The new category is perhaps the most significant change, since it considerably lowers the barrier of entry for participants. The most affordable watches in the competition previously had to hold their own in a category where the retail price could be anything up to 8,000 Swiss francs. The fact that, over the past five years, only one of the winners in this “Petite Aiguille” (small hand) category cost over 4,000 Swiss francs shows just how strong certain brands are in terms of value for money. Or perhaps I should say one certain brand, since Tudor has scooped the prize in three of the past five years. The only brand to win the category with a watch costing more than 4,000 Swiss francs was Seiko.
It comes as little surprise, therefore that the new category introduced this year, called the “Challenge Prize”, sets the bar at this 4,000 Swiss francs level, giving the brands operating in this price segment a better chance of picking up a prize (and perhaps acting as an incentive for the more affordable Swatch Group brands, who have hitherto been conspicuous by their absence from the GPHG). The “Petite Aiguille” category remains, but now covers the price range between 4,000 and 10,000 Swiss francs, raising the upper limit slightly to allow independent luxury brands with the most aggressively priced in-house movements and complications to compete with their higher volume peers.
To enhance the prizes that can be awarded, at the jury’s discretion, to any of the 72 shortlisted watches, the “Prix de l’Audace” (audacity prize) has been introduced alongside the Innovation Prize, Revival Prize and, of course, the ultimate accolade of the “Aiguille d’Or”. This prize will reward the watch that shows the best expression of creative freedom, non-conformism or downright folly. It will work well in parallel with the Innovation Prize, which is designed to reward more technical approaches to further the art of watchmaking.
Registration for this year’s GPHG opens on 1st May and closes on 22nd June. The shortlisted watches will be announced on 1st September and the winners will be revealed at the awards ceremony on 9th November in Geneva.
