Dubai Watch Week 2023: 10 Watches That Had Our Attention

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This week, Dubai is the centre of the watch world. Spearheaded by Gulf titans of time, Ahmed Seddiqi & Sons, and founded in 2016, Dubai Watch Week 2023 reunites the world of time once again, over a four-day fiesta of horlogerie grandeur. As doors open on 16^th November, 60 watchmaking maisons from across the globe will coalesce at Dubai’s International Financial Centre to debut special-edition timekeeping feats while nerding out with 36,000+ watch enthusiasts. You can, of course, expect new colourways, limited-edition mints, and Middle East-inspired timepieces. Yet, Dubai Watch Week 2023 has evolved into a platform for more – it’s designed to create access and open dialogue between the general public, watch collectors, journalists, and global heads of horlogerie’s finest maisons.

Here are some of the most stunning new releases at Dubai Watch Week 2023.

Frederique Constant Tourbillon Perpetual Calendar

Continuing their 35^th birthday festivities, FC debuts a 35-piece, limited-edition Highlife Tourbillon Perpetual Calendar – retaining the collection’s signature design and combining two of watchmaking’s finest mechanical wonders. Cased in standard 41-mm brushed and polished 18-carat Rose Gold and tonneau-shaped, it bears an anti-reflective convex sapphire crystal, clear-windowed caseback which puts its gorgeous in-house FC-975 movement on display, and a matching golden crown. The dial, Rose Gold plated is divided into four segments – month and leap year indicators at 12 o’clock, day and date indicators horizontally placed at nine and three o’clock, respectively, and a stunning open-heart tourbillon at six. What’s interesting is that the hour indexes float above the dial’s hand-engraved globe motif, emulating satellites rotating around the Earth. To its rear, the baseplate and bridges are adorned by Côtes de Genève patterns and circular graining. The FC-975, automatic wound, boasts a 38-hour power reserve. All of this is strapped in navy blue leather or optional blue rubber.

Hublot Classic Fusion Black Magic Dubai Watch Week

Hublot partnered with Ahmed Seddiqi & Sons to announce the release of two super-special edition Classic Fusion Black Magic Dubai Watch Week exquisites. More so, they’ve borrowed the artistic arm of award-winning calligraphy artist Wissam Shawkat. The dual-piece capsule sources inspiration from Arabic phrases and words. The calligraphy on the dials read “Al Zaman” and “Al Waqt” – both words meaning time in Arabic. The vibrant hues of the calligraphy’s text echo the spirit of Dubai – its mesmerizing dunes and urban skyline. With a 42-mm Hublot black ceramic case and matching bezel, inside sits a HUB1110 self-winding movement delivering a 42-hour power reserve. For those seeking a touch of bedazzlement, there’s a 38-mm sister option enriched with 36 black brilliant-cut diamonds on its polished black anodized aluminium bezel.

Girard-Perregaux Neo Bridges Aston Martin Edition

Right since 2021, Girard-Perregaux and British ultra-luxe automaker, Aston Martin’s partnership has pushed the performance envelope in terms of design and watchmaking expertise. Blending beauty with engineering brilliance once more, their DWW special is cased out of titanium and dressed in a suit of black DLC, measuring 45mm. The fuel tank of this timekeeping marvel – the barrel, is positioned at 1.30 and is supported by a sleek black open-worked bridge proudly displaying the GP badgework. Drawing inspiration from the intricate details of Aston Martin DB12’s spoked wheels and brakes, the joint creative team meticulously crafted the barrel and micro-rotor bridges with sharper cuts and more openings. All in all, the piece is a spectacular intersection of brushed greys, vibrant rubies, brooding blacks and silvers.  Most notably, the Aston Martin Green Neo Bridges reveal different tones as they engage with light.

H. Moser & Cie Streamliner Small Seconds Blue Enamel

Another Streamliner – another stunner. HMC calls this dial finish, “Aqua Blue” which boasts a Grand Feu enamel and an engrained pattern done on its gold base. The hands, in signature style, are Globolight coated. There’s a seconds sub-dial at six o’clock which features a contrasting circular pattern. The HMC 500 is automatic would, delivering a 74-hour power reserve.  In collaboration with Moser’s sister company Precision Engineering AG and AgenhorIt, it’s their calibre smallest ever, and first automatic manufacture movement with a platinum micro-rotor mechanism. These efforts of micro-engineering were apparent with components like a new escapement and platinum micro-rotor which is mounted on a ball bearing, paired with a bi-directional winding system.

