Inside Dubai Watch Week: Wild New Watches, and a Cultural Turning Point

Despite the scorching heat outside, what came across as a luxury designer village drew huge attention and visitor numbers this year, sparking calls for the Dubai Watch Week to become an annual event. This says a lot for what Hind Seddiqi, Ahmed Seddiqi, and their team has created. In its new location at Burj Park, at the foot of the towering spectacle of Burj Al Arab, the relaxed atmosphere stood in stark contrast to the immaculate skyscrapers looming above, as industry leaders aired their opinions in public forums, including a first for Rolex CEO Jean-Frederic Dufour.

It was an event where collectors coming from as far as Australia, Japan and the US could casually strike up conversations with industry leaders like Ilaria Resta of Audemars Piguet, who said: ”It’s a melting pot of different cultures, Dubai is at the crossroad of so many different influences culturally,” adding “there is an openness to innovation.” What also comes across is that, besides Dubai Watch Week becoming a worldwide event, the region’s horological taste has evolved, as seen in the multitude of new releases and special editions. The big Swiss legacy brands and smaller independents alike seemed to have pulled out all the stops, so let’s have a closer look at some of the many novelties presented under the Emirati sun.

Tudor Ranger Dune 36

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We were surprised in a good way by Tudor at Dubai Watch Week this year. It’s hard to imagine that anyone was expecting to see a new Tudor Ranger in a “Goldilocks-sized” 36mm case. Under the Dubai sun, we tried on the new Tudor — a sharp, scaled-down Ranger that introduces its most accessible manufacture-powered tool watch yet. Fittingly, a new ‘Dune White’ dial joins the lineup, echoing the mythical vintage Explorer “Albino.” Tudor offers the new Ranger line in 36 or 39mm, and every variant comes on a jacquard fabric strap or the sublime three-link T-Fit bracelet we know and love.

Louis Vuitton Escale Turquoise

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Louis Vuitton brought the thunder at Dubai Watch Week, alongside sister company Gerald Genta. We all love stone dials, that one is settled, but this was an industry first, a solid stone mid case. Louis Vuitton’s watchmaking voice appeared ever sharper with two new Escale models to dial up the artisanal swagger of Le Fabrique du Temps, their Manufacture. With malachite and turquoise pieces featuring not just stone dials, but matching midcases framed by platinum, powered by the LFT023 calibre, they mark LV’s most confident step yet.

Frederique Constant Elements Collection

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In the Frederique Constant booth, we were met with not one, but a set of five watch, four of which were imbued with stone dials. Frederique Constant sees this as a fanfare to mark its young 37th anniversary with a collector-focused, vintage-themed set built entirely around five manufacture calibres. Limited to just 37, the “Elements Collection” honours the brand’s own 1988 birth year, while spotlighting a mineral theme that is very much of today. Lapis lazuli, turquoise, heliotrope, and onyx take centre stage across key references, joined by a burgundy-dial Perpetual Calendar Tourbillon whose openworked architecture reveals the movement’s complexity. In the wooden box you will also find a worldtimer, perpetual calendar, and moonphase, forming a crystalline snapshot of Frederique Constant’s modern capabilities. This five-piece set will reach the brand’s most dedicated collectors in the final quarter of 2025.

H.Moser & Cie Streamliner Perpetual Moon Meteorite

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For futurism, Eduoard Meylan’s brand never disappoints, and the new 40mm Streamliner fused minimalism with the rich sand tones of the region, on a coloured meteorite dial. Normally, we are sceptical of colouring the natural beauty of a meteorite, but the shape-shifting copper-sand tones of the meteorite had us turning it under the Dubai Watch Week spotlights to catch the best tone, utterly mesmerized. The lacquer has a trademark fumé effect we know the brand for, with a dark moon phase complication at six o’clock that adds allure to the chameleonic dial tone. And sufficed to say, the intrinsic quality of the soft, armadillo-like bracelet never gets old, and feels to have reached its zenith in this, the smallest 40mm size.

Sartory-Billard PULSE

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Among the independents in Dubai, Sartory-Billard drew particular attention with an early look at the PULSE, its upcoming jumping-hour model. The prototype showcased a wide digital hour display at 6 o’clock crafted in sapphire, paired with a peripheral minute ring that completes a full rotation every hour, creating a floating halo of BGW9 lume around the cabochon. This cabochon — stone, metal or sapphire depending on the version — is mounted from the outside, giving the watch its identity and tactile presence. While not yet officially launched, the PULSE preview signaled a notable evolution in the brand’s offering and set the stage for one of the most anticipated releases of its anniversary year.

