Right from the start, 2025 has been a year in which watch brands dared to do things differently. From bold design shifts to mechanical expressions, creativity has been at the forefront. WatchTime India team has picked the top nine watches that struck the right chord this year, featuring standout timepieces from brands like Nomos Glashütte, Longines, Dennison, Zenith, Arnold & Son, Favre Leuba, Cartier, Omega, and Studio Underd0g.
Here are three picks from Preetika Mathew, Editor-in-charge, WatchTime India
1. Club Sport Neomatik Worldtimer
Nomos Glashutte’s Club Sport Neomatik Worldtimer collection is a line of 40mm stainless steel watches in a range of dial colours whose highlight is an outer ring that displays 24 time zones using city codes, for world travellers to help them easily navigate international time differences. Further, a 24-hour display is located at 3 o'clock for home time reference, incorporated with day and night marked in different tones on the circumference. The seconds subdial is at 6 o’clock. There are a total of 8 watches, out of which 6 are colourful iterations in Volcano, Jungle, Canyon, Glacier, Magma, and Dune, limited to 175 pieces each, and two are in blue (Ref. 790) and silver (Ref. 791). Powering these watches is the new 4.8mm thin automatic in-house Calibre DUW 3202 with 42 hours of power reserve.
Prices: Upon request
2. Dennison ALD Dual Time
The recently resuscitated brand Dennison introduced the ALD Dual Time, a dual-time watch featuring two independent sets of hour and minute hands, each adjustable through its own crown. Retaining the collection’s curved cushion case inspired by 1970s TV case shapes, integrated lugs, and slim 6.1 mm profile, it is now resized to 35.6 mm, 2 mm wider than its predecessor. Offered in stainless steel or gold PVD, there are two options for the dials - one combining two different stones to each represent a time zone, and another with a single-stone and a sunray subdial. Variants include tiger’s eye and marble, bloodstone and lapis, malachite with green sunray, lapis lazuli with blue sunray, and aventurine with black sunray. The watches are powered by twin quartz Ronda movements. Each piece is paired with an Epsom leather strap and matching buckle, with multiple strap colours available.
Price: Rs 78,000 (approx.)
3. Longines Spirit Pilot Flyback
An addition to Longines's storied Spirit collection is the latest Spirit Pilot Flyback (Ref. L3.721.4.53.6), which introduces design changes in the line. The watch is encased in 39.5 mm, reduced from 42 mm, stainless steel and for the first time features a bidirectional rotating bezel, this time with more niche countdown bezel markings. The matte-black dial is pared down with the removal of the five stars, and instead the words 'Officially Certified' appears. Notably, the 2, 4, 8, and 10 numerals are partially cut off to accommodate the subdials-small seconds at 9 o'clock, and a 30-minute counter at 3 o'clock. At the heart of this chronograph lies the hand-wound Longines Calibre L792.4, visible through a transparent caseback, boasting a 68-hour power reserve. The watch comes with either a stainless-steel bracelet or interchangeable brown leather strap, both featuring micro-adjustable folding clasps.
Price: 75,20,000
Timepieces picked by Somya Rauthan, Senior Correspondent, WatchTime India
1. Arnold & Son Constant Force Tourbillon 11
Celebrating the 260th anniversary of English clockmaker and founder John Arnold, and his association with Swiss-French clockmaker Abraham-Louis Breguet, Arnold & Son introduced the Constant Force Tourbillon 11 (Ref. 1FCBJ.E01A.C246J). The 11-piece, 41.5 mm, limited edition 18-karat gold watch is equipped with the hand-wound, in-house Calibre A&S5219 with a constant force mechanism, inspired by the first tourbillon created by Abraham-Louis Breguet in 1808. The watch features two identical barrels mounted in series, which provide a 100-hour power reserve and prevent excessive and insufficient torque from affecting the oscillations of the balance in the tourbillon carriage. This constant force mechanism is visible on the enamel dial and is regulated by a tourbillon that can be seen on the back.
Price: 1,25,85,000 (approx.)
Also Read: Best women’s watches of 2025
2. A Lange & Sohne Minute Repeater Perpetual
Marking the first time that the brand has combined the two complications on its own - a minute repeater and a perpetual calendar - the Minute Repeater Perpetual (Ref. Reference 607.091FE) is a 40.5 mm platinum piece with a black enamel dial, limited to 50 pieces. Attention to detail in it is immense - while different subdials mark the calendar functions, there is a sunken disc for the leap year indicator and a moonphase display that requires correction by one day only after 122.6 years. All calendar indications can be jointly advanced with a single corrector. The minute repeater is activated by a slide on the left-hand case flank, and is enhanced with a pause elimination feature - this feature skips the pause between the hour and minute strike when no double tone is required for the quarter hours in the first 14 minutes after the top of the hour. The watch is driven by the Calibre L122.2, which features a frosted finish on its bridges.
