The Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Geneve just released its 2026 nominee list: 84 watches across 14 categories, with the ceremony set for Saturday, November 7 at the Batiment des Forces Motrices in Geneva. Five nominations stand out for what they say about where high watchmaking is headed this year.
The short answer: GPHG 2026 nominees worth watching include the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak RD#5 150th Anniversary flying tourbillon chronograph (CHF 260,000, 150 pieces), the Grand Seiko Spring Drive U.F.A. Ushio 300 Diver (EUR 12,500), the Chopard L.U.C Grand Strike (CHF 780,000, roughly two pieces a year), the Girard-Perregaux Laureato Three Gold Bridges (CHF 162,000, 50 pieces), and the H. Moser Endeavour Flyback Chronograph Dual Time Date (CHF 74,500). Winners are announced November 7, 2026.
The Royal Oak RD#5, AP's fifth Research and Development record piece and a GPHG 2026 nominee in the Chronograph category.
What GPHG Actually Rewards
The Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Geneve is not a sales chart. It is a jury prize, judged by watchmakers, retailers, journalists, and collectors, and it tends to reward technical ambition over marketing budget. That is why the list skews toward independents and manufacture-heavy pieces rather than the volume references that move the most units at retail.
Eighty-four watches made the 2026 cut across fourteen categories, from Ladies to Chronograph to the Audacity Prize for unconventional design. The five below are not a ranking. They are the nominations that tell the clearest story about the state of mechanical watchmaking heading into the November ceremony.
Audemars Piguet Royal Oak RD#5: 150 Years, One Movement
AP built the RD#5 for its 150th anniversary, and the brief was absurd on paper: fit a flying tourbillon and a column-wheel flyback chronograph with jumping hours and minutes into a case just 8.1mm thick.
The Case and the Movement
The 39mm case runs titanium with BMG-Tech bezel, pushers, and crown, a material combination AP has used on record-thin pieces before. Reference 26545XT.OO.1240XT.01 carries the deep Bleu Nuit, Nuage 50 dial that has become a recurring AP finish this year.
The Calibre AP 8100 inside is entirely in-house: 379 parts, 44 jewels, beating at 21,600 vph with a 72-hour power reserve. A flying tourbillon sits at 6 o'clock and the chronograph jumps its hour and minute counters rather than sweeping them, a mechanical trick that keeps the display legible without adding case height.
Water resistance is a token 20m, which tells you this watch was never meant for the pool. It was built to prove AP can still push the limits of thin, complicated watchmaking on its own anniversary.
Pricing sits at CHF 260,000 across a 150-piece run.
Grand Seiko Spring Drive Ushio 300 Diver: The Accessible Nominee
Not every GPHG nominee costs a house. The Grand Seiko Spring Drive U.F.A. Ushio 300 Diver is the value pick of this list by a wide margin, and its nomination matters because it puts genuine dive-watch engineering in front of the same jury judging six-figure complications.
The blue dial reference, SLGB023, running the Spring Drive Calibre 9RB1 with 300m water resistance.
Caliber 9RB1 and the U.F.A. Case
U.F.A. stands for Ultra Fine Accuracy, and the 9RB1 movement backs that claim with a Spring Drive hybrid mechanism accurate to plus or minus 20 seconds a year. That is quartz-level precision from a mechanically powered movement, which remains Grand Seiko's signature trick and nobody else's.
The titanium case runs 40.8mm by 12.9mm, rated to 300m under ISO 6425 diver standards. Two dial colors ship: blue (SLGB023) and green (SLGB025), both textured to catch light the way Grand Seiko's Shizukuishi and Shinshu dials always do.
At EUR 12,500, the Ushio 300 costs less than a tenth of the AP RD#5 above it and still earned a nomination on engineering merit alone. Our Grand Seiko buying guide covers where this diver sits against the rest of the current lineup, including the Snowflake that made the brand's name in the West.
Chopard L.U.C Grand Strike: Bespoke Sound
Chopard does not sell the L.U.C Grand Strike so much as commission it. At roughly two pieces a year, this is closer to a standing bespoke order than a catalog reference, and the GPHG nomination recognizes one of the most complete striking watches in production anywhere.
The Calibre L.U.C 08.03-L: 686 parts, 67 jewels, and Chopard's sapphire monobloc gong technology.
Grande Sonnerie, Petite Sonnerie, and a One-Minute Tourbillon
The Calibre L.U.C 08.03-L stacks a Grande Sonnerie, a Petite Sonnerie, a minute repeater, and a one-minute tourbillon into a single 43mm by 14.08mm case in ethical white gold. That is four separate acoustic and regulating complications sharing one movement architecture, running at 28,800 vph.
