24 new releases that earned their place through time with The Calibrated Wrist team
By Brent Robillard
A watch can make a very convincing argument in a photograph. Whether that argument survives a few hours on the wrist is another matter. Cases turn out to be thicker than expected. Bracelets refuse to settle. A dial that looked ordinary on a screen becomes the most interesting thing in the room.
We have had plenty of those encounters this year. Some happened in the studio, with enough time to size a bracelet, change a strap and decide whether the watch would find a place in our own collections. Others happened across a table in Montréal, New York, Toronto, or Geneva, with the person responsible for the watch explaining a detail we might otherwise have missed. This list grew out of those experiences, and out of the work of the writers and photographers who make The Calibrated Wrist possible.
Our ceiling is US$10,000, although most of the watches below cost considerably less. We have included new models and substantial new versions introduced in 2026. Every selection has been handled by someone on our team.
This is an editorial selection from the watches we encountered, rather than a claim to have tested every release of the year. We have considered the wider conversation in watch media, but a quiet reception elsewhere does not undo a good experience on our own wrists. Nor does a crowded launch calendar oblige us to forget a watch we liked in March.
The watches are grouped by what they offer, with three unexpected discoveries saved for the end.
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Everyday watches with something to say
Héron Continental
Our experience: Brent Robillard, hands-on review of the blue model. Price: US$630.
The Héron Continental is an easy watch to recommend to someone who wants to wear the thing and get on with the day. Its 37mm case, short lugs and beads-of-rice bracelet give it the proportions of an older exploration watch, while hardened steel and a useful adjusting clasp make sense in a modern one.
Our blue example added enough colour to keep that practical formula interesting. The sandwich dial has visible depth, and the boxed crystal suits the watch perfectly. I still find the black-and-orange version tempting, but the blue Continental is the one that earned its place here. Montréal has produced another very good everyday watch.
Read our Héron Continental review
Circula Facet 41
Our experience: Brent Robillard, studio review. Price at launch: €1,690 on suede; €1,940 or €2,040 on bracelet, depending on clasp.
The name gives away much of the appeal. The Facet carries its angles through the case, hands and bracelet, with brushing and polished edges that reward a closer inspection. What surprised me was how much attention Circula had devoted to those transitions at this price.
The 2026 addition is the larger 41mm case. Our Blue model pairs that architecture with a quieter dial than the familiar gear-pattern versions, giving the finishing room to speak. There is enough sporting substance to keep a tool-watch enthusiast interested, and enough refinement to make changing out of a sweatshirt seem a reasonable possibility.
Read our Circula Facet 41 review
Jack Mason Canton Day Date Chocolate
Our experience: Brent Robillard, Toronto encounter followed by a studio loan. Price: US$1,849 on bracelet.
I liked the Jack Mason Canton Day-Date when I first encountered it in Toronto. Having the Chocolate version at the studio confirmed the preference. The brown dial and warm accents suit the watch particularly well, while the patterned surface gives it a personality beyond the calendar display.
At 41mm, it sits toward the larger end of the dress-sports category. That will matter to some wrists. On mine, the balance of polish and everyday practicality made sense. Its appeal is easy to explain: a watch that makes an ordinary day feel a little more considered, without demanding a formal occasion. Chocolate remains the choice I would make.
Read our Canton Day Date review
Citizen Eco Drive PHOTON
Our experience: Brent Robillard, hands-on with reference BJ6560-53W. Price: US$995.
The PHOTON made me pay attention to a technology I had largely taken for granted. Light powers an Eco-Drive watch. We know that. Here, Citizen makes the relationship between light and the dial part of the experience, with narrow openings and shifting colour that change as the watch moves.
That visual curiosity comes in a comfortable Super Titanium case measuring 39.6mm across. It is a fitting way to mark fifty years since Citizen’s first analogue light-powered watch, and a useful reminder of how much engineering sits outside mechanical watchmaking. The titanium model we handled earns its place through both its appearance and the ease with which it can be worn.
Read our Citizen PHOTON review
Nodus Obscura II
Our experience: Marc Levesque; photography by James Cornish. Price: US$650 in steel; US$725 with black DLC.
