Jump those date windows forward, we’re well and truly into September now. As the weather slowly warms up, the watch industry is rapidly heating up. Over in Switzerland, there are several heavy hitting releases coming out of Geneva Watch Days, a laidback watch fair which takes place from the 2nd to the 6th of September. There’s also cool métiers d’art expressions courtesy of Vacheron Constantin and a revived field watch from Tudor. Naturally, we’re back with the September 2026 edition of In The Loupe, our monthly watch news series.
September 2026 watch news
Wind down and level up with all the new watch releases and horological news to know for September 2026.
Vianney Halter applies his singular approach to the Bulgari Octo Finissimo Dual Time
- Independent watchmaker Vianney Halter has joined forces with Bulgari, applying his idiosyncratic take on time to the maison’s Octo Finissimo
- Working from the movement up, the BVL 200 is enriched with new modules that allow for GMT, date, and day/night indications
- The 40.5mm titanium or rose gold Octo Finissimo case plays host to Halter’s signature independent dial aesthetic, with four opaline white dials with blue and red accents displaying the main hours and minutes, second time zone, day/night indicator, and date
- The timepiece is available in titanium or rose gold
Price: $70,000CHF (104356); $108,000CHF (104355)
Availability: 30 examples (ref. 104356); 15 examples (ref. 104355)
Model: Octo Finissimo Dual Time x Vianney Halter (ref. 104356 [titanium]; 104355 [rose gold])
Case size: 40.5mm
Movement: BVL 200 (automatic)
Water resistance: 3ATM
Functions: hours, minutes, small seconds, GMT, date, day/night indicator
Power reserve: 60 hours
Explore Octo Finissimo Dual Time x Vianney Halter via Bulgari.
Zenith brings back retro sporty chic with the Chronomaster Solo Sport
- Designed to flit between varying dress codes and activities, the Chronomaster Solo Spot translates retro design cues into a contemporary timepiece
- Housed within a 40mm stainless steel case, a ceramic dial in either sunray white or polished black or brown features an all-over angled ‘Z’ motif, surrounded by a unidirectional ceramic bezel
- The black dial with black bezel configuration comes with a no-date version, while all other models have a date window at 3 o’clock
- It’s presented on a three-link stainless steel bracelet, secured by the newly designed ZENCLASP folding clasp which allows for easy micro-adjustments without tools
- The Zenith Chronomaster Solo Sport is powered by the El Primero 3620, a high-frequency automatic calibre with a 60-hour power reserve
Price: $17,400CHF; $15,600AUD (no date)
Model: Chronomaster Solo Sport (ref. 03.5000.3620/69.M5000; 03.5000.3620/22.M5000; 03.5001.3620/72.M5000; 03.5000.3620/21.M5000)
Case size: 40mm
Movement: El Primero 3620 (automatic)
Water resistance: 20 ATM
Functions: hours, minutes, seconds, date; hours, minutes, seconds (03.5000.3620/21.M5000)
Power reserve: 60 hours
Explore Chronomaster Solo Sport via Zenith.
It’s always twilight at Jaeger-LeCoultre
Jaeger-LeCoultre has announced the appointment of Robert Pattinson as its newest global ambassador. Known for his roles in The Drama and The Lighthouse, as well as the Twilight and Harry Potter franchises, the British actor was selected for his singular talent, artistic audacity, and effortless elegance.
“For me, the most compelling objects are the ones that have real depth to them. A great watch isn’t just about precision – it’s about character, craftsmanship, and the story behind how it’s made,” shares Pattinson of his appreciation of mechanical watchmaking. “Jaeger-LeCoultre has always embodied that kind of quiet mastery. There’s an integrity to everything they create, where technical innovation and artistic expression exist in perfect balance. I find that approach incredibly inspiring, and it’s something I deeply connect with in my own work.”
A skinny legend strikes again with the Piaget Polo Minute Repeater
- Piaget has released a new ultra-thin chiming watch, the Polo Minute Repeater
- It sees the ultra-thin manufacture calibre 1290P housed within a 48mm white gold case which measures just 93mm in thickness
- The slim calibre focuses on acoustic mastery, offering 64 decibels of intensity, three harmonic partials, and a damping factor of 2600
- The blue hand-guilloché dial has a sunray finish and is partially openworked to reveal the calibre 1290P within
Price: $POA
Availability: five examples/year (ref. G0A51038)
Model: Polo Minute Repeater
Case size: 43mm
Movement: (automatic)
Water resistance: 3ATM
Functions: hours, minutes, seconds, minute repeater
Power reserve: 40 hours
Explore Polo Minute Repeater via Piaget.
