Price: € < 1,000 | €€ < 5,000 | €€€ < 20,000 | €€€€ < 50,000 | €€€€€ > 50,000

Utinam Ballastographe

Fusing mechanical art with contemporary clockmaking, Utinam mirrors the versatility and creativity of its founder. Philippe Lebru has spent the past 30 years devising mechanical wall clocks, standing clocks and automata out of the company’s workshops in Besançon. His latest creation is the Ballastographe. This third generation of the patented suspended movement that has earned Manufacture Utinam its glowing reputation incorporates two coveted complications, namely a regulator display, with a seconds counter at 12 o’clock and hours at 9 o’clock, and retrograde minutes on a 105-degree sector between 1 and 5 o’clock. The Ballastographe is offered in six colours, each an 88-piece limited edition. €€€€

Maison Alcée Pendulette Persée

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to build your own clock? Then look no further than Maison Alcée (est. 2019) whose specially designed kit contains the components and tools required to assemble a high-end table clock with passing strike. Presented in a wooden box, the kit comprises 233 components, which are made in France or Switzerland, 15 tools designed for ease of use (including by the uninitiated) and clearly written instructions completed by anecdotes from the history of clockmaking. Maison Alcée is the brainchild of Alcée Monfort who devised the kit alongside designer Antoine Tschumi and master watchmaker Thierry Ducret. After several hours of almost meditative concentration, experience the gratification of owning a clock built with your own hands. €€€

Alto Art 01

The intriguing aesthetic of this new brand’s first creation is inspired by the “wedge design” best found in the concept cars of the 1970s. Keen to show that seemingly antinomic elements can be interwoven into a coherent whole, its founders have designed the ART 01 watch so that it plays with light through its facets. Another disruptive element is that the watch, equipped with a calibre from Le Cercle des Horlogers, reverses the traditional march of time by turning the seconds hand backwards. A counterpoint to established conventions. €€€

Trilobe Les Matinaux L’Heure Exquise

Now a familiar name for its concentric and eccentric display of hours, minutes and seconds, Trilobe presents a uniquely lyrical interpretation of that most poetic of complications: the moon phase. Stars dance over a sapphire crystal that rotates in time with the seconds while two moons wax and wane in the midst of a star-studded sky. A Blue, Dune or personalised Secret dial captures the beauty of the new X-Centric calibre in the soothing rotations of its discs. A novel and truly beautiful way to tell the time, signed Trilobe. €€€

Reservoir Tiefenmesser Tourbillon

Reservoir introduces a new movement and a new dimension, along with its first ever tourbillon. The 100% independent brand has taken this giant mechanical leap in collaboration with Télôs – a firm of highly regarded movement engineers, based in La Chaux-de-Fonds, and a strategic partner from the brand’s earliest days. Created for Only Watch, this one-off piece reprises Reservoir’s signature 240-degree retrograde minutes display combined with jumping hours at 6 o’clock, against the backdrop of a white grand feu enamel dial. A large tourbillon makes a statement under the hours and minutes dial. Reservoir raises the bar with this one-of-one demonstration of horological culture.

Beaubleu Ecce

After three limited-edition collections, Beaubleu (est. 2017) introduces Ecce, its first permanent collection. A celebration of the brand’s ethos, Ecce captures the quintessence of Beaubleu’s unique and unmistakably Parisian vibe. Hours, minutes and seconds are shown by distinctive round “hands” to reveal time as a perfect and poetic circle. Beaubleu continues to craft its unique identity in a language that matches simplicity with thoughtful design details. The case, in a gender-neutral 39mm size, is mounted on a Milanese mesh strap in steel for a touch of Parisian chic. Refreshing, subtle, original and affordable watchmaking à la française. €

Anatole Baker 1920

Parisian elegance meets Swiss made, all for the love of Art Deco! Every Anatole Baker watch comes with a custom-made strap – the brand was founded by a specialist in the field, after all. As proof of this expertise, the company’s designers and watchmakers have succeeded in creating a rectangular watch that wears as comfortably as a round model. Indeed, the brand confidently states that no other rectangular watch feels this good on the wrist. €€-€€€

Poiray Ma Première Tricolore

From its vantage point on Place Vendôme in Paris, Poiray presents its emblematic Ma Première watch in France’s national colours. The case, framed by Art Deco gadroons, is crafted from steel. Hands and indices, which are protected by a sapphire crystal, are an elegant matte navy blue against the white of the dial. Completing this red-white-blue theme, the strap can be swapped out in an instant for one of the many bracelets and straps that Poiray proposes. €€

Semper & Adhuc Inopinée Genevoise

Established in 2016, Semper & Adhuc “rehomes” vintage mechanisms, which it restores at its workshops in south-west France, in modern designs. The Inopinée Genevoise combines the model’s distinctive 37mm oval case in satin finish 316L stainless steel with a minimalist dial. The deliberately undersized hands are a nod to an era of diminutive jewellery watches. Inside is a Swiss-made manual-winding AS 1012 movement, produced from the 1930s up to the 1970s. This particular iteration is exclusive to the Watchmakers United store in Geneva, with personalised dial colours also available. €€