A watch aimed at photographers was always going to find a receptive audience here. The Nodus Obscura II makes that connection functional, using its exposure-gauge bezel to help work through the relationship between aperture, shutter speed and film sensitivity. It invites its owner to engage with another analogue instrument.
Marc appreciated how closely the design followed that purpose. There is still a wearable, serviceable everyday watch underneath the specialist display, which matters when the camera goes back in its bag. The 2026 second generation also gives the concept a less exclusive life beyond the original limited collaboration. Among familiar dive bezels and GMT scales, this is a welcome change of subject.
Read Marc’s Nodus Obscura II review
Divers and field watches we would keep wearing
Longines HydroConquest
Our experience: Brent Robillard, hands-on with the redesigned collection. Price: US$2,200 on H-link bracelet; US$2,400 on mesh.
The Longines HydroConquest is one of the clearest examples of a familiar collection improving in ways that matter on the wrist. The 2026 redesign brings a cleaner face, revised proportions and better bracelet provisions to a watch that already had a persuasive position in the market.
I spent time with the collection in Mexico City and came away understanding why it would generate so much conversation. Available in 39mm and 42mm sizes, it offers a credible starting point for someone buying a first serious Swiss diver, while giving established collectors reasons to look again. The ceramic bezel and 300-metre water resistance support the proposition. The pricing makes it particularly difficult to ignore.
Read our 2026 HydroConquest review
Mido Ocean Star 200
Our experience: Brent Robillard, studio review of the blue model. Price: US$980 on bracelet.
The attention paid to the HydroConquest is deserved. Having worn the redesigned Mido Ocean Star 200, I also think Mido deserves a much larger share of that conversation. The blue model costs less than half as much on bracelet and delivers an awful lot of enjoyment for the difference.
Its 41mm diameter and 11.7mm thickness felt immediately familiar to someone who owns an older Seamaster Professional. The textured dial, faceted furniture and tapered bracelet make it an easy companion, while the Calibre 80 supplies a generous reserve. I would still prefer brushed centre links. That small personal complaint does little to weaken the case for one of the year’s most appealing affordable Swiss divers.
Read our Mido Ocean Star 200 review
DOXA SUB 300 Ti5 Professional
Our experience: Wesley Wright, hands-on review. Price: US$3,190.
Wesley came to the titanium SUB 300 with the perspective of a SUB 300T owner. That familiarity was a door in: he was able to assess what the change in material brought to an already recognisable experience. The Professional orange dial preserves the identity that draws many of us to DOXA in the first place.
Grade 5 titanium gives the familiar shape a lighter presence, and the result makes a strong case for revisiting a design you may think you already know. The permanent Ti5 collection arrived this year, and Wesley’s orange example gives us a particularly appealing way into it.
Read Wesley’s DOXA SUB 300 Ti5 review
Erebus Origin 40 Gen 2
Our experience: Marc Levesque; photography by Bob Allaby. Price: US$499 for the standard black model.
Marc’s review makes a useful point about improvement. A smaller case, a slimmer profile, a different movement and better bracelet details can add up to a substantially more satisfying watch, even when none of those changes is particularly dramatic on its own.
The redesigned Erebus Origin 40 moves to a Miyota 9015 and a compact 40mm case, while retaining the straightforward legibility that made the original appealing. There are plenty of watches competing on specifications at this price. What earned the Erebus a place was Marc’s assessment of how the refinements worked together. It is a good example of a young brand returning to an established idea and making it more comfortable to live with.
Read Marc’s Erebus Origin 40 review
Tudor Black Bay Ceramic
Our experience: Brent Robillard, hands-on appointment at Watches and Wonders. Price: US$7,725 on ceramic bracelet.
Among Tudor’s centennial-year releases, the Black Bay Ceramic felt particularly complete. The matching ceramic bracelet changes the character of a model that previously lived on a strap, carrying the dark finish around the wrist and giving the watch a more unified appearance.
