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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Emily Marsden

Collector, Journalist, & YouTuber
@secretdiaryofawatchgirl

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Watch journalism is increasingly online. For the most part, traditional writers, reviewers, influencers, and content producers still mingle, but we also operate in our own lanes. No matter which highway we travel, our destination is always the same – we all want people to wear more watches!

It’s difficult to peg Emily Marsden into just one kind of content category. She is a collector obsessed with the niche and the odd. Her interest in a timepiece begins with the technical, but she says, “the real joy is in the journey: the constant, happy business of learning something new.” From 1980s IWC to modern Vacheron Constantin, she collects it all, and loves it all.

And she shares it all on the Secret Diary of a Watch Girl, the Instagram and YouTube accounts where she documents her collecting journey. Her writing has also appeared in British GQ, Revolution Magazine, and Craft+Tailored, where she covers people and brands in detail.

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Sarah Murdoch

Enamellist at anOrdain
@smurdo.ch

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We first met Sarah Murdoch, an expert enamellist and dial painter who works at the anOrdain watch studio in Glasgow, at the 2025 NAWCC National Convention in York, Pennsylvania. An integral part of the anOrdain artisan team, the brand itself, founded in 2015 by designer Lewis Heath, is young and adventurous, spending three years developing its in-house vitreous (grand feu) enamel dials before launching its debut timepiece, the Model 1.

Because anOrdain is a small team, Murdoch not only goes hands-on decorating these dials, but she also travels the world giving presentations on the art of enameling or manning the booth at watch fairs. Considering that enamel dial watches are one of the biggest emerging (or reemerging) trends in collecting, Murdoch is a tremendous ambassador for the science and the art.

Speaking of art, she is also an accomplished ceramicist. Side Note: While her Instagram page is less watch-forward than most of our other nominees, its focus on her enameling projects easily makes it one of the most beautiful pages we’ve ever seen.

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Felipe Pikiluk

Independant Watchmaker
@felipepikullik

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As you read this list, are you noticing how many independent watchmakers are in the class of 2026? Have you also noticed how many are operating outside of the traditional watchmaking centers of Switzerland? Well, here is another.

Over the last few years, Berlin-based Felipe Pikullik has quietly built a reputation as a very compelling and impressive independent watchmaker. He trained as a watchmaker and spent time working with Stefan Kudoke and Rolf Lang, but when it comes to finishing, he is largely self-taught, learning from old books and teaching himself techniques lost to time.

The resulting in-house movements, including the new FPA1 calibre, are in high demand because everything about them embodies the spirit of following the beat of one’s own drummer. Or, as Pikiluk writes on the Maison’s website:

From the first engraved bridges to the development of our own architecture, each step moves forward with greater intention, less dependence.

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Angélique Singele

CEO of the Voutilainen Workshop
@angelique_singele

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Angélique Singele has always been a polymath. Born in La Chaux-de-Fonds, she discovered a passion for horology as a teen. In school, she double majored in watchmaking and microtechnical engineering, specializing in watch design. After completing her studies at CIFOM and the Haute École Arc (HE-ARC), Singele continued to supplement her education by pursuing an Executive MBA (Master of Business Administration).

Singele considers herself a lifelong learner, and one of her greatest teachers is Kari Voutilainen, one of the greatest living watchmakers. Currently, she is Chief Executive Officer of the Voutilainen workshop. She also accompanies the master on his travels to share the atelier’s philosophy and present its creations to clients and the press.

Singele is also in charge of Brodbeck Guillochage and its team of master artisans dedicated to preserving and advancing the art of hand-guilloché.

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Sarah Stafford Turner

Founder of Tinywatches
@tinywatches

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Sarah Stafford Turner is a design historian, a journalist, and the founder of Tinywatches, the first club for collectors of women’s watches. Her fun and informative Instagram page has helped bring a greater appreciation for a sector of the watch market – cocktail watches, jewelry watches, and anything designed with women consumers in mind – that was once looked upon as second tier.

She has also started many conversations with her investigations into other corners of the collecting world such as dupes, the history of watch advertising, and red-carpet moments.

Next up, Stafford Turner is organizing an in-person meet-up for club members in New York this October.

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Bradley Taylor

Artisanal Watchmaker
@bradleytaylor.ca

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Artisanal watchmaker Bradley Taylor is a one-man operation (he designs and crafts about 80% of the components himself) and is helping to lead the revival of high-end, independent North American mechanical watchmaking. Like most of our class of 2026, Taylor’s fascination with timekeeping started early.

