Sameera Gamage 
A year of horological excellence awaits—discover the must-attend watch events of 2025!
As we enter 2025, the world of horology is setting itself up for an incredible year that is bound to be filled with innovative and iconic timepieces. This year will host many exciting trade shows, including the major events LVMH Watch Week, Watches & Wonders, Geneva Watch Days and the biennial Dubai Watch Week.
Whether you’re an industry professional, an avid collector, or simply a watch enthusiast, these events provide unparalleled opportunities to witness groundbreaking releases, network with key industry professionals, and immerse yourself in the artistry of fine watchmaking.
This article highlights the four must-attend watch events of 2025 and what to expect from each!
LVMH Watch Week
The first major Watch Fair to start off the year is LVMH Watch Week. Set to begin next week, LVMH Watch Week will take place from the 21st of January to the 25th of January. This year will be the 6th edition of LVMH Watch Week, which first began in 2020.
LVMH Watch Week showcases the major watch brands that are part of the LVMH group, which initially included Bulgari, Hublot, TAG Heuer and Zenith. The 2023 edition of LVMH Watch Week, however, brought together two new brands: Daniel Roth and Gérald Genta, two iconic Maisons that were relaunched within La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton.
“LVMH Watch Week is a major rendezvous for our Maisons, an opportunity for us to kick off the year by welcoming our clients and our partners. This now annual event highlights the exceptional creativity of our teams and brings our guests a custom-tailored experience as they discover our new creations, each emblematic of unique watchmaking savoir-faire and vision.”
Frédéric Arnault, Chief Executive Officer of LVMH Watches
Last year, LVMH Watch Week was held in Miami. The venue was chosen as it is a “hub of contemporary luxury and culture and a dynamic international crossroads while also being a prominent city in a strategically important market for LVMH”. Putting the focus on America for LVMH Watch Week is not just a strategic move but one that celebrates the brand’s overwhelming presence there. The LVMH Group has nearly 42,000 employees, over 1,000 stores and 13 production facilities in the United States.
This year’s event was set to take place in the beautiful city of Los Angeles; however, it has now been cancelled due to the devastating wildfires that have swept through the region in the last few days. Due to the horrific reality of the Palisades Fire, the physical event of LVMH Watch Week will now take place in New York City and Paris.
Three new brands were set to make their appearance during LVMH Watch Week this year: Louis Vuitton, Tiffany & Co. and L’pée 1839!
Watches & Wonders 2025
The major watch event on the horology calendar is Watches & Wonders, set to take place between the 1st of April to the 7th of April 2025. This year, there will be a total of 60 brands exhibiting at the event, with six new independent brands alongside the Maison BVLGARI being added in what is an important expansion for the Salon.
Watches & Wonders first began in 2020, after the collapse of Baseworld in 2019. Baselworld had quite the history too, as it first began in 1917, being originally called the Schweizer Mustermesse Basel (MUBA). In 2003, the name was changed to Baselworld. Baselworld was a major event for the watch and jewellery industry and a place for industry leaders to gather and release new timepieces.
Born from the ashes of Baselworld, Watches & Wonders will once again gather this coming spring (in Switzerland) to give Geneva the opportunity to shine as the watch capital of the world. The six new independent brands that are included as part of the fair are Christiaan van der Klaauw, Genus, Kross Studio, MeisterSinger, Armin Strom (returning) and HYT. These brands will gather in a specially refurbished showcase as a welcome to the fair!
One of the highlights from this year’s Watches & Wonders will be that the brands will be showcasing not only their collections and new products but also their youngest talents! The best apprentices, young graduates and craftsmen will be in the spotlight within the Watchmaking Village and in the boutiques of the fair, showcasing their trades and projects they are currently working on!
Matt and Chamath were on the ground last year covering all the new watches, and from their experience, it was a week that was full-on watch fun, but at the same time, super busy and a lot of work! They’ll be back again this year in April to showcase the newest pieces from the brands, and if it’s like last year, then they’ll be running back and forth at the Palexpo in Geneva with back-to-back appointments, watch shoots, keynotes and the odd celebrity spotting along the way.
Geneva Watch Days
Geneva Watch Days will have its 6th anniversary this year after the convention was started back in 2020. Geneva Watch Days will take place from the 4th to the 7th of September 2025. On the back of massive success for GWD during 2023 and 2024, we can expect this year to be even bigger and better, with more brands coming on board.
Related Reading: The Countdown To Geneva Watch Days Is On!
Geneva Watch Days was created by six Founding Brands: Breitling, Bulgair, De Bethune, Girard Perregaux, H. Moser & Cie and MB&F. It started off as a convention that broke away from Watches & Wonders. When Watches & Wonders was created in 2019, it was the central highlight of the year for watch releases for mainstream brands. Geneva Watch Days was born in 2020 to celebrate the timepeices from the industry’s biggest independent brands to even the lesser known brands and make it a more public fair for all to attend!
I had the chance to attend last year’s Geneva Watch Days event, which was my first one for this watch fair. The main portion of Geneva Watch Days was held at the stunning Beau-Rivage Genève hotel in Geneva, with the hotel being beautifully decorated from the inside and outside to highlight this prestigious watch event. There were also other exhibitors throughout the city in other 5-star hotels showcasing their creations. At the end of each day, the brand representatives and the public can attend an after-party at the main pavilion at Rotonde du Mont-Blanc, located on the opposite side of the street to the Beau-Rivage Genève.
Dubai Watch Week
Dubai Watch Week was founded in 2015 by Ahmed Seddiqi & Sons, one of the Middle East’s leading watch retailers. This is a biennial watch fair held in Dubai that celebrates creativity, bridges communities and creates unique opportunities for networking and creative exchange! Dubai Watch Week is heralded as more than just a trade show; it is showcased as an educational and cultural platform that brings together watch collectors, brands, and industry experts to celebrate and discuss fine watchmaking.
Dubai Watch Week also created an original concept called Horology Forum. This is what I mentioned before in that the Horology Forum is a space for free-flowing discussions between the watchmakers, the leaders of the industry and watch collectors. The Horology Forum takes place every year outside of Dubai Watch Week. Last year, the Horology Forum took place in Hong Kong, where the local horology enthusiasts really made the event stand out!
Looking forward to Dubai Watch Week 2025, it’s shaping up to be one of the best yet! This year, the event will be hosted in Dubai Mall, Burj Park, which allows for an event that is double the size of the previous Dubai Watch Week held in 2023. Dubai Watch Week will be held in November and is promising to be a fantastic event that will close out a year that is promising to be incredible for watch enthusiasts with not just the watch releases, but also the bigger and better watch fairs themselves!
