And, like previously reported, high value sales are driving this. But what I find super interesting is that the whole spectrum of the market is more interesting than in a long time. High end from mainstream brands like Rolex, Jaeger-LeCoultre, and Vacheron Constantin is showing a lot of creativity – as does the entry level segment. Especially when looking at independent newcomers like Ba111od. And, like always, we see strong models coming in the iconic watches – but aren’t we ready for more experimentation also on the design side? Where is the courage to go against the stream? All I can say is that it is funny how everybody forgets that integrated steel sports watches were really frowned upon in their early history. Today, many a designer has told me that brands come to them with a brief along the lines of “Can you make something a bit Royal Oak, a bit Nautilus, but in a completely new way that incorporates our DNA?”. Kudos to Bvlgari and Audemars Piguet for trying hard to create future icons in the 21st century with the Octo and the 11.59.
And what is the direction of watch media in 2026? Here at WorldTempus we continue to produce real stories. Stories that appeal to both seasoned collectors and people new to the watch world. Slowly but surely, we are giving stronger voice to our freelancers – and including more external expert interviews in our articles. This will widen our readers’ knowledge and give different opinions: Opinions are important when it comes to describing emotional products like watches! On request we are also giving more attention to our deep-diving technical articles where we scrutinize new releases with technical testing, and next week we are opening new sections which will have monthly contributions: Vintage and Indie Corner. The former will start with a Cartier story by Arthur Touchot (co-founder of the Auction house Marteau & Co), and yours truly is working on a story about the Belgian Bernard and Bernard duo behind the brand L’Atelier Bernard, based in Fleurier. In the long term, fresh articles will appear more frequent in these sections.
All this is combined with being a local megaphone in Geneva: Last night we hosted another Salon WorldTempus where we had a live discussion with special guest Carole Forestier-Kasapi from TAG Heuer. Ms. Forestier-Kasapi is also one of our opinion editorial writers, check our website to find out why she thinks that complications should be categorized. Another example comes in June, when we have a collab event with CREA, the leading school in Geneva and Lausanne for Creative, Marketing, Communication, Digital, AI, Luxury and Event management.
Last but not least, we are open to have a discussion with you. What recent articles did you like? What would you like to see more of at WorldTempus? Do you know something that we should write about? Drop me a line!
All my best,
