Geneva’s late-summer showcase has grown into a city-wide festival. The sixth edition of Geneva Watch Days opened at the Palais Eynard with a record 66 brands on the slate — from historic maisons to independents — and a clear mandate: celebrate creativity and savoir-faire in public view.

This year’s program leans into accessibility. Inspired by TV and radio grids, each day blends regular features with immersive formats and targeted talks, strengthening the bridge between brands, collectors, professionals, and passers-by on the lakeside.

A Civic Movement

City and canton leaders set the tone at the opening, underscoring watchmaking’s economic and cultural weight for Geneva — from manufactures and headquarters to tourism and retail. The message: this isn’t just an industry get-together; it’s a civic moment.

Born in 2020 from eight pioneering houses, the event now stands as an independent, unifying platform backed by the State and City of Geneva, the FHH, Geneva Tourism and more, with broad multichannel media coverage to match its international ambition.

The Man at the Center

Much of this outward-facing energy traces to Jean-Christophe Babin, Bulgari’s Group CEO and president of Geneva Watch Days — and, since late March (effective April 1), the CEO of LVMH’s watches division, a role he takes over from Frédéric Arnault. His remit and personality give this public display of watchmaking culture real momentum.

finews.com has selected five standout novelties that capture the essence of the fair. Together they chart the coordinates of contemporary watchmaking: bold technical breakthroughs, striking use of materials, high-craft artistry, and the independent spirit that keeps Geneva Watch Days vibrant.

1. Monaco, Re-Engineered: Beginning of the Carbon Age

 
TAG Heuer Monaco Flyback TH-Carbonspring. (Image: Courtesy)

TAG Heuer used Geneva Watch Days 2025 to debut the Monaco Flyback Chronograph TH-Carbonspring — a world-premiere showcase for its new carbon hairspring. Conceived, developed, and produced in-house over nearly a decade by the TAG Heuer LAB, the TH-Carbonspring focuses on real-world performance: greater resistance to magnetism and shocks, plus lower mass for improved chronometry. It is a purposeful, next-chapter technology rather than a showpiece.

The watch itself is a stealthy, high-tech take on the square icon: a 39 mm forged-carbon case with forged-carbon crown and pushers, and a carbon dial engraved with a spiral motif that nods to the oscillator’s geometry. Inside beats the in-house TH20-60 calibre — an automatic, COSC-certified flyback chronograph with an 80-hour power reserve. A black rubber strap with textile embossing and 100-meter water resistance complete the spec.

Edition details underline the milestone character: limited to 50 numbered pieces, priced at 17,000 francs, with deliveries slated for December 2025. Beyond the headline novelty, the TH-Carbonspring signals where TAG Heuer is headed — seeding a new generation of high-performance mechanical watches that carry genuine, everyday gains.

2. When Marble Turns to Time

30 pieces: Octo Finissimo Tourbillon Marble with blue marble dial. (Image: Courtesy)

At Geneva Watch Days 2025, Bulgari revealed a striking new chapter in its pursuit of finesse: a new limited edition of the Octo Finissimo Tourbillon Marble with a dial cut from deep blue Italian marble. The Roman maison, long renowned for stretching the limits of ultra-thin watchmaking, here takes on one of the most challenging materials in horology. Marble, emblematic of Roman culture and grandeur, is notoriously brittle when cut thin — yet Bvlgari’s specialists succeeded in sculpting an impossibly slim dial from deep-blue Blu Incanto marble sourced in Italy.

The watch houses the in-house BVL 268 calibre, an ultra-thin hand-wound movement just 1.95 mm thick, crowned by a flying tourbillon and delivering a 52-hour power reserve. Encased in satin-polished platinum at only 5.35 mm in height, and paired with a blue alligator strap, the 40 mm piece captures both architectural strength and poetic delicacy. Technical mastery meets Roman emotion in a fusion that few manufactures could achieve.

Limited to just 30 numbered examples featuring the blue marble dial, the Octo Finissimo Tourbillon Marble stands as both a demonstration of material daring and a cultural statement. By integrating marble — a medium of permanence, memory, and monumentality — into the Octo’s razor-thin architecture, Bvlgari reaffirms its status as a jeweller of time and a sculptor of the exceptional. Pricing for this watch is not publicly disclosed.

