Some really impressive watches have emerged as winners at GPHG 2026 Awards. This year's top honours celebrate everything from traditional chronograph-making to extraordinary mechanical complications and artistic craftsmanship. Independent watchmakers, established maisons and high-jewellery specialists have won plaudits with one exceptional watch walking away with the Aiguille d'Or Grand Prix. Here are 5 best luxury watches at GPHG 2026 Awards from Rexhep Rexhepi Chronograph Flyback (RRCHF), Blancpain Grande Double Sonnerie, to Louis Vuitton Tambour Taiko Arty Automata, Piaget Swinging Pebble and Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Jumbo RD#5.
Taking home the prestigious Aiguille d'Or Grand Prix, the Rexhep Rexhepi Chronograph Flyback (RRCHF) was one of the evening's biggest winners. Its 38.8mm platinum case houses a hand-wound flyback chronograph movement with a 72-hour power reserve. The storm-blue Grand Feu enamel dial, smoked sapphire counters and jumping-minute display give it a classic yet distinctive appearance. With its beautifully finished movement and traditional craftsmanship, this is independent watchmaking at its finest.
The Blancpain's Grande Double Sonnerie won the Mechanical Exception Watch Prize, and its complications explain why. The watch combines a grande sonnerie, petite sonnerie, minute repeater, retrograde perpetual calendar and flying tourbillon. Its most intriguing feature is the choice of chimes: besides the Westminster melody, it can play, of all things, an original composition by Eric Singer, drummer of KISS. Housed in a 47mm rose-gold case, this remarkable creation is limited to just two examples a year.
Louis Vuitton won the Artistic Crafts Watch Prize with the Tambour Taiko Arty Automata. Its white-gold case frames a dial decorated with Grand Feu champlevé enamel in 23 different shades. An animated automaton and tourbillon add mechanical interest, while the colourful artwork makes the watch feel like a miniature moving canvas. The watch is a living example of of how contemporary watchmaking took advantage of traditional decorative techniques and made them current.
The Piaget Swinging Pebble took home the Gemset Watch Prize, bringing jewellery-making and watchmaking together. Inspired by the maison's pendant watches from the 1970s, it features a sculpted ornamental stone, with options including pietersite, tiger's eye and verdite. The stone is hollowed out to accommodate the watch mechanism and paired with gold and diamonds. It is not a conventional wristwatch as it is suspended from a twisted gold chain.
Created for Audemars Piguet's 150th anniversary, the Royal Oak Jumbo RD#5 won the Iconic Watch Prize. Its 39mm titanium case houses Calibre 8100, which combines a flying tourbillon and flyback chronograph. The movement also introduces an innovative push-piece mechanism and an instantaneous jumping-minute counter. The anniversary edition gives the familiar Royal Oak silhouette a technical upgrade. The Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Jumbo RD#5 watch is limited to 150 pieces,
From Rexhep Rexhepi, Blancpain to Audemars Piguet, the GPHG 2026 awards winners demonstrate that great watchmaking can take many forms including an extraordinary chiming complication or an imaginative piece of wearable art.