MILAN – Unofficially kicking off the year for the watchmaking world, the seventh edition of LVMH Watch Week in Milan will see nine houses under the French group’s umbrella present their latest creations: Bulgari, Daniel Roth, Gérald Genta, Hublot, Tag Heuer, Zenith, Louis Vuitton, Tiffany & Co., and L’Epée 1839.
This year’s events will unfurl in boutiques on the city’s luxury shopping street Via Montenapoleone from Tuesday to Thursday.
First launched as a traveling showcase in Dubai in 2020, Milan follows events previously held in Singapore, Miami, New York, and Paris.
Holding LVMH Watch Week in January “is a major strategic advantage. It allows us to set the tone for the watchmaking year, preview our innovations, and offer an exclusive showcase and 2026 outlook for our partners, journalists, and customers ahead of other major industry events,” said Jean-Christophe Babin, chief executive officer of Bulgari and of the LVMH watch division, who touted resilience through innovation, in an exclusive preview of the event.
Bulgari’s new creations include: the Maglia Milanese Monete, which revisits the storied Monete secret watch, introduced by the Rome-based jeweler in the mid-1960s, and is adorned with an authentic ancient coin from 198 to 297 AD depicting Emperor Caracalla, crafted in rose gold using the traditional art of Milanese mesh; the Tubogas Manchette, a yellow-gold cuff that revisits a model from 1974 and is colored with gemstones, pairing a square dial with a wide single-coil Tubogas bracelet; Serpenti Seduttori Automatic with a new dial and bracelet, and Lucea Notte di Luce with a dial in the Urushi technique – the ancestral Japanese art of lacquer.
“These remarkable timepieces encapsulate the DNA of our brand, seamlessly merging our rich Roman high jewelry heritage with the unparalleled precision of Swiss watchmaking,” said Babin.
Jean Arnault, watch director of Louis Vuitton, underscored its “continued transformation” over the past four years. “We reshaped our workshop to focus on reviving disappearing métiers d’arts and old manufacturing techniques to make contemporary watches,” said Arnault. He cited as an example the new Escale collection, “which elevates historical icons like the Worldtime to our new craftsmanship standards with incredible attention to detail, from the case and dial to the movement finishing.”
Escale, which means stopover in French, reflects Louis Vuitton’s association with traveling. Relaunched in 2024 with a time-only configuration, the collection now expands to embrace haute horlogerie complications with four new calibers and five additions to the permanent collection.
Drawing inspiration from the house’s trunks, the additions — including the return of the Escale Worldtime, which simultaneously displays 24 time zones — are offered in platinum for the first time. Through each of the five new creations there are subtle references to the trunks’ distinctive design elements such as the lugs, inspired by the brass brackets and corners of historical trunks. The introduction of four new in-house movements from La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton marks a new chapter for the Escale.
Arnault also proudly revealed the latest “Object of Time” in collaboration with L’Épée 1839. “This piece transcends traditional watchmaking, reimagining our legendary delivery trucks into an exceptional creation that blends technical ingenuity with heritage, showcasing our maison’s continued story of innovation, audacity, and artisanal savoir-faire,” said Arnault.
Arnaud Nicolas, CEO of L’Epée 1839, underscored the brand’s commitment “to celebrating and preserving rare métiers, both in-house and through meaningful collaborations.” L’Epée 1839 reinterpreted La Regatta as a Métiers d’Art creation with Georgian enameller David Kakabadze, designed as a vertical clock with a long, slender silhouette drawn from a racing skiff through a blue, rare flinqué enameling technique. “As a longstanding player in horology and table clocks, L’Epée 1839 continues to perpetuate its legacy while expanding into the world of mechanical art,” said Nicolas. “Through its audacious and innovative spirit, the maison has carved out a market of its own, creating mechanical and kinetic sculptures that tell time with a distinctive sense of playfulness.”
Daniel Roth, which was relaunched in 2023, with La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton acting as an incubator, is presenting the Extra Plat Rose Gold Skeleton, “an openworked reinterpretation of one of the brand’s most celebrated creations, a piece that notably was never skeletonized during Mr. Roth’s era,” said Arnault. The double-ellipse frame now reveals the full architecture of the caliber DR002SR, while the watch preserves the classical proportions and architecture of the original.
Gérald Genta is unveiling the new Geneva Time Only Marrone and Grafite. Crafted in warm rose gold and cool white gold, it features a sculptural cushion case and gadroon that are neither round nor square and contrasting polished and satin surfaces and a two-segment minute track dial that creates intriguing optical illusions.