Gerald Genta Gentissima Oursin 41

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Fresh from winning the Ladies Watch award at the GPHG, the Oscars of watchmaking, the revived Genta brand is on a roll, with both watchmakers and Alexia Genta on site to speak with collectors and media alike. Gérald Genta’s original Oursin was inspired by the tactile geometry of a sea urchin and designer for his wife, in Dubai we were shown a bold 41mm titanium Gentissima edition. Its case is still hand-set with 234 white-gold beads, framing faceted crystals and blue or green meteorite dials with softly glowing pink Super-LumiNova accents. And just like in the H.Moser watch, the texture of meteorite has a particular allure that only seems to be underlined by the rich colours.

Urwerk x Ulysse Nardin UR-Freak

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With the freshest strap and fluo accents of the show, the UR-Freak represented one of the most perfect collaborations in the independent sphere, as tool masters Urwerk and Ulysse Nardin combined their stylistic flair. What we saw and wore at the event is a matte, focused tool watch which seems to have a near-perfect balance of the two design languages, and boy does it work. The case is very much a UN Freak creation, though with a more industrial tweak that is very Urwerk, as is the immensely complicated display. Calling it a dial is almost doing the brands a disservice, as we peruse many of the 150 new components designed to bring the UR-Freak to life. The new UN-241 calibre is equipped with a trademark Urwerk satellite time display, with the minutes placed along the right-hand side of the “dial” – so you can check the time with the watch just peeking out under your shirt sleeve. But most interesting is that this is still a true Freak, and easily a DWW favourite.

Vanguart Black Hole

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Vanguart is a young company making sharp, modern creations in the vein of MB/F and Urwerk, yet with their very own style language and youthful energy that in the Dubai WW booth was infectious. Their debut creation was the asymmetric, large yet strangely comfortable Black Hole, a wristwatch spaceship featuring an off-centre tourbillon and a host of innovations. The young brand dropped two watches in Dubai, and our fave on the wrist was the smooth eloquence of the rose gold version, with its impossibly smooth case and perplexing dial.

Biver Automatique Lavender Jade with Diamonds

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Jean-Claude Biver and son Pierre came fully loaded for the Dubai Watch Week, offering six new dial variations of their biggest success, the 39mm Automatique. Stone dials are the name of JC’s game, and despite the achingly perfect match of dark brown stone with an 18K gold case, we could not let go of the lilac jade-dialled version. It might seem overly exhuberant for a men’s watch, but with baguette diamond indices with a light-catching proprietary Biver cut, the fresh approach won us over.  

Laurent Ferrier Classic Origin Beige

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The eloquent language of Laurent Ferrier has evolved with the help of Martin Guillet, Head of Creation for the brand. You might think that a colour can only do so much, but despite its understated appearance in press images, on the wrist, the gold-on-gold combo made the champagne-like dial evoke the warm beauty of the surrounding desert. With a reserved touch of warm red in the recessed small seconds dial at 6 and 5-minute markings around the edge of the dial, eloquence is the name of the game.

Ressence Type 9S 75

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Like Laurent Ferrier, but with strong minimalist difference, Belgian avant-garde brand Ressence had taken the Emirati desert as its inspiration. But literally rather than figuratively, as the dial of the slim type 9 contains real grains of sand from the seven regions of the UAE. And Ressence has done this in celebration of Ahmed Seddiqi’s 75h Anniversary.

The entire Dubai Watch Week is created and hosted by UAE watch and jewellery titan Ahmed Seddiqi & Sons, so it is a fitting conclusion to this story. This watch from Ressence channels regional pride and storytelling into a watch created for Seddiqi, a reatailer founded in 1950 and now spanning 50 boutiques across the Emirates. Seddiqi remains the Middle East’s most influential curator of fine watchmaking and has made the Dubai Watch Week into an event that has transcended its regional importance, making it a worldwide calendar inclusion. This anniversary edition doesn’t just nod to the UAE’s spirit — it quite literally carries it. By integrating a genuine fragment of the local landscape into the design, Ressence transforms its minimalist philosophy into something tactile, rooted, and unmistakably Emirati.

All imagery courtesy of respective brands.

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