Editors’ Picks: Our Most Memorable Watch of 2025
The watches from 2025 that stayed with us
Each year delivers plenty of strong watch releases, but only a few really stick. These are the watches that linger in conversation, stand out in memory, or keep pulling you back for another look long after their debut. For this year’s Editors’ Picks, members of the WatchTime editorial team share the single watch from 2025 that stayed with them most. This isn’t a ranking or award, but simply as the one that left the strongest impression.
Cartier Santos Titanium
Zen Love, Senior Editor
For several reasons, Cartier’s Santos in lightweight Grade 5 titanium sticks with me this year. It’s still relatively recent, it was a surprise, I covered its release, and I spent time with it for an upcoming WatchTime print review. But most of all, it presented an exciting new vision for the Santos.
It’s really only the material and finishing that distinguish it from existing models, but that just shows how much impact those changes can have. Matte titanium doesn’t sound like it would mesh with Cartier’s polished, elegant persona— until you see how the brand executed it here. Mixed with sleek polished bevels and punctuated by polished screws, it feels natural, modern, sporty, and refined all at once.
All of this gives the watch the presence that defines the “sports-chic” category. Combined with Cartier’s prestige and instant recognizability, it becomes a compelling and highly competitive option at $11,500 for anyone seeking that kind of wrist presence.
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TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph x Fragment
Sabine Zwettler, Contributor
2025 has been an impressive year in watchmaking— full of bold designs, clever mechanics, and a level of refinement that shows just how creative the industry can be. So naming the most impressive watch is not an easy task. There are so many different categories in which you could award first, second, and third winners: the most complex one, the finest dress watch, the toughest tool watch, and more.
However, the one that keeps resurfacing in my mind is the TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph x Fragment. It was introduced only recently, but it instantly left its mark. It reinterprets the legendary Carrera in such a subtle and respectful way that feels genuinely fresh while staying true to what has made this collection so enduring for more than six decades.
Kudos to how Hiroshi Fujiwara’s design treats the glassbox crystal as more than just a functional element. The 39mm case, with its clean black-and-white contrast, feels crisp and intentional, and the domed sapphire crystal adds real depth to the pure black opalin dial. Small details— like the discreet Fragment lightning bolt, the soft-grey tachymeter scale, and the black PVD touches on the bracelet— show a level of restraint that makes the design feel confident rather than loud.
Inside, the in-house TH20-00 movement offers both dependable performance and its own stylistic nods. The shield-shaped rotor with its graphic black detailing and the Fragment signature on the sapphire caseback feel subtle yet meaningful. In a year filled with a plethora of standout watches, this Carrera lingers with me because of its clarity and coherence. It shows how a thoughtful update can make a familiar design feel not just current, but truly memorable.
Limited to 500 pieces, the Carrera Chronograph x Fragment is priced at $9,050.
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Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Automatique
Dara Hinshaw, Managing Editor
My heart skipped a beat when I first saw this new Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Automatique, especially created to fit a woman’s slender wrist. That such a well-known diver’s watch should be redesigned in both form and color to complement a woman’s wrist brought me joy. The new Fifty Fathoms Automatique models have been designed specifically for women with a 38mm case that “isn’t a size reduction— it’s a complete rework with redesigned and balanced, harmonious proportions.”
The two-tone pink model shown here (Ref. 5007 12B44R NAFA) features a 38.2mm Grade 23 titanium case with a sapphire caseback and a subtly graduated pink mother-of-pearl dial with Super-LumiNova on the hands and white-gold indices. Water resistance is rated to 300 meters. Inside is Blancpain’s automatic Calibre 1153, offering a 100-hour power reserve. The white fabric strap features two-tone pink stripes.
A second Fifty Fathoms Automatique 38mm model is available with a sunburst black dial and a black sail canvas, rubber, or fabric strap, or a steel bracelet. Both versions pay tribute to the women who take part in the Blancpain Ocean Commitment and the Female Fifty Fathoms Award, which specifically recognizes the work of women photographers.
As shown: $20,500.
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Angelus Chronographe Télémètre Yellow Gold White
Martin Green, Editor-at-Large
Another year with so many great watches— not easy to pick a favorite, although it gets easier when you are asked as a collector rather than an industry professional. In that case, the Angelus Chronographe Télémètre really hit home for me. Elegant size, a cool complication with the monopusher chronograph, and the revival of a legendary movement that once powered Cartier’s Tortue Monopoussoir.
Initially developed by THA Ébauche— the movement creation manufacture of François-Paul Journe, Denis Flageollet (De Bethune), and Vianney Halter— Angelus acquired the rights some time ago and subtly revamped the movement into an even more attractive proposition.
The Chronographe Télémètre won the chronograph category at this year’s GPHG, to which I also made a modest contribution by voting for it. The watch ticks so many boxes and makes my horological heart skip a beat whenever I see it. It is also timeless. It could have been made decades ago and still looks current— something I don’t expect to change anytime soon.
Its perfect proportions— 37mm in diameter and just 9.25mm thick— make it a pleasure to wear. Thanks to the subdials being placed close to the center of the dial, the watch wears larger while still easily slipping under a cuff. At $32,500 for the gold model and $18,000 for the stainless steel version, it is a significant investment— but one that pays dividends in timeless design.
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Urban Jürgensen UJ-2
Daniela Pusch, Head of Editorial, WatchTime Germany
The relaunch of Urban Jürgensen has become one of the year’s standout watch stories, driven by the debut of the impeccably crafted UJ-2. Fully handmade with a double-wheel natural escapement, a hand-turned guilloché dial, and flame-blued hands, the time-only model requires 565 hours of masterful work.
Its cultural impact has been immediate, already appearing on the wrists of figures such as Timothée Chalamet and Tramell Tillman. A historic house reborn, Urban Jürgensen is now led by co-CEOs Kari Voutilainen— one of watchmaking’s most revered artisans— and Alex Rosenfeld, marking a new era for the former official watchmaker to the Danish royal court. With this leadership in place, Urban Jürgensen is once again shaping the conversation in high horology.
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Frederique Constant Classics Manchette
Caleb Anderson, Contributor
I tend to gravitate toward small, slightly funny watches. This is especially true of compact pieces that still manage to pack a punch. The Frederique Constant Classics Manchette is a good example of this. Subtle in size but not in personality, it feels deliberate and easy to wear, balancing glam with just enough oddity to keep things interesting.
Part of what I like about the Manchette is that it leans fully into its own stand-out energy, operating as a small piece of jewelry first and as a timekeeper second. It feels glam, a little “geezer,” and slightly out of step with standard dress watches for either men or women; all of which comes together into something that sticks out just enough at a glance, and offering a small window into the mind of the wearer at an appreciative gawk.
What’s equally as interesting to me is who’s making it: Frederique Constant. The watchmaker notably isn’t an experimental indie or a high-jewelry maison, it’s a mainstream, luxury-value-driven brand with broad reach. Seeing watchmakers in this segment take chances on pieces like the Manchette feels meaningful. It signals a growing willingness in the market to move beyond safe, iterative designs and toward watches that are more expressive, more specific, and less concerned with universal appeal.
Pricing also plays a role in why this watch feels notable. The Classics Manchette starts at $1,395, rises to $1,895 for the malachite or onyx dial versions, and tops out at $4,295 for the diamond-set model. There are certainly quirky watches under $1,000, and plenty well above $5,000, but timepieces like this don’t often show up in this middle ground outside of interesting vintage finds.
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What was your most memorable watch from 2025?
