Colours and Collaborations Define Geneva Watch Days

Launched in 2020 at the height of the pandemic, Geneva Watch Days (4–7 September) was conceived as a nimble alternative to the fading behemoth watch fair Baselworld. Scattered across the city’s hotels and boutiques, the event opened its doors not just to wholesalers and journalists, but also to collectors and enthusiasts. What began as an experiment by Bulgari’s Jean-Christophe Babin, backed early by Breitling and a handful of independents, has, in its sixth edition, become an unmissable fixture on the watch calendar. With 66 participants this year, the show feels like the horological equivalent of back-to-school season, a mix of industry heavyweights and rising independents that sets the tone for autumn.

This year’s edition was all about colour and collaborations.

Piaget Goes Turquoise

Few colours capture the spirit of Piaget like turquoise blue. Evoking the Riviera skies and seas where the jet-set Piaget Society flourished in the 1960s, turquoise has been part of the maison’s design vocabulary since 1963, when it pioneered ornamental stone dials. At Geneva Watch Days, Piaget revisited that heritage with the new Sixtie collection, first unveiled at Watches and Wonders, now reimagined in the luminous glow of turquoise.

The bold trapezoidal case recalls the daring 21st Century Collection of 1969, while the gadrooned bezel nods to the cult “Warhol watch” of the 1970s. Together, these elements channel the effervescence of the swinging sixties, blending Piaget’s mastery of watchmaking with its flair for jewellery and colour.

TAG Heuer Goes All Black

TAG Heuer’s headline launch was the Monaco Flyback Chronograph TH-Carbonspring, a project nearly a decade in the making. The innovation lies inside: an in-house carbon balance spring that delivers superior resistance to magnetism, greater shock absorption, and exceptional lightness.

Visually, the watch embraces the black-on-black aesthetic. Black-gold hands sweep across three subdials, while the spiral motif is engraved on the dial as a discreet nod to the breakthrough within. Even the pushers and crown are crafted in carbon. Limited to just 50 pieces and priced at €17,700, the new Monaco is both a technical milestone and a future collector’s prize.

Zenith in Colour: Collaboration with USM Furniture

Zenith surprises with a playful collaboration with Swiss furniture maker USM Haller, famous for its modular ball-joint system found in design studios worldwide and even in MoMA’s permanent collection.

Creative director Sébastien Gobert asked: what if Zenith and USM had crossed paths in the late 1960s, when Zenith was making waves with the El Primero and USM was patenting its system? The answer is four brightly coloured Defy models—in USM Green, Pure Orange, Golden Yellow, and Gentian Blue—each housed in a custom USM watch boxthat can be integrated into other USM furniture. It’s a whimsical, Lego-like crossover that marries horology and industrial design.

Bulgari Goes Minimalist with Lee Ufan

Bulgari continued to push the Octo Finissimo into artistic territory through a collaboration with Korean-born, Japan-based artist and philosopher Lee Ufan. Known for his minimalist vision, Lee stripped the watch to its essence: hours, minutes, and a small seconds at seven o’clock, set against a mirror-like grey gradient dial.

Inspired by the tension between a static stone and the infinite reflections of a mirror, the design is restrained yet poetic. At just 5.5 mm thick in a 40 mm titanium case, it is a masterclass in understated elegance. Priced at around €22,000, the watch underscores Bulgari’s commitment to using the Octo Finissimo as a canvas for contemporary art.

Breitling Goes Big with the NFL

This month, Breitling has grabbed headlines with a new partnership as the official timepiece of the NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States.  Breitling is honouring Thepartnership with two watches, the Chronomat GMT and the Endurance Pro, available in various colour combinations and details for the 32 NFL teams

Breitling’s move taps into the NFL’s vast U.S. fan base—one of the brand’s strongest markets—while serving as a bold experiment in aligning luxury watches with mass sports culture.

Courtesy of brands

Text: Milena Lazazzera