3. A Grail for the Patient

Ferdinand Berthoud Naissance d’une Montre 3. (Image: Courtesy)

Few projects embody horology’s human dimension like Naissance d’une Montre 3. Six years in the making, it represents both a timekeeper and a transmission of savoir-faire. Crafted entirely with traditional tools from the 1950s and 1960s — without CNC or digital assistance — it is officially COSC-certified and finished to the highest standards. The watch is less an object of consumption than a testament to «le temps qui instruit» — time as the great teacher — in the spirit of Ferdinand Berthoud and his heirs.

Technically, the Naissance d’une Montre 3 is breathtaking. Its calibre FB-BTC.FC integrates a fusee-and-chain transmission, a thermo-compensated bimetallic balance, central seconds, and a power reserve of 50 hours. No fewer than 747 components are hand-made, 477 of them for the chain alone. The 44 mm case, with curved sides and welded lugs, evokes Berthoud’s Astronomical Watch No. 3, while an open dial reveals the entire movement architecture. Every detail, from flame-blued hands to engraved Roman numerals, underscores the depth of manual craft invested.

Rarity amplifies its aura: just eleven pieces will exist, one in stainless steel to be auctioned by Phillips in November 2025, and ten in ethical gold delivered at a rate of two per year from 2026. Nearly 11,000 hours of work went into the project, drawing on more than 80 artisans across the Chopard group. As much archive as instrument, Naissance d’une Montre 3 safeguards endangered skills for a new generation while offering collectors a timepiece as exacting as it is soulful.

4. A Classic Reimagined for Everyday Life

Legacy Machine 101 EVO by MB&F. (Image: Courtesy) 

To mark its 20th anniversary, MB&F revisits one of its most beloved creations: the Legacy Machine 101. First introduced in 2014, the LM101 distilled watchmaking to its essentials — a monumental balance wheel, a power reserve, and time itself. In 2025, the LM101 receives the «EVO treatment», transforming this horological icon into a piece designed not only for contemplation but also for daily wear and an active lifestyle.

The EVO package means serious engineering upgrades: a titanium case with integrated rubber strap, 80 meters of water resistance, and the brand’s proprietary FlexRing shock absorber system. Under its domed sapphire crystal, the LM101 EVO reveals a movement with darkened finishes and a reworked escapement, powered by a manually wound calibre offering a longer 60-hour power reserve. A redesigned balance bridge, milled from a single block of metal and polished to perfection, continues to stage the signature 14 mm flying balance wheel above the dial.

Available in two editions — with either a salmon or a peacock green CVD dial plate — the LM101 EVO remains as three-dimensional and dramatic as ever, while gaining a robustness that makes it more wearable day to day. It is not formally a limited edition, but MB&F’s artisanal production means only a few dozen can be crafted per year. As such, the LM101 EVO is both a tribute to the past decade and a forward-looking statement, aligning MB&F’s spirit of kinetic art with the demands of contemporary collectors.

5. Frost Turned into Fire

Ulysse Nardin Freak X Crystalium. (Image: Courtesy)

Since its debut in 2001, the Freak has stood as Ulysse Nardin’s manifesto of independence — no dial, no crown, no hands, only the movement telling time. At Geneva Watch Days 2025, the brand pushes the experiment further with the Freak X Crystalium, a radical fusion of advanced mechanics and decorative material science. Limited to just 50 pieces, it marks a new milestone in the saga that redefined modern horology.

At its core lies the automatic calibre UN-230 with a flying carrousel, silicon balance wheel, and escapement — all developed in-house at Ulysse Nardin’s SIGATEC lab. Time is displayed by a black bridge doubling as the minute hand, while a rotating Crystalium disc beneath serves as the hour hand. This material, born from a slow crystallisation process of ruthenium vapor, forms shimmering, frost-like patterns that can never be replicated. Each dial is therefore unique, a singular work of material art enhanced with rose-gold PVD and subtle black shading.

The Crystalium disc glows against a black DLC-coated titanium case (43 mm) paired with a ballistic-textured rubber strap and stitched accents in rose gold. With its 72-hour power reserve, 50-meter water resistance, and 40,000 francs price tag, the Freak X Crystalium is as wearable as it is otherworldly. Beyond its technical prowess, it underscores Ulysse Nardin’s determination to keep the Freak disruptive — blending science, art, and the boldness to reinvent watchmaking itself.