Another year has gone by, so it’s time for this yearly ritual of looking back at the past 12 months and mentioning the noteworthy occasions and events. It always takes me a few days to collect and curate my thoughts on the year here at Fratello and in the watch industry.
The number of watch events exploded in 2025
Whereas the watch industry mainly revolved around the SIHH and Baselworld watch fairs — just two major events — in the past, in today’s world, there are many large exhibitions. This year began with the LVMH Watch Week in Paris, initially planned for California but canceled due to the devastating wildfires in the state.
Toronto Timepiece Show
Big and small watch events across the world
After that came Watches and Wonders in April, Geneva Watch Days in September, and Dubai Watch Week in November. There were also many smaller events in between, such as the Toronto Timepiece Show, which I attended, and Windup, WatchTime, WatchPro Salon, and others that my colleagues visited.
Omega European Masters in Crans-Montana
Delivering watch content is the most important thing
In addition, there are the trips organized by watch brands to introduce (or celebrate) their new watches or when a brand is involved in sports (Wimbledon, which Rolex invited me to, comes to mind, as well as the annual trip to Crans-Montana to witness the Omega European Masters).
It’s good that we have a fairly large team here at Fratello, as it’s simply impossible to do it all alone these days. We also don’t accept all invitations or events, as we have a policy that it needs to make sense to go there. We want to deliver content (stories, social media coverage, video, etc.) first and foremost. If we are unable to do so for any reason, we would rather not accept the invitation. Last but not least, all the traveling sounds like a dream, but it does take a hit on one’s private life. Especially when there are health issues in the family, and with a young child at home, it’s not always easy to make up for it. To my (supportive) wife and daughter: I’m sorry for not being there all the time!
First stop in 2026, Hong Kong
A new Speedy Tuesday event in 2026
Anyway, that was just to indicate how busy 2025 was with events and exhibitions from the start to just a few weeks ago. And after this short holiday break during Christmas and New Year’s, we will continue to do so by organizing the first Speedy Tuesday event in Hong Kong on January 13th, while some of my other colleagues are preparing to attend some of the first exhibitions of the year.
Blancpain’s latest
What was new in 2025?
What’s most important about 2025 is that we’ve seen many great new watches (here’s an overview of all of them covered on Fratello). From the first exhibition in Paris during LVMH Watch Week to the Dubai Watch Week in November, and the most recent trip to Paris for Breguet, brands positively surprised us with some of their beautiful watches.
The Beda’a Angles Mecaline was one of the team’s favorites
In general, 2025 has given us more choices of watches in every price range. Whether you are looking to buy a mechanical watch under €1,000 or have an unlimited budget, we’ve seen many new, wonderful releases for each type of budget entering the market.
A diverse selection of watches in the crowd at the Toronto Timepiece Show — Image: @furrywristabroad
A larger variety of watches in 2025
One of my complaints from previous years was that we’d see the same watches on people everywhere we’d go. It appears that this has changed somewhat recently. So instead of seeing the same Rolex, Omega, Tudor, Patek, AP watches on wrists all the time (there’s absolutely nothing wrong with those watches, by the way), there’s now much more variation to enjoy looking at.
I believe there are several reasons for this and why the watch landscape has changed slightly. One is that the speculative buyers appear to have withdrawn from the scene. It’s not a given anymore that watches will increase in value (as quickly) as they used to during and right after the COVID-19 period.
Second, we’ve seen numerous smaller brands emerge, offering very interesting propositions that appeal to a broad audience. This might be partially driven by price, as the big brands seem to have no limitations when it comes to raising their prices (which also causes people to stop buying from those brands), but it’s also most certainly driven by creativity.
These smaller brands offer watches with stone dials (usually a costly thing for any of the big brands), interesting case shapes, or simply impressive technical specifications. As a member of the jury and expert committee for several watch-prize competitions (Louis Vuitton Watch Prize, GPHG, Inhorgenta Award, Timepiece World Awards), I have had the opportunity to see and handle impressive creations from many independents and microbrands that are deservedly getting more recognition from a larger audience.
Ulysse Nardin Perpetual Calendar GMT+-
The secondary watch market
And aside from the smaller brands, I also see more people buying interesting watches from other brands than the usual suspects. If you’re a regular reader of Fratello, you probably know I am a fan of Breguet watches, and I am happy to see that some of you have been purchasing some of these horological marvels this year, both from the current catalog and the secondary market. The often-steep price increases also pointed more people to the latter, where some of the prices are still relatively soft for many watch brands. Just today, my colleague Gerard walked into the Fratello office wearing his 18K gold Ulysse Nardin Perpetual GMT+- ref. 326-22. It was the first perpetual calendar watch (that I know of) that allowed you to reverse the calendar yourself with the push of a button in case you made a mistake while setting it.
The value in specific pre-owned models is amazing
The gold UN Perpetual Calendar ref. 326-22 changes hands for €10,000–13,000 on the pre-owned market today. Only Frederique Constant can offer you a new perpetual calendar watch (in stainless steel) today for that price, although it lacks the nifty feature of being able to reverse it yourself. What I am trying to say is that it is becoming increasingly complex for certain brands to compete with the options on the secondary market, especially when prices are rising at the current rate. There are many interesting watches available on the secondary market, and we will certainly focus on that more in the new year here on Fratello. A while ago, based on data from the Chrono24 marketplace, we compiled a report on the secondary market, which you can find here.
On the other hand, we have also witnessed people buying new, higher-priced watches at today’s retail prices without even blinking. However, stating that the watch market has been slow in general in 2025 is an understatement. This is, of course, due not only to pricing (everything is becoming more expensive, not just watches) but also to the instability in the world we live in today. This does not encourage people to spend money on luxury items.
Consolidating collections in 2025
I have noticed that some of you have been consolidating your watch collections in 2025. “Trimming the fat,” as we called it in one of our Fratello articles, means getting rid of the watches you seldom wear (or never wear at all — I have a few of those as well) and instead getting something you truly like and enjoy wearing. In last year’s Year in Review article, I promised myself to do the same, but I didn’t manage to do it. I might finally follow your example in 2026 and sell a few pieces that I hardly wear for whatever reason and get a nice watch or two that will see some daylight in return. Quality over quantity!
Many pleasant horological surprises in 2025
Fortunately, as written above, many brands managed to pleasantly surprise us with their watches. We’ve shown you the team’s picks for 2025, covering different brands and price points, so I won’t repeat what has already been said there. As we’ve already seen some watches that will come out in 2026, we’re looking forward to delivering the news and reviews to you via our magazine’s channels.
Fratello in 2025
As for Fratello, we have a vast team of writers, and in 2025, we published more than 1,350 written articles, recorded 78 podcast episodes, created 128 videos for our YouTube channel, and produced numerous YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels across our channels. That’s quite an accomplishment, and I am proud of the team. Each of us here at Fratello has different preferences and tastes in watches, which helps to make the content as diverse as possible.
Many thanks to all the watch brands that have supplied us with watches for review. And last but certainly not least, I would like to thank all of our readers, viewers, listeners, and followers for being here. Luckily, I have had the opportunity to meet a few of you during my travels, at watch events, or in our Fratello office. Allow me to wish you and your loved ones all the best for 2026.
Happy New Year!