Growing up, he was drawn to anything mechanical, driven by an obsession with understanding how things worked and a compulsion to make things with his hands. The moment that gave this restlessness a direction came when he disassembled a Seiko Monster. He recalls it was the first time he used the word ‘beautiful’ to describe something, watching the mechanism tick away in front of him.

The art of taking things apart led him to enroll at the Korpela & Hofs Watchmaking Competence Centre in Le Locle, Switzerland, completing the 4,500-hour program (approximately three years) under the mentorship of Henrik Korpela. After graduating, he worked in after-sales service, earning Patek Philippe’s Level II certification in Geneva, grounding himself in the servicing and restoration of high-end timepieces before setting out on his own.

After co-founding a watchmaking company with a former classmate, Taylor relocated to Vancouver and began working under his own name in 2020. He produced two sold-out series: the Paragon and the Lutria, working with some of the finest suppliers in the industry.

In late 2023, he set up a new workshop in North Vancouver, where he brought his most recent release, 2026’s Ardea, to life. Taylor is now taking orders for delivery in 2030.

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Matteo Violet-Vianello

Creative Director at Anoma
@anomawatch

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London-based microbrand Anoma has generated a lot of buzz since it launched in June 2024 with the triangular A1, a piece of design that recalled the futuristic sculptures of Constantin Brancusi.

Anoma’s most recent offering – the A1 Prehistoric – went back in time for inspiration. Matteo Violet-Vianello found the idea for the chiseled case of his newest watch in a museum, standing in a room full of prehistoric tools.

Violet-Vianello’s passion for watches has always been about discovery. As a child, he started disassembling vintage pieces he found in a drawer at his family home in Paris.

He later worked at Sotheby’s before becoming one of the first employees at A Collected Man, a leading platform for rare watches. But he’s also committed to shaping the future of horology. Violet-Vianello is also an Academy Member of the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG). Anoma is short for anomaly. The brand’s mission statement says,

We draw inspiration from art, architecture, nature, and beyond, to craft designs that feel both strikingly new and deeply familiar. Our goal is to embody a more experimental and daring vision of watchmaking, breaking free from traditional constraints.

So, even though both Anoma and Violet-Vianello are young, and their designs are forward-thinking, they still project the confidence of an old soul.

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Tyler Worden

Founder of the Worden Watch Studio
@worden.watch

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Tyler Worden is a Canadian designer and the founder of Worden Watch Studio. He approaches watchmaking as an artistic medium, creating limited-run watches that explore ideas, feelings, and experiences through color, material, and details.

We often talk about storytelling when we talk about the watches we love, and Worden’s watches are real statement pieces, as each collection is developed around a single theme, with every design contributing to an evolving body of work.

Even as a kid, Worden built things for himself, including speaker systems, skateboard ramps, and even a bicycle. It’s no wonder that he went on to study industrial design at Carleton University. When he set about looking for a new watch as a graduation present, he eventually decided to make his own.

After graduation, he built on the project, aiming to create something that was an expression of the wearer, a useful, everyday tool, and a message – every dial is signed “made with love.”

The good vibes are coming back to him in droves. Worden began making watches full-time in January. He hopes to produce and sell up to 10 watches a month at his own studio.

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Suan You

Jewelry & Watch Designer
@swanyou_

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Suan You is a Korean jewelry and watch designer currently pursuing a master’s degree in Watch Design at HEAD Genève, where she is focused on building a more personal and playful connection between people, their objects, and time. A perfect example is You’s MIMU, an interactive puzzle watch that turns reading time into a tactile experience.

Rather than displaying the time immediately, MIMU invites the wearer to manually move its puzzle pieces to reveal the dial, encouraging a more conscious engagement with both the object and time itself. This unique time teller received the 2025 Time to Watches Prize.

For You, the award is just the first stepping stone upon which she plans to expand the world of MIMU through her master’s research.

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Christiano Wennmann

Collector & Pizza Maker at Scarr’s Pizza
@christiano.kei

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What is a pizza chef doing on a list of up-and-coming watch creatives? Well, Christiano Wennmann is someone whose influence doesn’t end in the kitchen. For instance, he’s also walked the runway for designers like Will Chavarria.

In fact, it’s because he can move fluidly between the worlds of food, fashion, and self-expression that his restaurant Scarr’s Pizza in the trendy Lower East Side of Manhattan has become a haven for trend-setting watch collectors and dealers such as Mike Nouveau, Phil Toledeno, and Scarr’s owner, Scarr Pimental.

With so many things going on in the pizza maker’s life, you could call him a shape shifter, weaving many different cultures together on one wrist. His personal collection runs from 1970s AP and 1990s-era Cartiers to ‘80s Piagets. But no matter what flavor of vintage watch he is wearing, you can bet that whatever it is will be the next big thing on the secondary market.