Buci Paris x seconde/seconde

Time and poetry are the cornerstones of Buci Paris, which has collaborated with watch customiser and artist seconde/seconde for this limited and numbered edition. Droplets of ink “bleed” onto the paper-textured dial to evoke the poet’s struggle to find inspiration faced with a blank page. Buci Paris concludes chapter one of its story with these 40 watches, numbered 261/300 to 300/300. A Soprod automatic movement delivers 42 hours of power reserve. €€

Awake Dare & Dream

Since 2020, Awake has sought to minimise its environmental impact and awaken our minds to Earth’s fragile beauty. The young brand brings its Chapter I Mission to Earth to a close through a collaboration with the artist Nicolas Barrome Forgues, whose luminescent “doodles” spill across the white grained dial. This is watchmaking with a sense of fun that also has a serious message to deliver. Each of the watches in this 50-piece limited edition is delivered with an exclusive work by Barrome Forgues. €

Baltic Hermétique Tourer

This collection captures the very best of Baltic: a vintage-inspired design, a field watch’s functionality contained in a 37mm diameter and an affordability that the younger generation of watch buyers will appreciate. Water-resistant to 150m, with a double-domed sapphire crystal and an integrated crown, the case is finished with horizontal brushing on the sides and circular brushing on the lugs, topped with a polished bezel. Applied hour markers, in C3 X1 Super-LumiNova®, bisect the dial’s outer and central sectors to form a three-dimensional composition. “Syringe” hands in polished steel are finished with matching Super-LumiNova®. A Miyota 9039 automatic movement delivers 42 hours of power reserve. €

SYE MOT1ON

Up-and-coming brand SYE (Start Your Engine) approaches watches from the vantage point of “sport tailoring”, through casually elegant sport watches with interchangeable straps. This year it introduces the MOT1ON Automatic 24, equipped with a Miyota automatic movement, and the MOT1ON Chronograph, driven by a Seiko meca-quartz calibre. The 40mm steel or titanium case is water-resistant to 50 metres. From the distinctly sporty look to the patented Fastback system for swapping out straps (on a deployant clasp) quickly and easily, SYE is one of the brands giving momentum to a new generation of affordable watches. €

Akrone C-03

Akrone, which next year celebrates its tenth anniversary, equips its watches with French (France Ebauches), Japanese and Swiss movements. Pre-orders have come pouring in for its C-03 collection, with recent models ranging from 39mm to 41mm in diameter. Key features are the titanium case, sapphire crystal and sandwich dial. Customers can choose their insert for the versions with a bezel. The automatic movement is a modified Seiko NH35 and the whole thing is mounted on an FKM rubber strap. €

Thomas Karbiche

After taking the reins at “L’Horloger de Battant”, a well-known vintage watch store in Besançon, two years ago Thomas Karbiche began to make watches under his own name. This acclaimed restorer’s experience speaks for itself. A graduate of Lycée Edgar Faure in Morteau, one of France’s most highly regarded watchmaking schools, he has worked for the likes of Audemars Piguet, La Joux-Perret, Ulysse Nardin and Louis Moinet. His brand’s central tenet is to upcycle cases, dials and movements, from unsold stock, into unique timepieces. Prices are adapted to customers’ budgets.

Bell & Ross BR 05 Black Ceramic

Bell & Ross debuts ceramic in its BR 05 line for urban explorers in what else but its signature black. Prior to entering the watch industry in the 1980s, high-tech ceramic was already widely used in the aerospace and space industries. This ultra strong and lightweight material initially served to manufacture rocket nose cones and spacecraft heat shields. This pedigree links directly to Bell & Ross’s design language which is rooted in aviation and cockpit instrument panels. Note the detail of the movement’s black ruthenium finish, visible through the sapphire case back. €€€

B.R.M. Orient Express Racing Team

Immersed in the motor sports world since its creation in 2003, the independent French brand B.R.M. Chronographes is known for its customised watches which future owners tailor to their personal preferences using the online configurator. Developed for the 37th America’s Cup, the watches made under Orient Express Racing Team licence come in three models in a 34mm or 44mm polished stainless steel case. Each is equipped with a blue dial whose sunray finish suggests waves rippling across water. €

Hegid Vision

Hegid launched in 2015 with a concept for an evolutive steel and titanium capsule collection, powered by a Swiss automatic movement, that lets the wearer choose the watch’s case and strap – and swap them for others later should they wish, for greater sustainability. The brand now introduces its Vision tool watch, distinguished by the eye-shaped marker on the ceramic bidirectional rotating bezel. Quarter hours are shown by luminescent markers at 3, 6, 9 and 12 o’clock with an original four-segment circular shape. Water-resistant to 100 metres, the Hegid Vision has all the makings of a robust, reliable and sustainable dive watch, with versions in blue and black. €€

Ralf Tech WRV Automatic 1977 GMT

Dive watch or GMT, why choose? Ralf Tech answers the question with this tenth version of the now famous WRV Automatic, introduced in 2012. Founded in 1996, the French brand pursues its vision of the utilitarian watch with this 77-piece limited edition, complete with navy blue lacquered dial. The crown at 4 o’clock is designed for easy grip while the matte black ceramic bezel insert features novel “inverted arrow” indices. The GMT function is by a second hour hand sweeping a 24-hour scale on the flange. Water-resistance for the 43.8mm case in 316L steel is 300 metres. In all, a solid tool watch that travellers will also appreciate. €€