GPHG 2025: Celebrating 25 Years of a Watchmaking Institution

The Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2025. This landmark edition highlights the balance between tradition, innovation, and the global reach of the watch industry.

The Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève 2025 is shaping up to be a pivotal edition for the industry. Marking its 25th anniversary, the GPHG reaffirms its role as a global showcase for watchmaking expertise and a barometer for trends, blending prestige, audacity, and renewal. The ceremony will take place on November 13, 2025, at the Bâtiment des Forces Motrices in Geneva, a symbolic venue chosen to embody this new milestone. More than a thousand Academy members are now participating in the voting process, a historic record that reflects the prize's gradual opening to an international community of experts, collectors, and enthusiasts.

The 2025 edition features ninety timepieces across fifteen categories, selected between May and September from watches commercialized after May 2024. As is the case every year, the shortlist revealed in early September set the tone. It features major names, including Rolex, Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet, Bvlgari, and Vacheron Constantin, alongside an increased presence of independent watchmakers, from Raúl Pagès and Kari Voutilainen to Armin Strom and Andersen Genève. The GPHG 2025 thus establishes itself as a crossroads between heritage and contemporary watchmaking.

The process remains true to its original spirit: following the Academy's selection of nominees, a smaller jury evaluates each piece based on its coherence, technical quality, aesthetics, and horological relevance. Ahead of the ceremony, the GPHG World Tour allows the public to discover the watches in several capitals, from Shanghai to Dubai, via Istanbul and Geneva. This serves to showcase the diversity of global watchmaking and to remind us that the GPHG is no longer a strictly Swiss event, but an international benchmark.

This year, anticipation is building around several key categories. In the “Men’s” category, the Grand Seiko Spring Drive UFA, the Chopard L.U.C Quattro Mark IV, and the Urban Jürgensen UJ-2 are drawing significant attention. In the Men’s Complication category, Audemars Piguet presents an anniversary skeletonized Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar, while Parmigiani is betting on the Toric Quantième Perpétuel. The Tourbillon and Chronograph categories also promise a tight rivalry between historic houses and independent creators. Bvlgari impresses with its Octo Finissimo Ultra Tourbillon, while H. Moser & Cie brings a sporty, contemporary approach with the Streamliner Alpine Drivers Edition. Meanwhile, High Jewellery and Artistic Crafts remind us that the GPHG is not just a mechanical celebration but an artistic one too, with creations from Van Cleef & Arpels, Dior Montres, and Chopard Swan Lake.

This 25th edition also symbolizes continuity during a period of market transformation. The watch industry is emerging from a cycle marked by group consolidation, the rise of the secondary market, and the search for a new balance between rarity and accessibility. The GPHG finds itself at the heart of this dynamic: it must reward virtuosity while acknowledging contemporary expectations of innovation, sustainability, and openness. The jury's debates reflect these tensions between tradition and modernity: should we celebrate the guardians of heritage or encourage those who reinvent the rules?

For brands, the visibility offered by a nomination or a win remains considerable. Being a finalist means gaining global legitimacy, market validation, and media spotlight that few events can match. For independents, it is often a gateway to an international audience and lasting recognition. Previous editions have shown that the grand winners influence trends for years to come, whether in design, complications, or materials.

The GPHG 2025 will therefore be closely watched, not only for its winners but also for what it reveals about the state of the watchmaking world. This 25th-anniversary edition does not seek to revolutionize the format, but to elevate it: a celebration of the mastery of time, at a moment when the mechanical watch remains one of the last objects capable of blending culture, technique, and emotion. For one evening, Geneva will once again become the capital of time, and as is often the case, the results will spark debate, proving that watchmaking, despite its precision, remains a deeply human art.