GPHG 2026: Rexhep Rexhepi’s Flyback Chronograph Takes the Aiguille d’Or
From the desk of 
All 20 winners from Geneva, the watches worth knowing, and what the new categories changed.
The 26th Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève was handed out on Saturday night in Geneva, and the biggest prize went to an independent. Rexhep Rexhepi won the Aiguille d’Or for his Chronograph Flyback, the first flyback chronograph from a watchmaker who has been building his name since the AK-01 in 2012.
The Academy narrowed this year’s entries to 84 finalists across 14 categories, and a jury chaired by Wei Koh awarded 20 prizes. The categories changed, too. Essential, Complication and Gemset replaced the old gender-based divisions, the Iconic Watch Prize was opened to watches from across the wider market, and the Special Jury Prize can now go to a brand.
Below is every winner, starting with the ones I think collectors should know about, followed by the full prize list.
Aiguille d’Or: Rexhep Rexhepi Chronograph Flyback
The RRCHF is a 38.8 mm platinum chronograph, 9.7 mm thick, with a storm-blue Grand Feu enamel dial and smoked sapphire counters. Inside is a new hand-wound flyback calibre with a column wheel, a lateral clutch and an instant minute counter, running at 21,600 vibrations per hour with a 72-hour power reserve. The mainplate and bridges are German silver, finished by hand. The GPHG lists it at CHF 150,000 including VAT.
What I like about this result is that it rewards a complete watch, not a single trick. The size is sensible, the dial stays calm, and the ambition sits in the movement, which is exactly where a collector who turns the watch over will find it.
Iconic Watch Prize: Audemars Piguet Royal Oak RD#5
Audemars Piguet’s Royal Oak “Jumbo” Extra-thin Selfwinding Flying Tourbillon Chronograph RD#5 puts a flyback chronograph and a flying tourbillon together for the first time in the Royal Oak collection. The case is 39 mm wide and 8.1 mm thick, made from titanium and bulk metallic glass. Its Calibre 8100 replaces the usual heart piece and hammer with a patented rack-and-pinion reset. Reference 26545XT.OO.1240XT.01 is limited to 150 pieces at CHF 289,500 including VAT.
AP left with two prizes. The 150 Heritage, a 50 mm platinum pocket watch with 47 functions including 30 complications, won the Calendar and Astronomy Watch Prize. It is limited to 12 pieces at CHF 2,702,500.
Special Jury Prize: Patek Philippe Watch Art
The Special Jury Prize did not go to a watch. It went to Patek Philippe’s Watch Art Grand Exhibitions, which began in Dubai in 2012 and have since travelled to Munich, London, New York, Singapore, Tokyo and, this year, Milan, where the exhibition drew 68,000 visitors. I covered the Milan releases here.
Audacity Prize: Konstantin Chaykin ThinKing Mystery
Konstantin Chaykin’s ThinKing Mystery is 1.65 mm thick in a 41 mm case. The dial is part of the case itself, and the hours and minutes ride on sapphire discs with no visible spokes, so the hands seem to float inside the smiling face of his Wristmon designs. The GPHG calls it the thinnest mechanical watch ever produced as an ultra-limited collection. It is limited to 12 pieces at CHF 400,000.
Mechanical Exception: Blancpain Grande Double Sonnerie
Blancpain spent eight years developing the Grande Double Sonnerie. Its Calibre 15GSQ combines a grande and petite sonnerie, a minute repeater, a flying tourbillon and a retrograde perpetual calendar in a 47 mm red-gold case. Four hammers can play either the Westminster chime or an original melody by Eric Singer. Blancpain makes two a year, at CHF 1,700,000 each.
The Rest of the Winners
Chronometry Prize: Ferdinand Berthoud Naissance d’une Montre 3
A 44.3 mm white-gold watch built using historic production methods and tools, with a fusée-and-chain transmission and a bimetallic balance. It is limited to 11 pieces at CHF 850,000.
Tourbillon Watch Prize: Ferdinand Berthoud Chronomètre FB 2TV
Ferdinand Berthoud’s second prize of the night. The FB 2TV is a 44 mm white-gold, COSC-certified tourbillon with a fusée-and-chain, at CHF 325,000.
Horological Revelation Prize: Dominique Renaud Pulse60 Titanium Black
The Pulse60 beats at just 1 Hz, or 7,200 vibrations per hour, around a 20 mm balance, so the seconds hand moves in visible half-second steps. It is 40 mm in titanium with a 96-hour power reserve, at CHF 52,969.
Complication Watch Prize: Cleguer Inspiration One
A 38.5 mm white-gold watch with an enamel dial, a power reserve indicator and a special escapement, at CHF 103,020.