Our experience was a show appointment, rather than an extended loan. Even within that setting, the combination made an impression. The relevant watch is the 2026 reference M7941A1ACNU-0001, with its ceramic bracelet and METAS-certified movement. At the upper end of this list, it gives buyers a materially different proposition from the steel divers elsewhere, while remaining recognisably part of Tudor’s tool-watch family.
Serica Ref. 5330
Our experience: Brent Robillard, hands-on in Montréal. Listed European price: €1,690.
A date window can cause a surprising amount of debate among watch enthusiasts. With the Ref. 5330, Serica gives us something worth discussing. The brand’s first date-equipped watch introduces a redesigned matte-black dial, a flash of carmine red in the calendar display, and an anthracite ceramic bezel with a quieter arrangement of markings. The result retains the distinctive character that makes a Serica diver recognisable across a room.
I had the opportunity to handle the 5330 in Montréal, earning it a place among the watches we encountered firsthand this year. Its appeal lies in the care given to an everyday complication: the date becomes part of the design, with the surrounding dial reconsidered to accommodate it. The familiar 12.2mm thickness is preserved, too. In a category crowded with variations on established designs, Serica continues to develop a visual identity very much its own.
Micromilspec Fieldmaster
Our experience: Brent Robillard, hands-on in Geneva. Price: US$2,995 on rubber; from US$3,655 on titanium bracelet. Announced first deliveries: May 2027.
The Fieldmaster appealed to my longstanding weakness for purposeful watches. Its development grew out of feedback from serving military personnel, and the resulting design addresses ordinary frustrations: weight, legibility and the need to keep a watch running between opportunities to wind or wear it.
The 40mm titanium case felt well proportioned on my wrist. Small seconds and the asymmetric dial keep it recognisably Micromilspec, while the Horage K3 movement supplies more than 100 hours of reserve. This was a Geneva hands-on encounter with a launch model, not a long-term field test. Customer deliveries are scheduled for 2027.
Read our Micromilspec Fieldmaster review
Watches for keeping another place in mind
Beaucroft Contour GMT Tropical Teal
Our experience: Vincent Deschamps, hands-on review. Price: US$899 at launch.
Vincent’s enthusiasm for the Contour GMT begins with something harder to quantify than a movement specification: the consistency of Beaucroft’s design. The curved case, distinctive hands and carefully related dial elements feel like parts of the same idea.
The Miyota 9075 supplies an independently adjustable local hour hand, making the GMT function useful when travelling. Tropical Teal adds a little holiday anticipation, whether or not a flight is actually booked. Hardened steel and a bracelet with on-the-fly adjustment give that attractive face some practical backing. Beaucroft’s first GMT is a convincing extension of its own vocabulary, and Vincent’s review provides a strong reason to pay attention.
Read Vincent’s Beaucroft Contour GMT review
Baltic Heures du Monde
Our experience: Brent Robillard, hands-on at the Montréal Timepiece Show. Launch price: €1,300 on leather; €1,360 on bracelet.
I first encountered the Heures du Monde at the Montréal Timepiece Show. It belongs here because Baltic has taken a particularly romantic kind of travel watch and made it approachable, with stone dials and a compact 37mm case giving the display an appealing scale.
There is an important distinction behind the city bezel. The watch uses a Soprod C125 caller-GMT movement and a 24-hour disc to provide its world-time display; it does not have an independently jumping local hour hand. That arrangement is worth understanding before buying. The appeal remains considerable: a view of other places on the wrist, with natural stone giving each dial its own variations.
Explore the Baltic Heures du Monde collection
Chronographs with perfect timing
Benrus Sky Chief
Our experience: Vincent Deschamps, hands-on review. Price: US$3,950 at launch.
A 36mm automatic chronograph remains unusual enough to deserve attention. Vincent found much to appreciate in the Sky Chief’s compact proportions and its commitment to the character of the original design. The modest diameter also keeps the registers in a close, balanced relationship with the surrounding dial.
There is a temptation to discuss revived watches entirely through their history. The Benrus makes a more immediate argument through size and wearability. It offers an alternative for someone who likes a traditional pilot’s chronograph but finds much of the modern category too large. That gives the 2026 revival a practical relevance beyond the pleasure of seeing an old name return.
