Rexhep Rexhepi Wins the Aiguille d’Or With His Chronograph Flyback

The Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève, or GPHG, is the watch industry’s annual awards night. Brands submit their watches, an Academy of more than 1,000 industry members votes on a shortlist, and an international jury picks a winner in each category. The Aiguille d’Or is the top prize, given to the best watch overall. At the 26th edition in Geneva on Saturday night, it went to Rexhep Rexhepi for the RRCHF Chronograph Flyback. A small independent workshop beat Audemars Piguet, Chopard and Blancpain to the top prize, and it did so with a chronograph, a complication that leaves a watchmaker nowhere to hide sloppy work.

The big houses still did well. Audemars Piguet won twice: the Iconic Watch Prize for the Royal Oak “Jumbo” RD#5, an extra-thin self-winding flying tourbillon chronograph built for the brand’s 150th anniversary, and Calendar and Astronomy for the 150 Heritage pocket watch. Ferdinand Berthoud also left with two, Chronometry for Birth of a Watch 3 and Tourbillon for the Chronomètre FB 2TV. Chopard won Time Only with the L.U.C 1860 and Jewelry with the Mystery Nut. Blancpain’s Grande Double Sonnerie won Mechanical Exception, which surprised nobody.

The independents are where this year’s list gets good. Konstantin Chaykin won the Audacity Prize for the ThinKing Mystery, a record-thin watch. Dominique Renaud took Horological Revelation for the Pulse60 Titanium Black and its 1Hz escapement, which you can watch beat once a second. Cleguer won Complication with the Inspiration One, and Japanese independent Otsuka Lotec won the Petite Aiguille with the No.8. The SpaceOne x Baltic Seconde Majeure won the Challenge Prize, good news for anyone who thinks the GPHG only notices watches with six-figure prices.

The rest: Parmigiani Fleurier won Chronograph with the Tonda PF Mysterious Chronograph, Grand Seiko won Sports with the Spring Drive U.F.A. Ushio 300 Diver, and Daniel Roth won Essential with the Extra Plat Rose Gold Skeleton. Louis Vuitton took Artistic Crafts for the Tambour Taiko Arty Automata, Piaget won Gemset with the Swinging Pebble, and La Vallée won the clock prize with the Cosmo. Patek Philippe received the Special Jury Prize for its Watch Art Grand Exhibition. Wei Koh chaired the jury.

All 84 nominated watches are on show at the Musée d’Art et d’Histoire in Geneva until November 15. The winners then go to the Watches of Switzerland boutique in Knightsbridge, London, from November 18 to 23. The full results are on the GPHG website.