Chronograph Watch Prize: Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF Chronographe Mystérieux
At rest, its five coaxial hands sit stacked on top of each other, and pressing the monopusher splits them apart. It is 40 mm in steel and platinum, at CHF 36,900.
Sports Watch Prize: Grand Seiko Spring Drive U.F.A. Ushio 300 Diver
Its Calibre 9RB1 is rated to ±20 seconds a year, in a 40.8 mm titanium case that makes it the brand’s smallest diver to date. Reference SLGB023 is listed at CHF 12,500.
Essential Watch Prize: Daniel Roth Extra Plat Rose Gold Skeleton
The first winner of the new Essential prize. The 35.5 by 38.6 mm rose-gold case is 6.9 mm thick, around a DR002SR movement reworked for openworking and made in solid 18k rose gold, at CHF 91,885.
Time Only Watch Prize: Chopard L.U.C 1860
It is 36.5 mm and 8.2 mm thick in steel, with a hand-guilloché dial, the micro-rotor L.U.C 96.40-L and the Geneva Seal, at CHF 24,500. It marks 30 years of Chopard’s manufacture in Fleurier.
Jewellery Watch Prize: Chopard Mystery Nut
Chopard’s second prize. A one-of-one pendant watch in white gold, red gold and titanium, set with 40.67 carats and showing the moon phase, at CHF 870,000.
Artistic Crafts Watch Prize: Louis Vuitton Tambour Taiko Arty Automata
A 42 mm white-gold tourbillon with an enamel dial and an automaton, at CHF 415,000.
Gemset Watch Prize: Piaget Swinging Pebble
A white-gold pendant watch with a pietersite dial, set with 2.43 carats, at CHF 74,000.
Petite Aiguille Watch Prize: Otsuka Lotec No.8
A 31 by 47.8 mm steel watch with jumping hours and retrograde minutes, at CHF 4,900.
Challenge Watch Prize: SpaceOne X Baltic Seconde Majeure
A 38.5 mm steel watch with jumping hours and a brushed German silver dial, at CHF 3,000.
Mechanical Clock Prize: La Vallée Cosmo
Cosmo is a 400 mm mechanical clock in hand-blown Murano glass, steel, aluminium and Invar, with astronomical indications and a power reserve of 9,744 hours, about 406 days. It is listed at CHF 510,000.
The Full 2026 Prize List
- Aiguille d’Or Grand Prix: Rexhep Rexhepi, Chronograph Flyback
- Iconic Watch Prize: Audemars Piguet, Royal Oak “Jumbo” Extra-thin Selfwinding Flying Tourbillon Chronograph RD#5 “150th Anniversary”
- Special Jury Prize: Patek Philippe, Watch Art Grand Exhibition
- Audacity Prize: Konstantin Chaykin, ThinKing Mystery
- Chronometry Prize: Ferdinand Berthoud, Naissance d’une Montre 3
- Horological Revelation Prize: Dominique Renaud, Pulse60 Titanium Black
- Mechanical Exception Watch Prize: Blancpain, Grande Double Sonnerie
- Complication Watch Prize: Cleguer, Inspiration One
- Chronograph Watch Prize: Parmigiani Fleurier, Tonda PF Chronographe Mystérieux
- Tourbillon Watch Prize: Ferdinand Berthoud, Chronomètre FB 2TV
- Sports Watch Prize: Grand Seiko, Spring Drive U.F.A. Ushio 300 Diver
- Calendar and Astronomy Watch Prize: Audemars Piguet, 150 Heritage
- Essential Watch Prize: Daniel Roth, Extra Plat Rose Gold Skeleton
- Time Only Watch Prize: Chopard, L.U.C 1860
- Jewellery Watch Prize: Chopard, Mystery Nut
- Artistic Crafts Watch Prize: Louis Vuitton, Tambour Taiko Arty Automata
- Gemset Watch Prize: Piaget, Swinging Pebble
- Petite Aiguille Watch Prize: Otsuka Lotec, No.8
- Challenge Watch Prize: SpaceOne, SpaceOne X Baltic, Seconde Majeure
- Mechanical Clock Prize: La Vallée, Cosmo
My Take
Two things stand out. The top prize went to an independent for a watch that is restrained on the wrist and ambitious inside, and independents showed up across the list, from Konstantin Chaykin and Dominique Renaud to Otsuka Lotec. At the same time, the big houses still won where scale and long development matter. AP, Blancpain and Patek Philippe all left with prizes for work that takes a large team and years to build.
If you are in Geneva, all 84 nominated watches are on show at the Musée d’Art et d’Histoire until November 15. They then move to Watches of Switzerland in Knightsbridge, London, from November 18 to 23.
Prices are the Swiss retail prices including VAT listed by the GPHG, not U.S. prices. Specifications come from the GPHG’s watch pages and Revolution’s coverage of the winners.
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