Read Vincent’s Benrus Sky Chief review
Longines Master Collection Chrono Monopusher
Our experience: Brent Robillard, hands-on with the blue and ivory models. Price: US$3,900.
I have a considerable soft spot for this watch. Alongside the Spirit Pilot Flyback introduced last year, the Master Collection Chrono Monopusher is among my favourite recent Longines releases. The blue would be my choice; the warmer ivory version makes its own persuasive case.
Using a single pusher to start, stop and reset the chronograph gives the complication a pleasing simplicity of interaction. The pulsometer adds visual interest and a link to a practical use of elapsed-time measurement. More than anything, the watch feels comfortable with Longines’ own history. Within the broader Master Collection update, it is the model I would most readily return to for another look.
Read our Longines Monopusher review
Hanhart 417 TI Desert Pilot Limited Edition
Our experience: Brent Robillard, two-week studio loan following our initial announcement. Launch price: €2,990 including German VAT.
Regular readers will know that the 417 is a personal favourite. The Desert Pilot gave me a different version of that familiar attraction, and two weeks in the studio provided considerably more opportunity to consider it than the initial press photographs did.
Grade 5 titanium and the sand-coloured dial change the visual character, while the fluted bezel and twin-register layout keep the family resemblance intact. Inside is a manually wound column-wheel chronograph with flyback capability. Hanhart offered 39mm and 42mm versions, each limited to 200 pieces. The combination is an appealing expansion of the 417 idea, particularly for anyone who enjoys its historical proportions but wants something beyond the usual black or panda dial.
Read our original Desert Pilot coverage
Isotope Moonshot Thunderclap
Our experience: Brent Robillard, hands-on including Beau-Rivage during Watches and Wonders week. Launch price: £2,400 on rubber; £2,720 with rubber and titanium bracelet.
The Thunderclap gives the Moonshot a particularly appealing Canadian connection through Toronto-based co-designer Matt Smith-Johnson, better known as Teenage Grandpa. Its grey-and-purple palette suits the sculptural display, while the sandblasted titanium case provides a subdued frame for the colour.
The telemetre scale deserves a closer look. Start the chronograph when you see a flash of lightning and stop it when you hear the thunder; the scale estimates the distance to the event. It is an unusually appropriate complication for the name. The new matching titanium bracelet adds another reason to revisit the collection, with quick-release fittings and screwed links. Limited to 30 pieces, this is one of the list’s more individual interpretations of a modern chronograph. That describes Isotope to a tee.
Read our Moonshot Thunderclap coverage
Watches that reward a closer look
anOrdain Model 1 Porcelain
Our experience: Brent Robillard, hands-on review. Launch price: US$2,950 with G101; US$3,400 with decorated A1, excluding taxes.
The anOrdain Model 1 Porcelain encourages a slower kind of looking. Its white surface, blue typography and restrained proportions do not explain themselves through a quick list of specifications. The pleasure is in how carefully the details have been considered and how naturally they sit together.
Porcelain brings a different material character to a brand better known for enamel, while Kia Tasbihgou’s numerals give the face a distinctive identity. The familiar 38mm case keeps the result approachable. For collectors interested in how a watch is made, this is an accessible opportunity to engage with a small workshop’s particular way of doing things. It is also simply a very appealing watch to have on the wrist.
Read our anOrdain Model 1 Porcelain review
YEMA Granvelle Renaissance CMM 29
Our experience: Brent Robillard, hands-on with the Salmon model. Price reported in our review: €1,990.
YEMA has occupied the tool-watch part of my brain for years. The Granvelle Renaissance made room for another association. Its shaped case, layered dial and small-seconds display give it a more architectural character, while the salmon colourway brings a warmth I particularly enjoyed.
The micro-rotor movement is a large part of the interest, but the watch would be less convincing if that were its only attraction. What stayed with me was the relationship between the case and dial. The 2026 Renaissance reduces the original Granvelle’s dimensions to 37.5mm and refines the design around them. It shows how much range there is in the French brand’s catalogue once you look beyond the Superman.