Price: Upon request
3. Favre Leuba Chief Skeleton
This year was a big hit for Favre Leuba back to back, early this year the brand launched its first tourbillon watch—Chief Tourbillon, and on the same design codes recently introduced the Chief Skeleton, again a brand’s first—a skeleton dial watch. So this has to be amongst the best picks of the year. Highlight of the watch, skeleton dial, features custom-designed movement, FLS01 or FLS02, depending on the gold-finished or anthracite-finished iterations. Further, the movement is done in layered construction with the help of multiple textures and finishes. Techniques such as snailing, which creates delicate spiral patterns, complement satin and sandblasted surfaces to build a sense of visual drama. The semi-exposed mainspring barrel sits at 12 o’clock, while the balance wheel sits at 6 o’clock beneath a horizontally brushed bridge – a Favre Leuba hallmark. The movement beats at a frequency of 28,800 vibrations per hour and delivers a 41-hour power reserve. Completing the display is a skeletonized rotor, engraved with the Favre Leuba wordmark and given a satin finish. In the anthracite version, the rotor is coated with a matching DLC treatment. It’s a 40 mm watch with the Chief line’s signature cushion-shaped case and fits on the wrist, offered on FKM rubber straps.
Prices: 3,79,000 (onwards)
Watches picked by Digvijay, Senior Correspondent, WatchTime India
1. Cartier Santos Titanium
Titanium usually marks its presence in tough and sporty watches. But, Cartier changes that with the launch of the new Santos de Cartier Titanium LM (Ref. CRWSSA0089. It serves to highlight just how cool and special the Santos feels in its frosty new, lightweight garb. Happily, Cartier used a mostly bead-blasted matte finish highlighted by the likes of polished bevels and screws. Together, it captures the qualities and coolness of titanium but makes it feel truly elevated in a Cartier way. The material and its execution fits the Santos exceptionally well, and a lowkey matte white dial was exactly the right combo. This is the Cartier Santos in the form of its “large” model. That means a diameter of 39.8mm wide with a lug-to-lug of 47.5mm and a 9.38mm thickness, powered by the Cartier 1847 MC automatic movement. Speaking of the bracelet: The titanium model’s bracelet doesn’t feature the Smartlink adjustment system. Perhaps that was more difficult to execute in titanium, as the metal has long been known as more challenging to work with than others.
Price: Rs. 10,20,000 (approx.)
2. Omega Aqua Terra 30 mm
Omega has elevated its Seamaster Aqua Terra collection with 12 new timepieces designed specifically for women, which also mark a significant milestone as the line welcomes its first-ever 30 mm case size. This launch not only celebrates new proportions but also an engineering accomplishment – two new Co-Axial Master Chronometer movements, Calibres 8750 and 8751 have been tailored to fit the compact form. The new Aqua Terras are available in an array of materials: Stainless steel, 18K Moonshine Gold, 18K Sedna Gold, and two-tone combinations of gold and steel. The collection presents a diverse palette of dial colours—black, blue, silver, grey, lavender, pearled white, green, brown, and the signature Moonshine Gold—many accented with diamond-set bezels and hour markers. Each reference retains Aqua Terra’s elegant DNA while introducing a redesigned, more contemporary silhouette. Across the entire collection, there are hull-shaped hour markers and new dauphine hands, both treated with blue-glowing white Super-LumiNova®. There is a discreet date window positioned at 6 o’clock. Calibre 8750 powers the stainless steel and bi-metal models, while Calibre 8751, the solid gold variants. Both movements feature a Co-Axial escapement, free-sprung balance with silicon balance spring, magnetic resistance up to 15,000 gauss, and a 48-hour power reserve, each certified to Master Chronometer standards. The watches are paired with brushed and polished integrated bracelets.
Price: ₹ 6,50,000 (approx.)
3. Studio Underd0g Watermel0n (Gen3)
The British watch brand is known for its playful aesthetics, has launched Watermel0n (Gen3)
limited edition, which stands out immediately with its fun satin sandblast base-dial and coarse dégradé top-dial reminiscing a refreshing watermelon—the tachymeter scale and 30-minute counter is in light green while the rest of the dial and small seconds subdial at 9 o’clock is in red. The 38.5mm stainless steel watch is powered by the brand’s exclusive manual winding Calibre ST-1901B, developed in collaboration with Seagull. With the accuracy of -10/+15 s/d the movement boasts a power reserve of about 50 hours (45 hours when chronograph function is on). A black Italian Epsom leather strap completes the watch.
Price: Rs. 66,700 (approx.)
Images: Courtesy brands
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