Power reserve splits by function: 70 hours for timekeeping and 12 hours of strike reserve, since chiming drains energy far faster than the going train alone. The sapphire monobloc gong is Chopard's own patent, carved from a single sapphire crystal rather than assembled from separate wire gongs, which the brand claims produces a purer, more resonant chime.
At CHF 780,000, this is the most expensive watch on our list by a wide margin, and Chopard is not chasing volume with it. Our Chopard L.U.C collection guide covers the rest of the manufacture's serious watchmaking, most of it priced several zeros lower than the Grand Strike.
Girard-Perregaux Laureato Three Gold Bridges: Two Icons Merged
Girard-Perregaux owns two of the oldest ideas in independent watchmaking: the 1975 Laureato case and the Three Gold Bridges movement architecture that dates back to the 1860s. The Laureato Three Gold Bridges nominee merges them for the first time.
Reference sits in a 41mm steel case with an octagonal white gold bezel, one of 50 pieces.
The Calibre GP9620
Three horizontal gold bridges span the movement in the brand's signature layout, visible through the dial rather than hidden under it. The in-house Calibre GP9620 adds a micro-rotor, a titanium tourbillon cage, 21,600 vph, and a 55-hour power reserve inside a 41mm by 10.85mm steel case.
The octagonal white gold bezel nods directly to the Laureato's Gerald Genta-adjacent 1975 design, a detail our Girard-Perregaux Laureato buying guide traces back through the full model range.
Water resistance holds at a modest 30m, priced at CHF 162,000 for one of 50 pieces.
H. Moser Endeavour Flyback Chronograph Dual Time Date: Complexity Made to Look Simple
H. Moser has built its entire identity on hiding complexity behind clean, fume dials, and the Endeavour Flyback Chronograph Dual Time Date is the nominee that proves the point best. Nothing about the dial screams chronograph.
Reference 1730-1200 in polished steel, running the AgenGraphe-based Calibre HMC 730.
Calibre HMC 730
The movement is built on Agenhor's AgenGraphe architecture, the same integrated chronograph base behind the brand's Streamliner Flyback. Here it is hand-wound, with 383 components, a column-wheel flyback chronograph, a second time zone, a date, and 72 hours of power reserve at 21,600 vph.
Where most flyback chronographs stack three or four subdials across the dial, Moser keeps it to a single small-seconds register and a discreet dual-time hand. The 42mm by 13.2mm steel case holds 30m of water resistance, priced at CHF 74,500.
Our Moser Streamliner Flyback Chronograph buying guide covers the sportier sibling built on the same AgenGraphe base, for readers comparing the two before buying.
The Five Nominees Compared
| Watch | Movement | Case | Price | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AP Royal Oak RD#5 150th Anniversary | Calibre AP 8100, flying tourbillon + chronograph | 39mm titanium/BMG-Tech, 8.1mm thick | CHF 260,000 | 150 pieces |
| Grand Seiko Ushio 300 Diver | Spring Drive 9RB1 | 40.8mm titanium, 300m | EUR 12,500 | Ongoing |
| Chopard L.U.C Grand Strike | Calibre L.U.C 08.03-L, Grande/Petite Sonnerie | 43mm white gold | CHF 780,000 | ~2/year |
| GP Laureato Three Gold Bridges | Calibre GP9620, tourbillon | 41mm steel/white gold | CHF 162,000 | 50 pieces |
| Moser Endeavour Flyback Dual Time | Calibre HMC 730, flyback chronograph | 42mm steel | CHF 74,500 | Ongoing |
Three of the five carry a visible tourbillon in some form, and our plain-English guide to what a tourbillon actually does is worth a read if the complication itself is still a bit of a mystery.
FAQ
What is the GPHG?
The Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Geneve is an annual jury-judged watch industry award, widely considered the closest thing Swiss watchmaking has to the Oscars. It recognizes technical and design achievement rather than sales volume.
When is the GPHG 2026 ceremony?
Saturday, November 7, 2026, at the Batiment des Forces Motrices in Geneva.
How many watches were nominated for GPHG 2026?
84 nominees across 14 categories, chosen from submissions across the Swiss and independent watch industry.
Which GPHG 2026 nominee is the most affordable?
The Grand Seiko Spring Drive U.F.A. Ushio 300 Diver, at EUR 12,500, is the most accessible watch among this list of five nominees.
Do GPHG nominations affect pre-owned pricing?
A GPHG win or even a strong nomination can lift collector interest and secondary market demand, particularly for limited-production pieces like the AP RD#5 or the Girard-Perregaux Three Gold Bridges, though the effect varies by brand and category.