Hublot embraces its softer side with the Big Bang Original Soft Touch
- Hublot has introduced a new sense of tactility to its Big Bang Original, through the use of an exclusive textured rubber compound applied to the case, bezel, dial, and strap of the timepiece
- The rubber compound integrates texture into the material itself, rather than as a surface treatment or coating
- The Hublot Big Bang Original Soft Touch comes in black or red and takes shape in a 43mm titanium case partially enveloped in the textured rubber compound, which surrounds a tonal dial with a checkerboard pattern
- It’s powered by the manufacture calibre HUB1280, an automatic chronograph movement with a 72-hour power reserve
Price: $20,700CHF
Model: Big Bang Original Soft Touch (ref. 431.RXN.2740.RX.VEL; 431.RXR.2770.RX.VEL)
Case size: 43mm
Movement: HUB1280 (automatic)
Water resistance: 10ATM
Functions: hours, minutes, small seconds, chronograph
Power reserve: 72 hours
Rawr! Vacheron Constantin puts the animal kingdom on the dial with its métiers d’art program
- Vacheron Constantin has released a sextet of watches that translate the beauty of the natural world onto the dial through métiers d’art
- The collection is part of the maison’s ‘One of Not Many Crafts Programme’, which challenges artisans whose crafts fall outside the traditional horological realm to translate their crafts to the miniature scale of a watch dial
- Each depiction of fauna takes place within a 42mm case in either white or rose gold, with a dial that displays the hours, minutes, day of the week, and date through four apertures on the periphery, allowing the centre of the dial to act as a canvas
- The watches highlight the disciplines of gold embroidery (tiger), feather work (snake), wood marquetry (falcon), glass sculpting (octopus), paper sculpting (crocodile), and micro-origami (manta ray)
- Each timepiece is powered by the calibre 2460 G4, an automatic movement with peripheral indications and a 40-hour power reserve
Tudor stakes its place with the revived Northflag
- Tudor has brought back the Northflag, a timepiece that originally served as part of the equipment issued to the members of the British North Greenland Expedition in the 1950s
- The Tudor Northflag was originally revived in 2015 and marked the first Tudor to be powered by a mechanical movement entirely developed and manufactured in-house, the MT5621
- The second generation Tudor Northflag speaks to the timepiece’s pioneering legacy while nodding to other seminal models like the Ranger; housed within a 40mm stainless steel case with an integrated bracelet, it has a black dial topped with monobloc lume-coated ceramic hour markers and ‘Northflag’ hands
- There’s a new 24-hour hand, a practical feature in polar regions where polar night and midnight sun make it difficult to discern whether it’s AM or PM
- The Tudor Northflag is powered by the calibre MT5652-U, a COSC-certified automatic movement with a 65-hour power reserve, visible through the exhibition caseback
Price: $7780AUD
Model: Northflag (ref. 9140G1A0U)
Case size: 40mm
Movement: MT5652-U (automatic)
Water resistance: 10ATM
Functions: hours, minutes, seconds, date, 24-hours
Power reserve: 65 hours
TAG Heuer celebrates 50 years of the Monza
- TAG Heuer has released the limited-edition Monza Flyback Chronograph, which celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Heuer Monza
- Released ahead of the Monza Formula 1 GP, the timepiece arrives in a 42mm forged carbon fibre case which surrounds a matte black dial with red and white details on the asymmetrical subdials
- It’s powered by the manufacture calibre TH20-12, an automatic movement with an 80-hour power reserve
Price: $20,150AUD
Availability: 500 examples
Model: Monza Flyback Chronograph (ref. CR5092.FC8372)
Case size: 42mm
Movement: TH20-12 (automatic)
Water resistance: 10ATM
Functions: hours, minutes, small seconds, date, flyback chronograph
Power reserve: 80 hours
Explore Monza Flyback Chronograph via TAG Heuer.
Words by Theo Rosen and Henry Blake
