Geneva, 7 November 2026. At the 26th Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève, the Aiguille d’Or, the night’s top prize, went to independent watchmaker Rexhep Rexhepi for his Chronograph Flyback (RRCHF). Twenty prizes were handed out in all, with three houses leaving with two trophies each: Audemars Piguet, Ferdinand Berthoud and Chopard.
Summary
Rexhep Rexhepi takes the Aiguille d’Or
The Geneva-based watchmaker, founder of the Akrivia manufacture, wins the competition’s highest honour with his first flyback chronograph. According to Revolution, the RRCHF houses a manually wound, in-house integrated flyback chronograph movement of 320 components with a 72-hour power reserve, in a platinum case measuring 38.8 mm across and 9.7 mm thick.
The dial is in storm-blue Grand Feu enamel with smoked sapphire counters. Monochrome Watches describes a compact chronograph with an offset time display and off-centred sub-dials, driven by a symmetrical movement with a column wheel, horizontal clutch and large screw balance, finished with Geneva stripes.
The 2026 edition in figures
- 84 watches pre-selected by the GPHG Academy across 14 categories, six finalists per category.
- An Academy of more than 1,000 members, whose vote counted for one third of the final result (Revolution).
- A 24-member jury chaired for the first time by Wei Koh, founder of Revolution.
- The ceremony took place on Saturday 7 November at the Bâtiment des Forces Motrices in Geneva, hosted by Stéphane Bern and Arianne Alcorta.
- New this year: an Essential Watch Prize, and a Special Jury Prize that can now reward a brand as well as individuals and institutions (Revolution).
Three double winners
Audemars Piguet takes the Iconic Watch Prize with the Royal Oak “Jumbo” RD#5 “150th Anniversary” and the Calendar and Astronomy Prize with the 150 Heritage pocket watch. Ferdinand Berthoud wins both Chronometry and Tourbillon. Chopard wins Time Only with the L.U.C 1860 and Jewellery with the Mystery Nut.
The 20 GPHG 2026 winners
Grand prizes
- Aiguille d’Or Grand Prix: Rexhep Rexhepi, Chronograph Flyback (RRCHF).
- Special Jury Prize: Patek Philippe, for its “Watch Art” Grand Exhibitions. The series has run since 2012; according to Revolution, the 2026 Milan edition drew 68,000 visitors, the largest in its history.
- Iconic Watch Prize: Audemars Piguet, Royal Oak “Jumbo” Extra-thin Selfwinding Flying Tourbillon Chronograph RD#5 “150th Anniversary”: a 39 mm titanium Jumbo combining a selfwinding flying tourbillon and a chronograph.
- Audacity Prize: Konstantin Chaykin, ThinKing Mystery, only 1.65 mm thick, with a mysterious time display.
- Horological Revelation Prize: Dominique Renaud, Pulse60 Titanium Black, with its BUA2024 calibre beating at 1 Hz with a 20 mm balance, showing a natural half-second beat on the dial.
Complications and precision
- Mechanical Exception Watch Prize: Blancpain, Grande Double Sonnerie. Eight years of development and 1,053 components for a grande and petite sonnerie, minute repeater, retrograde perpetual calendar and flying tourbillon.
- Complication Watch Prize: Cleguer, Inspiration One, a 38.5 mm debut watch with the proprietary Innate escapement. Mathieu Cleguer is a former collaborator of Rexhep Rexhepi.
- Chronograph Watch Prize: Parmigiani Fleurier, Tonda PF Chronographe Mystérieux, whose five coaxial hands sit superimposed at rest (calibre PF053, triple clutch).
- Tourbillon Watch Prize: Ferdinand Berthoud, Chronomètre FB 2TV, calibre FB-TV.FC with 1,240 components and a 60-hour power reserve.
- Chronometry Prize: Ferdinand Berthoud, Naissance d’une Montre 3, built with historic methods and tools, with fusée-and-chain transmission.
- Calendar and Astronomy Watch Prize: Audemars Piguet, 150 Heritage, a 50 mm platinum pocket watch with 47 functions including 30 complications (calibre 1150, 1,099 components).
Everyday and sports watches
- Sports Watch Prize: Grand Seiko, Spring Drive U.F.A. Ushio 300 Diver: calibre 9RB1 rated to ±20 seconds a year, 40.8 mm titanium case, 300 m water resistance.
- Essential Watch Prize (new): Daniel Roth, Extra Plat Rose Gold Skeleton, a solid 18k rose gold openworked movement in a 6.9 mm thick case.
- Time Only Watch Prize: Chopard, L.U.C 1860, 36.5 mm in Lucent Steel, micro-rotor automatic calibre L.U.C 96.40-L, COSC-certified and Geneva Seal.
- “Petite Aiguille” Prize (watches up to CHF 4,900): Otsuka Lotec, No.8, with jumping hours and a retrograde minute.
- Challenge Watch Prize: SpaceOne x Baltic, Seconde Majeure, a jumping-hour watch developed with independent watchmaker Théo Auffret.
Jewellery, crafts and clocks
- Jewellery Watch Prize: Chopard, Mystery Nut, a walnut-shaped pendant in ethical rose gold with brown and cognac diamonds that opens to reveal the time and moon phase.
- Gemset Watch Prize: Piaget, Swinging Pebble, each piece carved from a single slice of tiger’s eye, verdite or pietersite, worn on a gold sautoir chain.
- Artistic Crafts Watch Prize: Louis Vuitton, Tambour Taiko Arty Automata: 23 colours of Grand Feu enamel, seven animated elements and a one-minute flying tourbillon.
- Mechanical Clock Prize: La Vallée, Cosmo, under a hand-blown Murano glass dome, turning once per sidereal day with a 406-day power reserve on a single wind.
Outside the 20-prize competition, Revolution reports that the Young Student Prize went to Matt Jorgensen and Yuma Miyai.
Where to see the winning watches
The winning watches are on show at the Musée d’Art et d’Histoire in Geneva until 15 November 2026, then at Watches of Switzerland Knightsbridge in London from 18 to 23 November.
