For most of the world, September means back-to-school. For us, it is finally time to present our fifth annual 30 Under 30(ish) List.

This year’s cohort of the 30 people under (and sometimes a little bit older than) 30 who we believe are changing the face and culture of the watch world for the better includes talent from both old-school horological families and outsiders bringing fresh ideas to the canon. And each of their contributions makes us super excited for the future of horology.

So, without further ado, here is our second group of 30 Under 30(ish) honorees for 2026.

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Kealan Hélias-Nédélec & Coralie Ripert

Co-Founders of Coffee Up
@coffeeup.ge

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The love of watches goes far beyond physical objects. Camaraderie is just as important to keeping the community growing. And what better space to hang out with fellow enthusiasts than a coffee shop? Well, you’re in luck because Coffee Up is a great clubhouse for watch fans of all stripes.

Located just steps from Cornavin Station in Geneva, Coffee Up is a must-visit spot where specialty coffee meets horology. Surrounded by vintage timepieces and original artworks, guests savor creative drinks and homemade treats while mingling with travelers, collectors, and watch enthusiasts.

However, Coffee Up isn’t just a love letter to horology; it’s a love story full stop.

Coralie Ripert and Kealan Hélias-Nédélec, the couple behind the specialty coffee concept, both hail from France, met in New Zealand, and finally found themselves in Switzerland, where Kealan – a lifelong watch enthusiast – was training as a watchmaker for the Richemont Group in Neuchâtel. Coralie, meanwhile, deepened her knowledge of specialty coffee, mastering manual brewing methods and refining her approach to extraction and service.

Eventually, they sold a significant part of their shared collection of vintage timepieces to fund Coffee Up, a place where their twin obsessions – specialty coffee and horology – could finally live in the same room.

Their philosophy, “Sip slowly, Time will wait,” reflects everything they value: patience, precision, and the art of making time for what matters.

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Tristan Ho

Founder of LOTH Watches
@lothwatches

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Singapore has always been home to a vibrant horological community. Retailers like The Hour Glass and gatherings such as IAMWATCH have done a lot to promote local brands like Azimuth and Feynman. Now, microbrand LOTH (an acronym for Lab of Tristan Ho) has produced the first hand-finished movement series ever produced in Singapore: the LOTH Watch 1.

Moreover, the Watch 1’s success is captivating because the man behind it is completely self-taught, learning techniques from online videos and honing his watchmaking craft after returning home from his day job.

Lo is also forging his own path when it comes to marketing his timepieces. He has built a serious following by documenting every step of his journey on Instagram.

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Kenneth Lam

Watchmaker at Arken
@arkennethlam

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Born and raised in Birmingham, England, Kenneth Lam is the one-man operation behind Arken Watch Company. We love his titanium tool watches, but another reason Lam is on our list is the practical, innovative way he gets his message to people.

Since its inception in 2021, Arken has built on the foundations laid by its dedicated following. Lam has been a visible member of the watch enthusiast community, focusing on user experience and engagement through connectivity. If you’ve attended an independent watch fair in the last three years, you have probably met Lam.

Outside of Arken, Lam can be found on a gear podcast called Form & Function, as well as quietly guiding a B2B company, Central Timekeeping Solutions, which provides UK support to independent brands of all sizes from around the world.

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Carla Lanfranchini & Cybèle Vigneron

Founders of Version Watches
@versionwatches

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Founded in Paris in 2024 by Cybèle Vigneron, Carla Lanfranchini, and Lucas Portugaels, Version Watches’ stated goal is not to reinvent the wheel (or watch) but rather the experience of time.

Everybody in the watch community has been asked why we need watches when we can read the time on our phones. To answer this question, Lanfranchi and Vigneron (Portugaels left the company before its first watches were shipped to customers last year) made a watch that was not just a functional instrument, but an aesthetic manifesto.

Luckily for us, we live in a timeline where new production technologies made it possible to create their first model, the V01-LCC, which features strong signatures such as a round dial divided horizontally in half. A sundial-like pattern serves as a traditional watch face on the bottom half, while a semi-transparent grid on top reveals the Sellita SW200-1 automatic movement. The design delights by pulling back the curtain on the inner workings of watchmaking while also exploring different creative worlds.

Like many millennials, Lanfranchi and Vigneron haven’t quit their day jobs, but Version is more than a side hustle. And with such a strong identity, we expect big things on the horizon.

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Jennifer Leingang

YouTuber & GPHG academy member
@jenni_elle_

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German Jennifer Leingang, a.k.a. Jenni Elle on YouTube, is part of the new generation who use digital platforms to give enthusiasts a voice to share their personal opinions and analyses. And everyone from brands to traditional media is listening.

Leingang grew up in a house full of watches (her father was a tinkerer). In high school, she met her now-husband Kai, who has a YouTube channel, TenPastTen, which covers luxury watches. In 2018, she started vlogging about watches, which led her to establish her own channel, sharing her personal takes on timepieces and discussing broader themes such as marketing and the history behind watches. Most recently, her popular platform has led her to a new role as a member of the GPHG academy.

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Rémi Le Plomb

Creative Project Manager at heist-out
@remi.lp

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Who says print is dead? Heist-out is an independent watch and culture magazine that describes itself as a playground for bold ideas and non-conformity. Over three issues, the publication has also partnered with Sotheby’s for its Area 51 auction in Geneva as well as its cool kid Watch Week parties. The resurging interest in weird and wonderful watches from the 1970s – you can thank heist-out Creative Project Manager Rémi Le Plomb for this scene.

As much as he loves watches, Le Plomb and the heist-out team (which includes past 30 Under 30ish honorees Lorenzo Maillard and Scarlett Baker) love magazines and magazine culture. Putting together each issue involves working with the people shaping the scene while producing sharp visuals and parties designed to keep the industry from feeling old and elitist.

After four years, they still consider themselves outcasts, but it’s part of Le Plomb’s job to make sure everyone feels welcome at the party.

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Dries Lippens

Watchmaker & Co-Founder of Arsène Lippens
@drieslippens

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Lippens has been a certifiable watch freak since the age of 11, catching the horology bug from his grandfather Arsène. Lippens has also always been a dreamer (and a little bit absentminded), and his grandfather Arsène used to say, “If Dries is doing his homework, and a fly passes five meters away, he will have seen it, and that is the most important thing at that moment, the fly.”

And Lippens had many dreams: to become a professional footballer and a surgeon. He says he was not a model student, but his studies took him to Oklahoma in America, Ghent, Plovdiv, and finally to Geneva, where he ended up in the Swiss watch industry.

The point is that Lippens has had many interests, but he has fallen passionately in love with all of them. Once he caught the watch bug, he had to explore this world fully, which led to the establishment of Arsène Lippens.

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Sohaib Maghnam

CEO and Creative Director of Beda’a & Founder of Maghnam Watches
@sohaib. maghnam

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Sohaib Maghnam is the designer and engineer behind Qatar-based independent Beda’a. Founded in 2016, the brand has stealthily become a disrupter. In 2025, it was one of the few non-Swiss brands nominated for a GPHG, with its Eclipse being a finalist in the Challenge category.

With a background in mechanical and automotive engineering, Maghnam honors horological history through a lens of modern industrial design and storytelling (another model under his eponymous brand, the Noor, features a time display that flips up like the headlights on a vintage supercar). In short, Maghnam aims to celebrate and elevate the art of designing time.