WATCHES & STYLE
Years in the Making: Milestone Watches
by Charmian Leong
24 Aug 2026
24 Aug 2026
The best milestone watches don’t just look backward. They’re distilled expressions of everything a brand has learned along the way while pointing us toward what might come next
- BLUE BLOODED
- A LITTLE LEGACY
- BORN DIFFERENT
- SEEN AND HEARD
By now, the Patek Philippe Nautilus needs little in the way of introduction. After 50 years of driving collectors into a frenzy, it returns in what many would argue is its definitive guise: White metal paired with a blue dial, and in a time-only (and date-less!) configuration that lets Gerald Genta's iconic design speak for itself.
Powering the three anniversary wristwatches is the ultra-thin Calibre 240, allowing all three a svelte profile of 6.8mm. The Ref. 5810/1G-001 and Ref. 5810G-001 are both housed in 41mm white gold cases, the former on a matching bracelet, the latter on a blue composite strap with baguette-cut diamond hour markers on the dial. Each is limited to 1,000 pieces, while the smaller, more precious 38mm platinum Ref. 5610/1P-001 is capped at 2,000.
Rounding out the collection is the first ever Nautilus pocket watch, the Ref. 958G. 50.65mm of white gold gleams in tandem with baguette-cut diamond hour markers. The hinged case back bears a blue Calatrava cross applique, under which beats the 31-505 8J PS IRM CI J hand-wound calibre with 8-days of power reserve on two barrels. It can also be used as a desk clock, displaying the time, date, day of the week, and remaining reserve. Only 100 pieces made.
- BLUE BLOODED
- A LITTLE LEGACY
- BORN DIFFERENT
- SEEN AND HEARD
A Little Legacy
Nine anniversary models (and counting) mark IWC’s two-decade partnership with the descendants of Antoine de Saint-Exupery for the Le Petit Prince collection. What ties the nine together is a sunray-brushed dial in the blue that's defined the collection since its debut, with the little prince himself marked on the case backs.
As expected, the line-up is dominated by Pilot’s Watches – a fitting tribute to the pioneering aviator and author – including the Mark XX, Pilot’s Watch Automatic, chronographs, and the new Big Pilot’s Watch Perpetual Calendar ProSet. Breaking with tradition is the Portofino Automatic Day & Night 34, the first Le Petit Prince edition outside the Pilot's family.
- BLUE BLOODED
- A LITTLE LEGACY
- BORN DIFFERENT
- SEEN AND HEARD
Born Different
Few watches have earned their name quite so convincingly as Ulysse Nardin’s the Freak, which rewrote the rules of mechanical watchmaking a quarter-century ago by deciding a watch didn’t need a crown, dial, or even hands – while also pioneering the use of silicon in the escapement.
The anniversary model proves the collection has lost none of its appetite for disruption. The aptly named Super Freak is, oxymoronically, the most complicated time-only watch ever made. Four years in development, it introduces double flying tourbillons inclined at 10 degrees and spinning in opposite directions, and probably the world’s smallest mechanical gimbal to offer the first Freak with a seconds display. Of its 511 components, only 13 remain fixed; everything else is in perpetual, hypnotic motion.
With each movement demanding around 60 hours of assembly by a single master watchmaker, only 50 examples exist.
- BLUE BLOODED
- A LITTLE LEGACY
- BORN DIFFERENT
- SEEN AND HEARD
Seen and Heard
Where some brands might reach for spectacle, Parmigiani Fleurier – true to form lately – answers its milestone with restraint. Its 30th anniversary releases favour texture over ornament and quiet technical mastery over spectacle. A trio of Toric models receives hand-hammered gold dials in place of guilloche, while platinum versions of the Tonda PF GMT Rattrapante, Minute Rattrapante, and Chronographe Mysterieux highlight the brand’s “invisible complications”.
The crowning achievement, however, is the five-piece Carillon Tourbillon Anniversaire. Inspired by a 19th-century Perrin Freres pocket watch that Michel Parmigiani restored in 2000, the 41.6mm white gold watch combines a four-gong carillon minute repeater with a 60-second tourbillon and a formidable 10-day power reserve. Turn it over and the beautifully finished PF950 movement comes into view, its bridges adorned with a “mezzo vibrato” finish previously seen only on the dial of the remarkable L’Armoriale pocket watch unveiled in 2023.
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