The Best Watches Of 2025 (According To The Experts)

We’re almost at the end of 2025, and in the world of watches, it’s been one of the best years in recent memory. We’ve had an all-new collection debuted by Rolex, significant anniversaries for both Vacheron Constantin and Breguet, and – at a time when most brands’ prices have only gone one way – a refreshing number of affordable winners.

But what are the best watches of 2025?

Here, James Want and I will offer a few of our views on the watches that caught our eye, impressed us at closer inspection, and left us thinking about them long after they’d left our wrists, highlighting our favourites that made their debut in 2025.

Breguet Classique Souscription 2025

In 2025, Breguet was celebrating its 250th anniversary, and to say the brand impressed would be one of the understatements of the year. We got new chronographs, minute repeaters, and cutting-edge technology, but my favourite release this year (and the winner of the GPHG “Aiguille d’Or” Grand Prix prize) was the Breguet Classique Souscription 2025.

Inspired by the souscription pocket watches created by founder Abraham-Louis Breguet in the late 1700s, it features a single hour hand, a case crafted from the new proprietary “Breguet gold” (measuring 40mm x 10.8mm), and a white grand feu enamel dial engraved with Breguet’s traditional secret signature. Spectacularly finished from every angle, this was the jewel in the crown of a very good year for Breguet. – Nick Kenyon

Grand Seiko SLGB003 “UFA”

As I Grand Seiko owner, it’s always exciting the see the brand push technical innovation. The UFA debuts Grand Seiko’s next-generation movement architecture, a calibre designed to deliver higher efficiency, better shock resistance and tighter long-term precision. It marks a meaningful shift for the brand – a technical upgrade that feels evolutionary rather than cosmetic (in the Evolution 9 case), and one that quietly future-proofs GS in a way collectors will appreciate. – James Want

Seiko x Pepsi SRPL99

One of the most fun, affordable releases from this year was from Seiko, which became the first brand to create an official “Pepsi” watch with the soft drink brand itself. For decades, watches with blue and red bezels have enjoyed the nickname “Pepsi”, but for some reason, no one thought to make a real watch with Pepsi until Seiko announced this Seiko x Pepsi SRPL99 dive watch collaboration.

Featuring a 38mm steel case (12.1mm thick) and a matching bracelet, it’s got the Pepsi logo on the opaline white dial, the iconic blue and red bezel, and a solid mechanical movement inside. If you’re hunting for an everyday diver that looks good, has deep roots in watch collecting lore, and doesn’t break the bank, this is it. – Nick Kenyon

NOMOS Zürich Worldtime

Nomos keeps proving that minimalism doesn’t mean monotony, and the Zürich Worldtime remains one of the clearest, most intuitive travel watches ever built. The 2025 update tightens the execution with sharper city-ring typography and a movement that feels more assertive without disturbing the brand’s signature restraint. With a kaleidoscope of colours to choose from, you’ll be the life of the party on your next work trip. – James Want

Vacheron Constantin Historiques 222

The other important anniversary this year was Vacheron Constantin celebrating its 270th anniversary, and to kick off 2025, the legendary watchmaker took the covers off the Vacheron Constantin Historiques 222. The Historiques 222 is a revival of the famed Jörg Hysek-designed integrated bracelet sports watch, which Vacheron Constantin created to rival the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak and the Patek Philippe Nautilus in 1977.

Measuring 37mm in diameter and a wafer-like 7.95mm thick, it’s got a matte blue dial that appears to shift colour under different light, while inside, you’ll find the slimline calibre 2455/2 with 40 hours of power reserve.

Choosing the Historiques 222 as my favourite was mainly down to its everyday wearability, but Vacheron Constantin also had one of the best years in recent memory, releasing a suite of anniversary special edition releases, complicated Overseas references with new dial colours and extraordinary complications, petite perpetual calendars, the La Quête du Temps automaton clock, and a collection of piece unique watches. – Nick Kenyon

Laurent Ferrier Sport Auto 79

If you’ve been lucky enough to wear a Laurent Ferrier Sport Auto, you’ll know just how incredibly it drapes over the wrist. While it sings in titanium, in 5N red gold, it takes the maison’s signature softness and injects a dose of rich, old-world glamour that feels both unexpected and perfectly timed. It wears like a precious object disguised as a daily sports watch, the contrast between its warm case and dial making it one of the year’s most charismatic releases. – James Want

Rolex Land-Dweller 40

The Rolex Datejust Oysterquartz line-up has long been one of my favourite vintage Rolex collections, and this year, the Big Crown debuted an entirely new collection that takes direct inspiration from those 1970s models. Enter the Rolex Land-Dweller, the first new collection since the Sky-Dweller in 2012 and a radical departure from everything else we’d seen for decades.

While the Land-Dweller 36 is an undeniably charming watch, the Land-Dweller 40 wears better on my wrist, featuring sharp case lines, a fluted bezel, and a svelte 9.7mm profile. However, it’s the movement that’s arguably the biggest news, with the all-new in-house Calibre 7135 ticking away at a machinegun-like 36,000 bph (10 times per second), offering a full 66 hours of power reserve, and the groundbreaking Dynapulse escapement. – Nick Kenyon

Greubel Forsey Balancier Convexe Titanium

The 2025 GMT Balancier Convexe returns in a completely redesigned, more compact titanium case (42.9 mm) with enhanced ergonomics — while preserving the signature 3-D rotating globe (real-time 24-h rotation) and adding an integrated 72-hour power-reserve indicator. The reworked movement now spans 496 components (73 more than before), marrying the brand’s signature inclined balance-wheel architecture with refined world-time/GMT complication and improved wearability for globetrotters. – James Want

Dennison ADL Stone Dial

The revival of the Dennison watch brand has easily been one of my favourite parts of writing about watches in 2025. The team behind Dennison (which includes legendary watch designer Emmanuel Gueit) has proven that watches with a truly wearable form and interesting dial materials shouldn’t cost a fortune, and for their efforts, the Dennison ADL Stone Dial won the GPHG award for best watch under CHF 3,000 (~AU$5,600).

Cased in stainless steel that’s been PVD-treated with a gold colour (it’s also available untreated), it’s 37mm across and just 6.05mm thick (or should I say thin), is powered by a Swiss-made quartz movement, and boasts a dial made from natural Tiger’s Eye stone. It’s elegant, eye-catching, and my favourite recent reminder that watch collecting is for everyone – not just those with five figures plus to spend. – Nick Kenyon

A. Lange & Söhne Lange 1 Daymatic Honeygold

The Daymatic in Honeygold is Lange at its most poetic, pairing the asymmetry of the Lange 1 with the warmth of a metal you only ever see when the brand is feeling particularly sentimental. The automatic calibre gives it an ease rarely found in the lineup, making it as wearable as ever – pure stealth wealth. What a ripper. – James Want

If you enjoyed this wrap-up of the best watches of 2025, you might enjoy some of Boss Hunting’s other watch content below:

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• The Best Jump Hour Watches Changing How We Tell Time
• These Off-Catalogue Rolex Daytonas “Don’t Exist,” So Why Does Everyone Have One?
• The Watches Of ‘The Sopranos’ Proves Crime Does Pay
• A Complete Timeline Of James Bond Watches