It’s A Wild Week for Watches: See 5 New Men’s Timepieces
Judging by the blitz of covetable new timepieces unveiled over the last few days, 2026 is going to be a great year for watches (and watch enthusiasts). Bucking the trend of previous years, in which new releases would be weighted towards the spring and fall, Q1 has already seen an eye-popping array of covetable new timepieces from some of the world’s most respected brands. These are the most notable (but by no means the only) launches from the last week.
Audemars Piguet Neo Frame Jumping Hour
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The lords of Le Brassus don’t release a new collection every day — or even every decade. Before the launch of the Code 11.59 in 2019, the last major shakeup to their catalog had been the Royal Oak Offshore in 1993. Such is the significance of this week’s reveal of the brand’s Neo Frame Jumping Hour, the first piece in a new collection of “jumping hour” watches. Based on a vintage model from 1929, the Neo Frame stands out by eschewing conventional hands and displaying the hours and minutes on rotating discs via windows in the rectangular case. One of no less than 21 new references unveiled by the brand this week, the Neo Frame represents a new chapter for the brand and a much-needed alternative to the ever-popular Royal Oak. ($71,200)
Piaget Polo 79 Two-Tone
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Less surprising but no less covetable, Piaget’s latest addition to the Polo 79 family offers a best-of-both-worlds combination of white and yellow gold. As with the previous editions, the two-tone is a highly limited production model with a 1200P1 Manufacture automatic movement, including a 22K yellow gold micro-rotor engraved with Piaget’s coat of arms, inside its 38mm case. ($129,000)
Breitling Navitimer B01 Chronograph 43 Aston Martin Aramco Formula One Team
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The stakes are higher than ever in Formula One this year, both on and off the track. Fortunately, to accompany Breitling’s announcement as the official watch partner of Aston Martin, the brand brought its biggest gun to the fight. The Navitimer B01 Chronograph 43 Aston Martin Aramco Formula One Team doesn’t just offer green accents to complement its team livery; it also happens to be the first-ever titanium Navitimer. Race fan or not, it’s a beautiful watch. If there were any remaining aviation watch collectors who weren’t already into Formula One, however, this ought to do the trick. ($13,600)
IWC Pilot’s Watch Automatic/Chronograph 41 George Russell
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Lewis who? With the formerly unstoppable Lewis Hamilton now driving for Ferrari, all eyes are on his former Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula One teammate George Russell to maintain the team’s ubiquitous presence on the podium. Likewise, Russell is tasked with putting his name on a pair of Petronas blue Pilot’s Watches for the team’s Official Engineering Partner, IWC. They’re about as far from Hamilton’s Portugieser Tourbillon as you can get, and that’s probably exactly the point. ($11,400/$16,400)
Louis Vuitton x De Bethune LVDB-03 GMT Louis Varius
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It’s no secret that Louis Vuitton has major ambitions in the realms of haute horlogerie, and this collab with beloved indie watchmaker Denis Flageollet, the founder of De Bethune, is the latest example of their accomplishments to that end. The project, whimsically dubbed “Louis cruises with Denis,” consists of two separate timepieces, a contemporary reinterpretation of an 18th‑century “Sympathique” clock, and a travel‑inspired wristwatch derived from the De Bethune DB25 GMT Starry Varius. There’s far too much going on here to explain in a few sentences, but suffice to say it’s catnip for fans of extremely high-end esoteric indie watchmaking.
FEATURE PHOTO: GEORGE RUSSELL, COURTESY OF IWC.
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