Rare Birds: The Most Unusual, Delightful, and Unexpected Timepieces from Watches and Wonders 2025

Now that we have a bit of distance from the show, Watches and Wonders Geneva 2025 will go down in the books as a show filled with record-breaking, technologically insane timepieces. There was an overall theme of watchmakers going forth with boldly creative designs, materials, and mechanisms.

Still, a few new high-concept releases flew higher than others. So, here’s Watchonista’s annual round-up of our favorite rare birds spotted in the halls of the Palexpo.

To celebrate its 270th anniversary, Vacheron Constantin has set a new bar for the “Most Complicated Wristwatch Ever Made” title. That’s right, the double-sided 45mm, 18k white-gold Les Cabinotiers Solatia Ultra Grand Complication – La Première (try saying that five times fast) is a masterwork housing 41 complications, including three ways to read time: civil, solar, and sidereal.
 

What other features does the Solaria hold? There are six different time functions, eight perpetual calendar functions, three lunar indicators, 14 astronomical indicators, five chiming functions, a split-second chrono with a double column wheel, and a power reserve indicator.
 

This pièce unique is the result of eight years of research and development, holds 13 patents, and houses 1,521 components. And although it is overstuffed with complex operations, the Solaria is surprisingly slim, measuring just 14.99mm thick.

As we all know, Hermès holds handcrafts near and dear, so we were delighted to see that, this year, the Maison added five pieces to its Arceau collection, each employing the dial as a teeny tiny canvas. Our favorite of the five is the 41mm “Rocabar de Rire,” featuring a portrait of a horse in the center of the Arceau’s distinctive equine-inspired frame.
 

The dial image was created via the joyous marriage of engraving, painting, and horsehair marquetry. However, it’s also notable for its mechanical magic, which comes in the form of a pusher at 9 o’clock that actives what the brand calls an “on-demand impulse.”
 

In lay terms, you press the button, and the horse sticks its tongue out at you. It is limited to just 12 editions.

Another record-breaking effort, this time from Ulysse Nardin. Billed as the “World's Lightest Dive Watch,” the 44mm Diver [AIR] is also an aesthetic outlier.
 

The watch uses a modular construction and mix of lightweight materials such as titanium and carbon fiber to achieve its almost zero-weight effect (52g on the wrist and 46g sans its elastic upcycled fabric strap). Moreover, unlike most skeleton watches, instead of looking like the inner workings of the mechanism have been carved out to create lightness, the traditional structure used for plates and bridges has been reconfigured to provide maximum structure with minimal real estate.
 

If anything, the main feature of this watch is the open space, or “air,” surrounding the calibre.

For the new Purity Wavy Mirror, the avant-garde watchmakers at ArtyA brought futuristic design and artisanal craftsmanship to create a daring darling.

The spatial architecture of the in-house movement, the Stairway to Heaven HMS, is accentuated by hand-finishing and is enhanced by a mirrored caseback that reflects the movement while concealing the view of the skin.
 

The fluid 40mm case is crafted from grade 5 titanium and is accentuated by a mirror-polished lug-to-lug contour. This edition is limited to just 99 pieces.

Last year, we picked the Datograph Perpetual Tourbillon Honeygold “Lumen” from A. Lange & Söhne for our Rare Bird list because we couldn’t stop thinking about its mix of complications, transparent dials, lume and precious metals.

This year, the Luminor Perpetual Calendar GMT Platinumtech from Panerai is taking up the same real estate in our minds.
 

At its presentation, the message was that Panerai makes instruments, not just watches, which is apparent in the PAM01575’s readability.

Featuring a 44mm case forged with Platinumtech, Paneria’s proprietary alloy that’s 40% harder than regular platinum and 33% heavier than gold, this Luminor’s dial is a blue sapphire crystal face with applied luminous markers floating above visible discs for the day and date. Meanwhile, the month, year, and leap year are visible through the sapphire caseback.
 

And the whole shebang is powered by Panerai's in-house P.4100 calibre, which can calculate the date until 2399.

The new Octo Finissimo Ultra Tourbillon represents Bulgari’s 10th world record for super-slim timepieces. Like the Vacheron Constantin Solaria, this complicated timepiece wasn’t necessarily overlooked at this year’s show, but the sheer beauty of this limited-to-20-piece watch was underappreciated.
 

First of all, the built-in chicness of this 40mm Octo is amplified by its slimness. At just 1.85mm thick, it is the thinnest tourbillon ever created. But it’s also an impressive technical achievement.
 

We forget that micro-movements require more energy to work. So, in the lesser hands, this would impede precision and power. However, thanks to the in-house BVF 900 manual-wound movement, it manages to pull off a 42-hour power reserve.

Now in its 20th year, Hautlence has become our go-to brand for fun watches. Last year, we were charmed by the retro radio-shaped Retrovision ‘47.
 

For 2025, the brand has set its flux capacitor to the 1980s and revved up its DeLorean to 88mph to bring us the Transformer-inspired Retrovision ‘85 that can shapeshift between a wristwatch and a table clock.
 

Limited to just eight pieces, the case and holder of this wrist toy are cast in titanium. The case size worn on the wrist is 64mm x 60mm x 11.8mm. We checked it out at the Hautlence booth and at an event at the Beau Rivage, and it was certainly the life of the party.

Perhaps the most perfect example of storytelling at Watches and Wonders this year came from Chanel. As part of the Maison’s Blush Capsule Collection, Chanel showed three hidden watches that paid tribute to the brand’s historic beauty products. Our favorite is the “Kiss Me” secret sautoir watch, which comes in the shape of a sleek black lacquered lipstick case.
 

This pretty pendant features a glossy black titanium case accented with 20 baguette-cut golden beryl set in 18-karat yellow gold. A twisting motion meant to mimic the opening of an actual Chanel lipstick reveals a black lacquered dial encircled by a ring of golden beryl.

This clever novelty is suspended by a yellow gold chain adorned with 38 rhodolite beads weighing over 100 carats, little onyx tubes resembling miniature versions of the lipstick case, and 144 brilliant-cut diamonds totaling approximately 5.59 carats.
 

Alas, this amuse-bouche is limited to just five pieces.