List of Geneva Grand Prix Watchmaking (GPHG) winning models. IWC and Chopard win the Golden Hand Award in two categories!

The Geneva Grand Prix Watchmaking (GPHG) 2024 awards ceremony was held on Wednesday, November 13th. A number of timepieces that represent the pinnacle of watchmaking were honored in each category. We take a look at the reasons why each model, which was nominated, recognized by GPHG Academy members, and advanced to the final selection, won the award.

GPHG announces this year's winning works!

　The Geneva Grand Prix Watchmaking (GPHG) awards ceremony was held on Wednesday, November 13, 2024. At this ceremony, winners of the Golden Needle Award and other categories were announced, with a total of 20 categories.

　This article introduces the winning works in each category.

Highest Ranking: Golden Needle Award (AIGUILLE D'OR Grand Prix)

　This model is equipped with a secular calendar that not only distinguishes between leap years, which occur once every four years, but also mechanically programs the Gregorian calendar, which considers years divisible by 100 to be common years and years divisible by 400 to be leap years. This means it boasts accuracy on a 400-year cycle. Another notable feature is its ultra-high-precision double moon phase, which deviates by only one day every 45 million years.

Men's Watch Award

　The KV20i Reversed movement is reversed, allowing its beauty and technology to be admired from the front while reading the time. The movement is particularly noteworthy because it features two escapement wheels that impact the balance directly. This innovative construction improves efficiency by requiring less energy than a Swiss lever escapement, and offers notable benefits in everyday use, such as durability, stability, and a long power reserve.

Men's Complication Watch Award

　The winner of the Men's Complication Watch Award was De Bethune's "DB Kind Of Grande Complication." Its rounded case conceals eight different complications in a single caliber: a perpetual calendar, a spherical moon phase display, a retrograde moon phase and leap year display, an ultra-lightweight blue titanium tourbillon, a jumping seconds hand, a power reserve indicator, and a dual hour and minute display. Each function is visible on the front and back dials.

Women's Watch Award

　Van Cleef & Arpels won three awards. The first was the Lady Jour Nuit watch. This romantic piece features a disc that rotates once every 24 hours, revealing the passage of time as the stars move across the sky. A guilloched yellow gold sun illuminates the dial during the day, while a diamond-set moon watches over the starry sky at night. The deep blue color of Murano aventurine glass evokes the vastness of the universe and the magical beauty of the starry sky.

Women's Complication Watch Award

　Also from Van Cleef & Arpels, the Lady Arpels Breeze d'Eté watch won the top prize in the Ladies' Complication Watch category. The way the butterfly gracefully plays on the mother-of-pearl dial is truly worthy of being called the pinnacle of excellence.

Time Only Category Award

　This luxury sports watch has a dressy impression thanks to its integrated case and bracelet, and despite being a sports watch, the thin design of the case and bracelet and the high level of finishing give it a sophisticated look. The Grand Feu enamel "fumé" dial is also iconic. This dial, which uses three colored pigments on a dented dial base, is one of the elements that characterizes H. Moser & Cie. The minimalist dial, which lacks any logos such as the brand or model name, further enhances the gradational design.

Iconic Watch Award

The design of the Piaget Polo 79 is truly iconic, almost faithfully recreating the original 1979 model. The dial, case, and bracelet feature a seamless combination of gadroons and satin-finishing, creating a seamless, integrated design. The exterior is crafted from 18K yellow gold, providing ample shock and water resistance. While the original model was equipped with a quartz movement, this model employs the in-house slim automatic movement, Cal. 1200P1. The gold micro-rotor, which improves winding efficiency, and the extensive finishing touches can be admired through the caseback.

Tourbillon Award

　The Tourbillon Subscription is the first watch released since the relaunch of the Daniel Roth brand. It is a modern remake of the brand's first model, released in 1989. It features a double ellipse case and a manual-winding tourbillon movement. The case has been slightly modified to improve comfort.

Calendar & Astronomy Watch Award

　The brand's first moon phase model won the Calendar & Astronomy Watch Award. The moon and stars, carved by artisans from aventurine glass, are then hand-painted with white paint and Super-LumiNova before being fired at high temperatures. The crater pattern on the surface of the moon is also hand-engraved, and the subdial is covered in a beautiful translucent blue enamel. The brand also recently won the Tourbillon Award at the Geneva Grand Prix de la Watchmaking (GPHG) in 2023 for its Grand Sport Tourbillon Pursuit.

MECHANICAL EXEPTION Award

　For the first time in watchmaking history, this model solved the problem of daylight saving time that has plagued all world timer enthusiasts. Collectors had to set their world timers to match the countries that either changed time or didn't (currently, only about a third of the world, or 70 countries, change time), but either way, the majority of the world always differed. The Récital 28 Prowess 1 revolutionized world timers, as the watch was always accurate no matter what time of year it was.

