The Biggest Showstoppers of Dubai Watch Week 2025

Recently, I took a 12 hour Dubai grocery run, and by grocery I mean activewear, and by people-watching I mean watch-watching was a full sport.

Dubai Watch Week has returned, and once again horology’s most serious people have gathered in a city that refuses to take minimalism seriously. Hosted by Ahmed Seddiqi and Sons, the 2025 edition runs from 19 to 23 November at Burj Park, Dubai Mall, and features more than 90 global brands across a venue of more than 200,000 square feet, including heritage houses and independent makers that collectors obsess over.

Time isn’t just money at Dubai Watch Week,  it’s generational wealth wrapped around your wrist. The region’s most influential collectors, heritage maisons, and futuristic disruptors gathered in Dubai to prove that billionaires don’t check the time, they collect it.

India’s collectors are snapping up timepieces the way others panic buy gold during wedding season: aggressively, emotionally, and with no concept of restraint. You can expect bravado, drama, and tourbillons in motion like your impulse decisions on vacation (or mine). And as always, Dubai didn’t just set the stage, it raised the bar, spotlight, and entire luxury ecosystem to shine brighter than the Burj at midnight.

These five watches stole the spotlight at Dubai Watch Week 2025.

Bulgari × Mattar Bin Lahej Octo Finissimo

A 40 mm × 5 mm sand-blasted titanium case and bracelet laser-engraved in Arabic calligraphy (based off Mattar Bin Lahej’s sketch of the design); movement is calibre BVL 138 automatic micro-rotor with 60-hour power reserve and 21,600 vph; water-resistant to 30 m; limited to 70 pieces.

 Louis Vuitton Escale (Malachite & Turquoise Editions)

Limited editions of 30 pieces each in malachite or turquoise stone; 40 mm case featuring a monolithic ring of the same stone around the dial; platinum lugs, bezel, case-back and crown; automatic calibre LFT023 with 50-hour power reserve. When luxury becomes colour, texture and pure geology, emerald green and turquoise are the answer, regardless of the question.

Image Courtesy: Louis Vuitton

Gérald Genta Gentissima Oursin 41

A sea-urchin inspired design that swims in the ocean of audacious horology. 41 mm sand-blasted Grade-5 titanium case, 9.84 mm thick, decorated with 234 white-gold beads around the periphery (rubber straps that echo the same beaded motif as the case); automatic calibre GG-005 (based on Zenith Elite) with 50-hour power reserve and water resistance 50 m.

MB&F Legacy Machine Split Escapement EVO

MB&F’s Legacy Machine Split Escapement EVO is the original “active-lifestyle” upgrade in the LM universe. It features a grade 5 titanium case measuring 44 mm wide and 17.5 mm thick, water resistance of 80 metres with a screw-down crown, an integrated rubber strap, a bezel-free build, and a monobloc FlexRing system that absorbs vertical and lateral shocks like a silent bodyguard for its movement. The star floating above the dial is the balance wheel, seemingly powered by magic, while the anchor and escape wheel sit almost 12 mm below the surface: McDonnell’s split escapement innovation.

But what really caught our eyes this year was the MB&F’s HM11 Architect. Like a sunrise engineered in grade-5 titanium, the watch opens four curved rooms of pure imagination – one for time, another for a 96-hour power reserve, a third hosting a temperature-reading thermometer (-20°C to +60°C), and a fourth hiding its crown beneath that familiar battle-axe badge.

Slim d’Hermès Hippocampe

Hermès marks Dubai Watch Week with the Slim d’Hermès Hippocampe, a limited-edition artistry flex where horology meets haute leatherwork. The seahorse on the dial (born from illustrator Stuart Patience’s whimsical lines), is first engraved with surgical precision then brought to life through 0.5 mm slivers of coloured leather meticulously assembled into a vivid mosaic.

Each 39.5 mm white gold case houses the ultra-slim H1950 automatic movement visible through a sapphire back, its hand-bevelled bridges gleaming with Hermès’ signature H motifs. Only 24 pieces per variant exist, paired with Swift calfskin straps in béton or perle, proving that when Hermès turns to the sea, even the waves arrive dress up.

With independents rubbing shoulders with legacy maisons and collectors from India and beyond turning up the dial on ambition, this event marks a turning point.

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