Read our Granvelle Renaissance review
AWAKE Sơn Mài Guilloché Main
Our experience: Brent Robillard, hands-on at Chronopolis in Geneva. Launch price: US$3,075 excluding taxes.
I first saw this collection at Chronopolis, where there was no shortage of independent watchmaking competing for attention. AWAKE’s dials held mine. Vietnamese Sơn Mài lacquer and hand-operated guilloché from the Italian Renzetti workshop create surfaces whose appearance changes as the watch moves through the light.
Sunset drew me in most immediately, although Alba and Borealis have their own attractions. The new 38mm case matters almost as much as the dial work: it gives the collection proportions and finishing that feel more assured. A La Joux-Perret automatic movement completes the package. Our encounter was at a show, but the relationship between colour, craft and the revised case was already clear enough to make a lasting impression.
Read our AWAKE Guilloché Main review
Three unexpected discoveries
Sero Golden Signature
Our experience: Stephen Nichols, hands-on review and original photography. Price: €999 preorder; €1,199 regular retail.
Stephen had not planned to write a full review of the Golden Signature. Then he started looking through a macro lens. The engraved Breguet numerals, vertically brushed gold dial and heat-blued hands provided enough reason to keep going.
A small, manually wound dress watch is an interesting opening statement from a new brand. Sero’s achievement, as Stephen described it, lies in the execution of details that could so easily have become a collection of borrowed references. The result held together on the wrist as well as in photographs. We wanted the unexpected discoveries in this article to come from real enthusiasm within the team. Stephen’s response to the Sero leaves little doubt about its place.
Read Stephen’s Sero Golden Signature review
Tertia Odyssey
Our experience: Russ Michaud, a week of wear at his family cottage. Price: US$895 founder preorder; US$1,195 listed regular price. Announced delivery: January 2027.
Russ wore the Tertia Odyssey through the sort of activities for which many of us actually buy a dive watch: swimming from the dock, canoeing and walking in the woods. The useful details were there, including legible hands, lasting lume and a bracelet that could be adjusted as the day changed.
His strongest endorsement was more personal. He found himself reluctant to put the review watch down and return to his own collection. That is a meaningful response from someone who handles watches regularly. The Odyssey remains a preorder proposition, with customer deliveries expected in January 2027.
Read Russ’s Tertia Odyssey review
Atlantic Worldmaster Hybrid Limited Edition
Our experience: Brent Robillard, hands-on at the Montréal Timepiece Show. Listed Swiss price: CHF1,850.
Atlantic first caught my attention through its Bicompax. In Montréal, the Worldmaster Hybrid gave me another reason to stop at the table. Its unusual premise is quite literal: two independent movements, one automatic and one quartz, operating separate displays within a single watch.
This is not a quartz regulator controlling a mechanical movement. The two systems retain their independence, making the watch an intriguing meeting of familiar technologies. Limited to 188 pieces, it comes from a Swiss name with a much longer history than many Canadian collectors may realise. Our experience was confined to the show, but the Hybrid was memorable enough to earn a place among the year’s discoveries.
Read about our encounters with Atlantic
Final thoughts
Putting this list together brought back the people and places attached to the watches. Vincent’s attention to proportion. Wesley’s affection for a good diver. Marc and Bob working through a new release. Stephen finding something worth photographing closely, and Russ finding something he did not particularly want to send back.
That is why hands-on experience remains the condition for inclusion. We can explain a movement from a technical sheet. The reason a particular watch stays with us usually takes a little more time to discover. Sometimes it happens quickly, across a table at a show. Sometimes it takes a week of ordinary wear.
There are watches here for very different budgets and tastes, and most sit well below our US$10,000 ceiling. I would be happy if the list introduced you to one you had overlooked. Perhaps it will simply send you back for a second look at a watch you already liked. Both seem like good reasons to keep looking.
Check out The Ultimate Watch Buying Guide
About the author
Brent Robillard is a writer, educator, craftsman, and watch enthusiast. He is the author of four novels. You can follow him on Instagram.
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