Chronograph Award

　The Sylvain Pinaud x Massena Lab Chronograph Monopoussoir is a monopusher chronograph almost entirely handcrafted in Sylvain Pinaud's workshops in Sainte-Croix, Switzerland. It is powered by a manual-winding movement with a horizontal clutch and a fully integrated column-wheel chronograph. A sapphire crystal window on the side of the titanium case, coupled with a transparent caseback, allows the dial and movement to be viewed from nearly any angle.

Sports Watch Award

　Malaysian-born MING won the Sports Watch Award. This model features an original style that moves the function of the rotating bezel to a sapphire crystal dial coated with Super-LumiNova X1. The sealed crown at 4 o'clock rotates the entire dial via a 60-click unidirectional mechanism. While most diver's watches have screw-down crowns to ensure water resistance, the Bluefin's crown, which sets the timing dial at 4 o'clock, is designed for underwater use. It rotates in only one direction and is protected by a double gasket, preventing it from being pulled out.

Jewelry Watch Award

　A dazzling model worthy of the highest award in the Jewelry Watch category is Chopard's Laguna High Jewelry Secret Watch. The brand's artisans have meticulously recreated a mosaic of the ocean in this masterpiece, set with pink, violet, and pastel blue sapphires (10 carats in total), topazes (4.28 carats), natural pearls (1.63 carats), emeralds (1.47 carats), diamonds (1.28 carats), purple, demantoid, and mandarin garnets.

Artistic Crafts Watch Award

　The Lady Arpels Jour Enchanté watch embodies the compassionate love of nature that fascinates Van Cleef & Arpels. The central character of the piece is a fairy picking flowers in the morning sun. The case back is engraved with a scene that echoes the dial, subtly revealing the rest of the story. Set with 94 sapphires (1.0 carat), 56 spessartites (0.32 carat), 13 turquoises, and 308 diamonds (5.69 carat), the watch radiates a powerful sparkle on the wrist.

Small Needle Award “Petite Aiguille” Watch

While "traditionally" the minutes are indicated by a large, blued steel hand on the dial ring at 12 o'clock, it's the hour display that makes the "3 Salmon" so special. Beneath the upper dial is a plate divided into three sections, and the time is displayed by three hands. Each hand runs at a different length between the two dials. When one hand reaches the end of the scale, the next longer or shorter hand is displayed at the beginning of the next hour scale. The 2, 6, and 10 hours are displayed twice on separate scales before the current hand moves to the next scale. It's a simple yet unique piece.

Challenge Watch Award

　Otsuka Low-Tech, founded by Japanese designer Jiro Katayama, has been awarded the Challenge Watch Award. This watch features an analog meter displayed in a fan shape, creating an iconic design that is unforgettable once seen. The retrograde hour and minute hands are arranged on the same axis, and when the hands reach the end of the scale, they instantly fly back to zero. This watch is equipped with a Miyota movement and an in-house module, enabling the hour and minute hands to instantly return to zero, a central seconds disc, and a date display to the right of the center.

Eco Innovation Award

　This LUC Qualité Fleurier model is the first watch to be awarded the label since Chopard became the sole custodian of the Foundation in 2022. It is also the first in the LUC Qualité Fleurier family to be made from Lucent Steel™, an alloy with unique properties exclusive to Chopard and produced with a recycling rate of at least 80%.

Audacity Award

　Berneron, a watch brand that produces just 12 pieces a year, won an Audacity award. The winning "Mirage" series is a watch with an unusual shape that derives its asymmetry not from its appearance but from its movement. Designed to allow the mechanism to move freely, the movement (large barrel, direct small seconds, pocket-watch-style balance wheel) lacks symmetry altogether, creating an imperfect yet purposeful harmony.

“Horological Revelation” Award

Following an impressive debut with the "Subscription" series, young independent French watchmaker Rémy Couer has created his first series of mass-produced watches, the "Tourbillon Atelier," in the same spirit of carrying on tradition and passing on know-how. The tourbillon, which forms the centerpiece of the dial, is supported by a single bridge that is hand-chamfered and polished. The 13.2mm diameter tourbillon carriage has three polished spokes, and the hairspring features a carefully hand-formed winding balance.

Chronometry Award

　This model is truly a "triple" certified chronometer, having been inspected and certified by the Besançon Observatory in France, the Glashütte Observatory in Germany, and the Observatory Chronometrics in Geneva, Switzerland. One of the distinctive features of this model's Central Impulse Chronometer is the movement of the minute hand, which follows the rhythm of a remontoire every 10 seconds. The minute hand's movement is displayed on a unique scale, each divided into six 10-second steps, which rotates once per minute. A small pointer in the center of the minute hand guides the reading of the 10-second intervals in perfect synchronization with the rhythm of the remontoire.

Special Jury Award

　Jean-Pierre Hagman is a leading supplier of complicated watch cases to renowned watchmakers. Without him, neither the Star Caliber nor the Tonneau Curvex would have been possible. Eager to have this legendary watchmaker create the cases, Recep Rexhepi persuaded the retired Hagman to join the company, and he was successful. In 2019, the entire workshop joined Akrivia.