Bulgari Divas’ Dream Peacock Marquetry Collection

For Dubai Watch Week 2023, Bulgari presented not one, not two, but five new spectacular interpretations of their divine Diva’s Dream collection. Hypnotic, iridescent, and bejeweled, Bulgari has been embracing the radiant peacock as the unofficial spirit animal for their Diva’s Dream collection right since 2017. Enriched with feathers, mother-of-pearl, and precious stones, this capsule is a magnificent canvas for texture-play, fine complications, and feminine elegance. The capsule features a jumping hours and retrograde minutes edition – enriched lug-to-lug in brilliant-cut diamonds, Renaissance Italian feather marquetry, and blue and green enamels set on mother-of-pearl dials, and variations of the same adorning a slew of brilliant-cut diamonds.

Chopard Alpine Eagle Summit

Chopard’s Alpine Eagle collection gets quite a blingy extension at Dubai Watch Week 2023 with four new references under what they call the Alpine Eagle Summit collection. Adorned with ethically sourced gems, all cases measure 41mm and are cased in 18-carat yellow, white, or rose gold, sourced with Chopard’s industry-revered degree of ethical standards. Each bezel is enriched with a captivating gradient of gemstones of unique combinations. Yellow Gold variants are set with pink sapphires whereas White Gold variants with blue and purple sapphires or tsavorites and the Rose Dold variant with spessartites. Inside, rests the Chopard 01.15-C calibre, chronometer-certified delivering a 60-hour power.

MB&F HM11 Architect

MB&F have a splendid history of tapping into the world of motoring, aviation, science-fiction, and various facets of life as inspiration for their avant-garde horlogerie creations. However, this time, it’s architecture. To be precise, mid-century architecture. Founder, Maximillian Büsser told the press about his deep infatuation with Swiss architect, Le Corbusier’s statement, “une maison es tune machine à habiter,” which translates from French to “a house is a machine to live in”. The HM11 takes on a three-dimensional titanium, housing a hefty 42-mm thick, 60-second flying tourbillon protected by double-domed sapphire crystals. Impressively, it boasts a power reserve of four days. The timepiece is limited to 25 pieces and arrives in make options of Blue and Red Gold.

Zenith x Time+Tide Defy Skyline Skeleton Night Surfer El Primero

Being Zenith’s second collaboration with Melbourne-based watch magazine, Time+Tide, it takes a few ques from its predecessor, splashed with new metallic blue accents and a slick titanium build. Slating in at 41mm, its case, bezel, crown, and bracelet, are crafted out of micro-blasted titanium. The main attraction here is its open-worked dial’s four-pointed star silhouette – A Zenith signature, which is now surged with lume and almost blends into the El Primero’s main plates and bridges. Inside, rests an in-house El Primero 3620 high-frequency and automatic Manufacture movement that boasts a 60-hour power reserve.

TAG Heuer Carrera Tourbillon H02T Dubai Skyline Limited Edition

Dedicated to the host city, TAG debuts the Carrera Tourbillon H02T in black PVD titanium and absolute skeletal glory. A carbon tachymeter fixed bezel compliments the 45-mm black case and is contrasted by an inlay of dark ink-blue accents on the sub-dial’s outer rings and hour markers. The skeletonised dial features two chronograph sub-dials at nine and three o’clock and a tourbillon at six. All hands, including the chronograph sub-dials, are rhodium-plated while the blue accents are treated with Super-LumiNova. The chronograph pushers are placed at two and four o’clock in standard Carrera style. The caseback is a canvas of tribute to the majestic UAE jewel city – featuring a fish-eye skyline of Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, Burj Al Arab, and more. The timepiece is powered by a COSC-certified, self-winding Calibre Heuer 02T Tourbillon delivering a 65-hour power reserve.

Oris ProPilot X Calibre 400 Laser

Undoubtedly one of the most striking and unique dials at Dubai Watch Week 2023 – a true rainbow on your wrist. While you might believe its dial is a brilliant play of paint and reflections, this technique hasn’t used a single drop of colour pigment. Developed for over two years in collaboration with a research lab affiliated with ETH Zürich, they’ve mastered the art of harnessing the elegance of light interference. Using laser treatment, its titanium surface manipulates the reflected light waves, creating a spectrum of colour. The hour and minute hands are enriched with black Super-LumiNova. Resting on a 39-mm satin-sandblasted titanium case, it bears inside an automatic-wound Oris Calibre 400 which offers 120 hours of non-stop ticking. The bracelet is crafted out of the same titanium as the case.