Julien Tornare, CEO of Hublot, expressed his pride in unveiling the new Big Bang Original Unico, “a true evolution of an icon born in 2005, with an updated layout for the watch case and the bracelet, creating a dynamic look that is both contemporary and modern and at its heart the timepiece is re-engineered and powered by our in-house Unico chronograph movement and presented in the materials Hublot masters, so titanium, ceramic, and King Gold. This piece truly exemplifies our ‘Art of Fusion.’
Following last year’s successful limited edition, Hublot is launching the new Big Bang Tourbillon Novak Djokovic edition, “a vibrant tribute to his remarkable career, celebrating his 101 victories,” and the Big Bang Unico in a new collaboration with designer and artist Samuel Ross, limited to 200 pieces in a monochrome ceramic exterior and a newly developed hon- eycomb rubber strap — the honeycomb being a signtaure motif of the artist.
“As a great enthusiast of Swiss watchmaking, I know the community aspect is crucial for the industry. Being able to bring together our press, retail partners, and VICs alongside other LVMH brands is extremely important,” said Nicholas Biebuyck, Tag Heuer heritage director. Biebuyck said Milan is “a key market” for the house and LVMH Watch Week “is a great platform to present our storytelling for 2026: Tag Heuer’s mastery of the chronograph. We have shown a century and a half long commitment to the complication with exceptional technical innovation, design and premiers that have left indelible marks on the history of watchmaking. The new pieces we are unveiling share part of this story, and it will remain our guiding theme throughout the year with many more exciting watches to come.”
Incidentally, Tag Heuer’s CEO Antoine Pin exited the Swiss watchmaker last week, leaving the group after 23 years and a successor will be announced soon, stated LVMH.
The brand’s Carrera Chronograph 41mm glassbox refines Jack Heuer’s original 1963 vision created for motorsport timing. The sculptural sapphire crystal flows over a three-dimensional dial-flange, with enhanced depth and legibility.
Three inaugural versions are available with a blue dial with circular brushing and azuré counters; a rich teal green dial introducing a new signature tone for Tag Heuer, and a bold black dial accented with red details. Each is paired with Tag Heuer’s seven-row steel bracelet, and engraved with the Victory Wreath on the right-hand lug. Other introductions are the Carrera Seafarer, reviving the spirit of the 1949 tide watch, and the Carrera Split-Seconds Chronograph, introducing the rattrapante complication to this line for the first time.
Tiffany & Co. is marking the 160th anniversary of the Tiffany Timer, the house’s first chronograph, and CEO Anthony Ledru said that the brand’s presence at LVMH Watch Week “honors [ its] longstanding horological legacy,” highlighting “an approach to watchmaking that’s rooted in the house’s heritage of gemological excellence: distinctive design and Swiss watchmaking, creating timepieces that are unmistakably Tiffany.”
Details reflect the house’s diamond expertise, and its platinum case is equipped with an exclusive, customized El Primero 400 chronograph movement featuring the brand’s signature Bird on a Rock.
Tiffany also is introducing a new model to the Eternity by Tiffany collection: the Eternity Baguette. Presented in a 36 mm diamondset round case in 18k white gold, it features a bezel of set baguette-cut stones for the first time, alluding to the classic eternity ring design. It is offered in two variations: the Eternity Baguette Diamond, which combines a diamond bezel with aquamarine hour markers, and the Eternity Baguette Blue Gradient, with a bezel set with sapphires, topazes, and emeralds, paired with diamond hour markers on the dial.
It also is unveiling a Sixteen Stone Mother-of-Pearl watch inspired by the jewelry collection of the same name.
Benoît de Clerck, CEO of Zenith Watches, said this edition of the LVMH Watch Week highlights the house’s commitment to its cornerstone Defy collection, an evolution of the first 1968 style.
“We continue to evolve and strengthen the line with new expressions that explore a wide range of styles, complexities and materials.” The Defy Skyline “preserves the line’s hallmark geometry and resilience, reframed in contemporary architectural vocabulary. Our guiding principle was to grasp and enhance the eminently urban character of its design, to draw a parallel between the construction of a city by an architect and the creation of a watchmaker, two precision arts that structure space and time,” explained de Clerck.
The openworked construction of the Defy Skyline Skeleton reveals the El Primero 3620 SK caliber in full transparency, and is now presented in a bold new black ceramic edition paired with a gold-toned movement.
“The watch becomes a metaphor for the city in miniature. Imagination, evolution and know-how intersect to reveal that building a city or constructing a watch is giving form to the invisible,” the CEO said.
