It has been another busy week for independent watch releases, and there is quite a bit of variety this time around. From a $299 double-retrograde watch inspired by 1980s speedometers to a $44,100 tantalum creation powered by a Girard-Perregaux automatic movement, here are some of the new releases that caught our attention.
anOrdain Model 1 Porcelain
Scottish watchmaker anOrdain’s latest release is an elegant, dress watch built around a glazed porcelain dial. The dial is made and finished by hand in the brand’s Glasgow workshop by porcelain artist Cara Louise, using traditional hand tools. An equally important element of the design is its custom Breguet-inspired numerals designed by the typographer Kia Tasbihgou. The watch features a classic blue-and-white colour palette with a clean, minimalist dial, but the distinctive numerals and handset are enough to give it plenty of character.
The case carries the same sense of understated elegance. Its slim profile is complemented by subtly integrated crown guards that appear almost decorative rather than overtly functional, flowing smoothly around the crown and into the case. Crafted from polished 316L stainless steel, it measures 38 mm in diameter, 46 mm lug-to-lug and 11 mm thick, and offers 50 metres of water resistance.
The Model 1 Porcelain is available with a choice of two La Joux-Perret automatic movements: the G101 or the decorated A1. The G101 version is priced at around €2,669 ($3108 USD), while opting for the A1 increases the price to approximately €3,057 ($3560 USD).
Straum Expedition
Norwegian watchmaker Straum has released a new watch that feels right at home in the land of the fjords. Named the Expedition, it embraces an outdoor and exploration theme, with a tougher, more tool-watch-oriented look than what we see in the rest of the brand’s current lineup.
The Expedition comes in three colour variants: Midnight Blue, Titanium Gray and White Lume, with the Midnight Blue limited to 200 pieces. Of the three, the blue is the one that caught our attention the most. The blue and grey variants feature subtly grained dial surfaces, while the third goes in a different direction with a fully luminescent white dial. All three feature a date window positioned just above 6 o’clock, with the date rendered in a contrasting bright orange colour. Large hour markers that are made of Grade A BGW9 Super-LumiNova add to the watch’s rugged appearance and are designed to provide plenty of visibility in the dark.
The Swiss-made watch features a hardened Grade 5 titanium case with a stepped bezel design and an enlarged crown. It measures 38.2 mm in case diameter, 11 mm thick—or 10.3 mm excluding the crystal—with a lug-to-lug measurement of 45.7 mm. It also features a screw-down crown with crown guards and offers 100 metres of water resistance. Behind the Expedition’s closed caseback sits the La Joux-Perret G100 automatic movement, featuring 24 jewels and a generous 68-hour power reserve. The watch is available on either a FKM rubber strap or a Grade 5 titanium bracelet.
The Expedition is currently available to pre-order directly from Straum, priced at €2,360 (approximately US$2,751) with the titanium bracelet, or €2,100 (approximately US$2,448) on the rubber strap.
MING Comet 57.05
The MING 57.05 is a limited-edition worldtimer with a particularly interesting twist. Its highlight is a first-of-its-kind, patent-pending system that allows the world-time display to be adjusted for daylight saving time (DST), addressing one of the annoying problems with conventional worldtimers. Cities that do not observe DST remain fixed on the inner bezel, while those that do are placed on a rotating outer bezel. A single click advances only the relevant cities by one hour against the 24-hour scale, making seasonal time changes remarkably simple.
The watch comes in a 316L stainless-steel case with MING’s distinctive stepped-lug design. It measures 40 mm in diameter, 47.8mm lug-to-lug and 10.33 mm thick, while offering a practical 100 metres of water resistance.
Powering this timepiece is the Sellita for MING 330.M2, a 25-jewel automatic movement offering approximately 50 hours of power reserve. The MING 57.05 is priced at CHF 6,950 ($8651 USD) on a leather strap, while opting for MING’s Polymesh bracelet brings the price to CHF 7,950 ($9895 USD).
