In the second of a three-part series, Robb Report Singapore presents a hotly debated—but ultimately, unanimously concurred—list comprising 26 of the team’s favourite timepieces of the year
They come in all shapes, sizes, design, and functionality. Narrowing our selection to the 26 watches of 2026 that stirred the most affection in the team has not been easy, and now that we have arrived at the final list, we see range that is striking and varied. From a svelte three-hand dress watch loaded with mechanical prowess to grand complications that stretch the imagination of makers and collectors alike, this tightly curated line-up shows just how captivating the world’s finest watches can be when they are made with love and integrity.
Audemars Piguet Neo Frame Jumping Hour
This timepiece does not refine an existing idea so much as rebuild it from the case up. The Calibre 7122 is Audemars Piguet’s first self-winding jumping hour movement: the hours snap instantaneously into view through a black PVD sapphire dial aperture, while the minutes advance progressively on a rotating disc beside it. Elsewhere, the titanium hour disc reduces inertia and improves shock resistance, and a patented locking mechanism prevents accidental jumps on impact. The case is where the engineering turns properly ambitious. To preserve the frameless aesthetic of the 1929 reference it honours, Audemars Piguet developed a new dial that bonds directly to the sapphire crystal, and the assembly screws mechanically into the case. There is no metal frame at 12 or 6 o’clock, no bezel to compress a gasket, and still 20m of water resistance.
Bell & Ross BR-03 Helipad
The first thing that catches the eye is the vivid yellow dial, a bold shade for a watch that celebrates the world of helicopters. Look closer and the BR-03 Helipad reveals a visual treat: a helicopter rendered across the entire dial, its fuselage serving as the minute hand, its rotor blades spinning continuously as the seconds hand. Rather than a pilot’s-eye view, Bell & Ross shifts perspective to a scene framed from above, as though a helicopter were hovering moments before touchdown. The BR-CAL.327 automatic movement gives the impression of something far more complicated than a three-hand watch. At 41mm and just 10.6mm thin, the micro-blasted black ceramic case is lightweight and refined. Super-LumiNova X2 with green emission saturates the yellow markings for cockpit-grade legibility in darkness.
Bvlgari Octo Finissimo
The new Octo Finissimo, with its aesthetics drawn from ancient Roman architecture, will be familiar to most. What has changed, though, is the scale. At 37mm, this is the smallest Octo Finissimo and also an entirely new watch. Its movement achieves a 20 per cent reduction in volume compared to the 40mm’s calibre and the assembled piece weighs a mere 65g. The 40mm Octo Finissimo was always a statement of technical ambition, a watch for those who understood the records it held. The 37mm offers something more accessible in spirit: an object of elegance first and, next, a feat of engineering. The bracelet features a pushbutton clasp for easy wear and a screw-fastening system at the case-bracelet junction that achieves a smooth integration across different materials and finishes.
Chopard Happy Hearts
Diamonds and denim. An unlikely pairing, and yet, in Chopard’s hands, it makes perfect sense. The Happy Hearts watch is paired with a deep-blue denim strap, stitched and cut with a precision that feels closer to ready-to-wear tailoring than high jewellery. The case is crafted from Lucent Steel, the brand’s proprietary alloy, polished to a brilliance that recalls white gold. A white mother-of-pearl dial provides a luminous backdrop for the collection’s signature moving jewels: three free-floating diamonds and two hearts in ethical white gold that glide gracefully across the dial, catching the light with every movement of the wrist. Behind the playfulness, however, lies serious watchmaking. The 33mm case is proportioned according to the golden ratio, its dimensions dictated by Chopard’s 09.01-C automatic movement, developed and assembled entirely within the manufacture.
Grand Seiko Ushio 300 Diver
This watch has been called radical by some industry observers, as on the surface it reads as a tool watch: 300m of water resistance, a 120-click ceramic bezel, and High-Intensity Titanium that repels both corrosion and weight. Beneath it beats Calibre 9RB1: a Spring Drive movement that holds an annual accuracy of ±20 seconds, achieved through a vacuum-sealed crystal oscillator aged over three months and calibrated for temperature at multiple points. Grand Seiko calls this UFA (Ultra Fine Accuracy), and the claim is that no mainspring-driven wristwatch is more precise. At 40.8mm, it is the smallest diver Grand Seiko has made, which makes the performance inside feel all the more concentrated. The dial comes in two versions: a deep ocean blue that depicts light descending into the depths, and a coastal green drawn from the tranquil shallows near shore. Both carry the Ushio pattern, named for the Japanese word for tide.
Tudor Monarch
Introduced in 1991, the Tudor Monarch returns not with a facelift but as an entirely new watch. The dial is the first thing you notice, a papyrus-hued surface combining Roman numerals from 10 to 2 and Arabic numerals from 4 to 8, a layout the watch world calls a California dial, making its first appearance in Tudor’s modern collection. Through the sapphire caseback, the new manufacture Calibre MT5662-2U is visible: perlage finishing, Côtes de Genève, a gold-inlaid rotor, and a silicon balance spring for long-term robustness. It carries both COSC and METAS Master Chronometer certifications, which is the stricter of the two, holding it to a tolerance of just zero to +5 seconds per day. Practically speaking, this watch is hard to fault. Water resistance reaches 100m and the 65-hour power reserve means you can set it down on Friday evening and pick it back up on Monday morning without touching the crown.
Vacheron Constantin Traditionnelle Twin Beat Perpetual Calendar
The perpetual calendar makes a promise: set it correctly today and it will track every month, leap year, and date change flawlessly until 2100. It only keeps that promise, however, while the watch is running. Vacheron Constantin addressed this inconvenience in 2019 with the Traditionnelle Twin Beat Perpetual Calendar, which operates at full precision on the wrist, then slows to a near-sleep state when set aside with just enough energy to keep the calendar running uninterrupted. The effect is practical: leave it in a drawer for two months, pick it up again, and the date is still correct. No tedious manual resetting. No risk of damaging the mechanism. This year, the resting power reserve has been extended to 70 days. The new openworked dial also offers a window into the ingenious movement responsible for this feat, revealing years of research and refinement distilled into five additional days of autonomy.
This story first appeared in the August 2026 issue. Purchase it as a print or digital copy, or consider subscribing to us here
