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By:
BeckerTime’s Favorites from Watches & Wonders
For the final installment in our comprehensive roundup of all the comings and goings at this year’s Watches & Wonders event, we are going to take a more personal view.
2026’s expo was billed as the biggest one yet, with 65 exhibiting brands debuting well over 600 new watches. Of that impressive tally, we have picked just our top 3.
Our choices are not necessarily the most expensive, the most complicated or even the most ground-breaking—they are simply the ones which most appealed to us on a gut level.
Read on below.
The A. Lange & Söhne Lange 1 Tourbillon Perpetual Calendar ‘Lumen’
It’s not a flawless system, but I maintain the longer it takes to type the name of a watch, the better that watch is.
The A. Lange & Söhne Lange 1 Tourbillon Perpetual Calendar ‘Lumen’ takes a very long time to type out and is, indeed, a fantastic timepiece. I’ve never hidden my borderline obsessive love for Lange in general and the Lange 1 specifically; with its asymmetrical but perfectly golden ratioed dials, distinguishing outsize date displays and overall air oozing of class and sophistication.
The Lange 1 was among the first families of watches the brand launched for its 1994 resurrection, making it a 32-year old series. However, the Lumen variations only surfaced in 2010, with the Zeitwerk ‘Luminous’. Until now there have only been six ‘Lumen’ models released, spread across the Zeitwerk, Datograph and Lange 1 collections. This year’s Tourbillon Perpetual Calendar represents the seventh.
All the Lumen watches share several attributes. Most significant is the semi-transparent sapphire dial (or dial section) which allows UV light to pass through and charge the luminous components underneath. That lume is so extensive it makes the watches fully functional in darkness rather than just legible. On the Lumen models it covers the hours and minutes, the date, power reserve indicators, chrono counters and even the calendar indications.
All have been limited editions so far and with strictly precious metal construction as well (either platinum or Lange’s own Honey Gold) and their general aesthetic is more futuristic than the standard watches.
The Lange 1 Tourbillon Perpetual Calendar ‘Lumen’ continues these traditions. The 41.9mm piece comes in 950 platinum and is restricted to just 50 units. Below the smoky sapphire crystal, the perpetual calendar is presented in its own unique way. The months are shown around the peripheral ring which switches at the end of the month, while the day of the week comes on a retrograde display on the left hand side. As for leap years, they appear in a small aperture at the 6 o’clock. Kept running, the watch will need its first manual correction on 1st March 2100.
Lange have also squeezed in a moonphase, without compromising that golden triangle balance, with the celestial disc said to deviate from the moon’s true position only by a day after 122.6 years.
It is a chunky beast, as you would expect considering the number of complications, measuring some 13mm high. Inside is the manufacture L225.1 movement, Lange’s 77th new caliber since their revival, beating at 21,600vph and giving a 50-hour reserve. As always, the level of finishing has to be seen to be believed.
Of course, all of this comes at a price. Look on the Lange website and you’ll spot the ‘Price Upon Request’ tag under the watch, the one line which makes all bank managers nervous, with sources estimating the model is going to retail for somewhere around the $650,000 mark.
Is that a lot of money for a watch? Yes. Would I still call in every favor to get my hands on one if I had the funds? You betcha!
The Vacheron Constantin Overseas Dual Time Cardinal Points
Arguably the most talked about release from this year’s W&W, Vacheron Constantin’s latest addition to the Overseas range picks up where their ‘Everest’ watch left off in 2021.
That previous limited edition was itself a continuation of the prototype titanium Overseas worn by National Geographic photographer Cory Richards on his 2019 Mount Everest ascent. It garnered two models, a dual time and a chronograph, both restricted to just 150 pieces, which have gone on to become collectors’ items in the interim.
This year, Vacheron have brought their big hit into the mainstream with the Cardinal Points release, a series of four watches in a selection of striking colorways.
Named after the main points of the compass, each direction has its own shade. So north comes with white dial and rubber strap, south comes in all brown, east is blue and west is green. Measuring 41mm, the cases are grade 5 titanium (each comes with an optional titanium integrated bracelet, as well as an additional orange rubber strap, too) and sport the familiar Maltese Cross bezel design which is emblematic of the brand.
Powered by Vacheron’s 5110 DT/3 movement, the watches feature a dual time zone complication, with both local and home time hands settable via the main crown. But you’ll notice the second crown at the 4 o’clock. That one is a dedicated date corrector, responsible for adjusting the pointer style display in the six o’clock sub dial.
The four Cardinal models are about as sporty and tool watchy as VC gets. As well as the super resilient case material, they are also granted a 150m water resistance. Will they ever be used for the rough stuff or, indeed, on the average wearer’s next Everest climb? No, probably not. But they are superbly engineered and highly distinctive watches, extremely wearable and, at around $41,000, approaching realistic in terms of outlay too.
The Rolex Daytona ref. 126502
We covered the newest ‘Exceptional Watches’ release into the Rolex Daytona collection in a separate article a few weeks back. But even with a bit more time to get used to it, the ref. 126502 is still a big favorite here at BeckerTime.
At first glance it might strike you as one of the white-dialed, steel-cased models which ignited the watch world into absolute frenzy back on their launch in 2016.
However, while the case of this very special model is indeed 904L steel, the ring around its bezel comes in platinum—making this, technically, the first non-Yacht-Master-based Rolesium model in the brand’s history.
Not only that, the dial is something remarkable too. The Albino face, with its white background and white totalizers, has been created using a high horology practice known as Grand Feu. The extremely specialized technique involves building up layers of enamel baked at 800°C to leave a glossy, ‘whipped cream’ finish impossible to reproduce any other way.
Expensive, time-consuming and very difficult to get right, Rolex has only used the method very sparingly in the past, the last time being the Day-Date’s Jigsaw dials back in 2023.
And there is one other divergence from the ordinary for the eagle-eyed viewer. If you take a look at the tachymeter scale markings around the bezel, they have reverted back to being displayed horizontally as they were originally on the first generation models.
The ref. 126502 is said to be retailing at $57,800, which might seem a lot for a basically steel watch, even one with a fancy dial. However, should you find yourself in the fortunate position of being offered one at its official price, grab it and don’t let go. The secondary premium on what is likely to be one of Rolex’s most in-demand pieces in recent years is sure to be massive!
Featured Photo: Mixed art by Oriol Mendivil for BKT Archive.