Atelier Wen × Massena LAB Inflection Shuò
This next release brings together Atelier Wen and Massena LAB. Atelier Wen is a Chinese-French independent watch brand known for bringing luxury Chinese craftsmanship into contemporary watchmaking, while Massena LAB is an independent creative studio founded by watch industry veteran and collector William Massena. The result of their collaboration is the Inflection Shuò, a much more extravagant interpretation of Atelier Wen’s already ambitious Inflection collection.
There is plenty to talk about here. The dial is crafted from solid 18k gold and decorated by hand using Tremblage, a traditional haute horology engraving technique that creates a distinctive textured surface. Equally interesting is the unusual take on a California dial. Instead of the familiar combination of Roman and Arabic numerals, the Shuò combines custom Arabic numerals designed by William Massena with hand-calligraphed Chinese numerals. Each numeral is then individually engraved by hand.
All of this is housed in a case made from 99.9% pure tantalum, a dense blue-grey metal that is notoriously difficult to machine and finish. The dimensions remain wearable at 40 mm in diameter, 45 mm lug-to-lug and 10.2 mm thick, including the crystal. The tantalum construction continues onto the integrated bracelet, which combines brushed and mirror-polished surfaces.
While the watch is French-Chinese-American, the movement comes from the renowned Swiss watchmaker Girard-Perregaux. Visible through the full sapphire caseback is a heavily decorated Girard-Perregaux GP03300 automatic calibre, developed in collaboration between Atelier Wen’s designers and Girard-Perregaux’s technical team. The movement runs at 28,800 vibrations per hour and provides a 48-hour power reserve.
As you might expect, all of this craftsmanship comes with a rather high price tag. The Inflection Shuò is priced at USD $44,100, with production limited to just 50 pieces across its two variants. Deliveries are expected to begin in January 2027.
Jack Mason Canton Day-Date and Day-Date Resort
American watchmaker Jack Mason has announced two new additions to its Canton collection: the Canton Day-Date and Canton Day-Date Resort. Both feature a curved day display at 12 o’clock and a date window at 6 o’clock, giving the dial a nicely balanced layout.
The standard Canton Day-Date takes a dressier approach, with a precision-milled guilloché pattern adding texture to the dial. The Day-Date Resort has a bit more colourful and sportier character, introducing a contrasting colour around the minute track. The differences continue with the choice of strap: the Canton Day-Date comes on a stainless-steel bracelet, while the Resort is paired with a rubber strap.
Both versions share the same dimensions, measuring 41 mm in diameter, 48 mm lug-to-lug and 12 mm thick, and offer 150 metres of water resistance. Inside is the Top Grade Sellita SW240-1 automatic movement, fitted with a custom Jack Mason rotor that can be seen through the sapphire exhibition caseback. You can find both models on the Jack Mason website.
Xeric Volta Double Retrograde
If you’re into the bold colours and futuristic instrument aesthetics of the 1980s, the new Xeric Volta Double Retrograde should be an interesting one to check out. The collection comes in seven colourful variants and features the unconventional approach to displaying time that we have come to expect from Xeric.
The main attraction is its double-retrograde display. Instead of conventional rotating hour and minute hands, the Volta uses two hands that travel along separate arcs before snapping back to their starting positions. Powering the display is a proprietary quartz module using Miyota gearboxes.
The brushed stainless-steel case is compact for such an unusual design, measuring just 36 mm in diameter, 37 mm lug-to-lug and 10.25 mm thick. It is fitted with a mineral crystal, quick-release silicone strap and offers 30 meters of water resistance.
The Volta Double Retrograde is priced at US$299, with selected variants currently available to pre-order and estimated to ship in December 2026.
The Updated Formex Essence 39
Formex has updated its Essence 39 with a new COSC-certified movement and three dial variants: Blue, Alpine White and Radiant Bronze. All three retain the distinctive horizontal grooves across the dial that have become a signature design element of the Essence collection.
