired to black dial beset with colorful red, blue, and silver accents. Best of all, despite being powered by a hand-wound, Swiss-made Sellita movement from Landeron, it lists for just $1,495.
- Diameter: 41mm
- Movement: Landeron Caliber 73 hand-wound
- Water Resistance: 50m
- Price: $1,495
Worn & Wound X Timex WW75
Building upon a collaboration between Worn & Wound and Timex from 2022, the new WW75 pairs a 1970s-inspired stainless steel case to a manually wound movement and a beautiful dial. Available in both light blue and pale pink, each measures 37mm in brushed steel and comes paired to a cool mesh bracelet — though the star of the show in both cases is indeed the dial, which features a waffle texture in the center ringed by a contrasting minute track, lumed baton hands, applied indices, and an inner 5-minute track in Arabic numerals. Given all the thoughtful design elements, what’s perhaps hardest to believe is that these two handsome, unisex pieces come in at just $239 each.
- Diameter: 37mm
- Movement: Sea-Gull TY6 hand-wound
- Water Resistance: 50m
- Price: $239
Oris Divers “Seventy-Five” Calibre 400 C.04 for Collective Horology
Collective Horology, a company that produces collaboration watches and retails select high-end independent brands in southern California, teamed up with the good folks at Oris for a special take on the brand’s Divers Sixty-Five. Dubbed the Oris Divers Seventy-Five Calibre 400 C.04 for Collective Horology, it imbues the watch with a touch of funky ‘70s spirit, giving it a fiery red and orange dial with stylized Arabic indices and an awesome, two-tone bracelet. Powering it, meanwhile, is an in-house movement from Oris, the Caliber 400 with an impressive 5-day power reserve and 10-year warranty. Available for pre-order for $4,150, it’s limited to just 250 pieces and is available exclusively via Collective Horology’s online shop.
- Diameter: 400m
- Movement: Oris Caliber 400 automatic
- Water Resistance: 100m
- Price: $4,150 (pre-order)
The Best Watches of Dubai Watch Week 2023
Featuring Chopard, Zenith, Oris and many more
Bremont Supermarine S502
English watchmaker Bremont builds some of the best, purpose-built tool watches on Earth. Designed for extreme environments and tested by explorers, military personnel, and extreme athletes, their excellent build quality and bona fides make them perfect travel companions. One of the company’s latest, the S502 in stainless steel, is a combination diver-GMT made for the most demanding of travelers. Offering a GMT complication but water resistant to a whopping 500m, it features the brand’s signature, 43mm Trip-Tick case plus a helium escape valve and a matching, stainless steel bracelet. Powered by a modified, chronometer-certified Swiss-made automatic movement, this is a “set-and-forget” tool if ever there was one — though adjustment is thankfully quick and easy.
- Diameter: 42mm
- Movement: Bremont BE-932AV (ETA base) automatic
- Water Resistance: 500m
- Price: $5,350 (on steel)
TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph Year of the Dragon
Redesigned for improved legibility and ergonomics, the TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph has proved the ideal platform for both regular production models and special editions alike. Of the latter, the new Year of the Dragon is proving irresistible to collectors, as the steel iteration — one of 300 pieces — is already sold out. The rarer 5N Gold edition, however, produced in just 50 pieces, is perhaps even more attractive: Measuring 42mm in diameter by 14.3mm tall, it features a matching, rose gold-plated sunray dial with a triple-register chronograph display and dial red “azuré” totalizers. A calligraphic dragon character sits above 6 o’clock, while a printed Chinese dragon figure surrounds the caseback, through which is visible the Calibre Heuer 02 automatic movement.
- Diameter: 42mm
- Movement: Calibre Heuer 02 automatic
- Water Resistance: 100m
- Price: $22,550
Hublot MP-15 Takashi Murakami Tourbillon Sapphire
Hublot’s partnership with Japanese pop artist Takashi Murakami has yielded numerous interesting watches over the years, but perhaps none is as horologically compelling as the MP-15 Tourbillon Sapphire. A timepiece unlike anything else on the market, it eschews common watchmaking conventions to place a flying tourbillon at center stage, doing away with a standard dial and housing it within a Murakami-esque flower carved from sapphire. Every part of this case — the flower “petals,” the crown, the caseback — is transparent, making for a visual feast, while a set of peripheral hands that pass beneath the tourbillon case indicate the time. Powered by a movement with fully skeletonized components and a 150-hour power reserve, the MP-15 is an impressive feat of high-end watchmaking infused with a pop-art sensibility.
- Diameter: 42mm
- Movement: Hublot HUB9015 hand-wound
- Water Resistance: 30m
- Price: $316,000
IWC Pilot’s Watch Performance Chronograph 41
IWC has updated its iconic Pilot’s Watch via a partnership with the Mercedes-AMG and Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula One™ Teams — and we must say, the results are pretty stellar. Available in two versions, the Pilot’s Watch Performance Chronograph 41 packs the IWC Calibre 69385 automatic movement into a case made of either lightweight titanium or high-tech Ceratanium. Boasting a base-1,000 tachymeter bezel, a triple-register chronograph, and a day-date display, it manages to pack lots of information into a relatively small space without feeling constrained. Paired to either a black rubber strap or an H-link bracelet with an integrated folding clasp, the Performance Chronograph 41 melds IWC’s aeronautical watch savoir-faire with its automotive bona fides in a way that feels organic and fresh.
- Diameter: 41mm
- Movement: IWC Calibre 69385 automatic
- Water Resistance: 100m
- Price: $9,800-$19,900
Zenith Defy Skyline Night Surfer El Primero X Time & Tide
Zenith’s Defy Skyline is one of the better entries in the recent crop of second-wave “luxury sport watches — timepieces with high-end finishing, movements, and bracelets in the mold of Gérald Genta’”s classics from the 1970s. This particular version, however — the Defy Skyline Night Surfer El Primero X Time & Tide — is a standout entry in an already standout collection. Housed in a matte titanium body, its skeletonized dial with four-pointed star motif reveals the automatic, hi-beat Zenith El Primero Calibre 3620 automatic movement ticking away beneath. Already futuristic by day, at night, the watch positively comes alive, its luminescent indices and hands dancing across the openworked dial.
- Diameter: 41mm
- Movement: Zenith El Primero Calibre 3620 automatic
- Water Resistance: 100m
- Price: $12,000
Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar “Cactus Jack” Limited Edition
Here’s one we didn’t see coming — a collab between AP and Travis Scott’s Cactus Jack label. Dubbed the “Chocolate AP” by the American rapper, it constitutes a first for the brand and for the R.O. collection, with a case fashioned from brown ceramic and a dial with typography taken from Scott’s own drawing of the watch. (Take a close look at the moon phase indicator and you’ll realize it’s been taken over by the Cactus Jack smiley face logo — pretty dope!) With its bright blue-green lume and openworked, automatic Calibre 5135, and perpetual calendar functionality, this is a serious — and seriously playful — bit of watchmaking, with a price tag to boot. (Limited to 200 pieces, it retails for $201,000.)
- Diameter: 41mm
- Movement: Audemars Piguet Calibre 5135 automatic
- Water Resistance: 20m
- Price: $201,000
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