The new models come in stainless-steel cases measuring 39 mm in diameter and 45.5 mm lug-to-lug, dimensions that feel very much in line with modern preferences for compact watches. A screw-down crown adds a practical touch, while the bracelet has also been improved, with refinements aimed at making it more comfortable on the wrist.
The most significant update, however, is inside. The watch is powered by Sellita’s new SW200-2 Power+ COSC automatic movement, offering an increased 65-hour power reserve while retaining chronometer certification. Prices start at CHF 1,470 on a strap and CHF 1,570 on the stainless-steel bracelet.
Christopher Ward C60 Trident Biscay Collection
Christopher Ward has expanded its Trident family with the new Biscay collection, a range of dive watches inspired by vintage skin divers. The collection includes the Trident Biscay Automatic, Trident Biscay Bronze and Trident Biscay GMT, with several case sizes, dial and bezel combinations to choose from.
The Biscay Automatic is available in 39 mm and 42 mm stainless-steel cases, while the Bronze comes exclusively in a 39 mm case. The GMT is again offered in both 39 mm and 42 mm sizes, adding a Arrow shaped fourth hand and a bidirectional bezel for tracking an additional time zone. Across the collection, box saphire Crystals, textured dials, large hour markers and vintage-inspired lume help reinforce the retro skin-diver character it aims for.
The Biscay Automatic and Bronze are powered by the COSC-certified Sellita SW300-1 automatic movement, offering approximately 56 hours of power reserve. The GMT instead uses the COSC-certified Sellita SW330-2, also providing around 56 hours of power reserve. Christopher Ward has opted for exhibition casebacks across all three models, allowing the movements to remain on display rather than hiding them behind closed casebacks.
Despite their vintage-inspired skin diver appearance, the Biscay models retain proper dive-watch credentials, with 200 metres of water resistance, screw-down crowns and hardened aluminium bezels.
New Models in AWAKE’s Sơn Mài – Frosted Leaf Collection
Sơn Mài is a traditional Vietnamese lacquer-art technique, and French watchmaker AWAKE has made the craft a defining feature of its handcrafted dials. Frosted Leaf, a collection within the broader Sơn Mài lineup, has now welcomed three new models, each featuring a handmade dial that requires around 15 hours of meticulous work to complete.
Nature remains the underlying theme of these new models, with each of the three models taking on a very different character. Blood Moon combines deep red and black tones, Lagoon pairs blue with black, while Storm introduces a striking combination of black and orange tones of varying intensity.
Despite their different personalities, all three share the same technical specifications. The watches feature 38 mm 316L stainless-steel cases, measuring 44.75 mm lug-to-lug and 11.5 mm thick including the crystal, or 10 mm without it. This timepiece comes with 100 meters of water resistance which is actually more than you might need for a watch of this category.
Inside runs the La Joux-Perret G101 automatic movement, running at 28,800 vibrations per hour and delivering close to three days of power reserve when fully wound. All three models are priced at approximately €2,843.50 (US$3,311).
Peacock Black Hole Curved Guilloché Central Tourbillon – Special Edition
Chinese watchmaker Peacock, whose history dates back to 1957, has introduced its latest model – The Black Hole Curved Guilloché Central Tourbillon. As the name suggests, the star of the show is the centrally positioned tourbillon, sitting right at the heart of a distinctly modern and futuristic-looking dial.
Surrounding the tourbillon is an elaborate handcrafted curved guilloché pattern that flows outward towards the perimeter of the dial. This Special Edition timepiece is offered in two colour variants, Night Purple and Cloud Azure, each giving the intricate pattern a very different character.
The case is crafted from Grade 5 titanium and is relatively large at 43.5 mm in diameter, while the thickness comes in at 11.9 mm. Inside is Peacock’s in-house PAX9611A manual-winding movement, featuring the free-sprung central tourbillon. It runs at 21,600 vibrations per hour and offers an impressive 120-hour power reserve. The Peacock Black Hole Curved Guilloché Central Tourbillon Special Edition is currently available for US$5,099.
