Why November Is the Watch World’s Power Month

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For all the news and events that populate the high-end watch industry’s annual calendar, just two months really matter: April, or whichever month the Watches and Wonders Geneva fair falls in, and November, when a slew of auctions, award ceremonies, and holiday activations command the industry’s attention. 

This November has already delivered a boatload of watch news, from Phillips’s record-breaking Patek Philippe sale to the winners of the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG)—and we’re still a week out from Thanksgiving. 

What do watch lovers need to know this month? See below for highlights.

The 7th Edition of Dubai Watch Week
I’m writing this column en route to Dubai, where I’m attending my first Dubai Watch Week. Founded in 2015, the biennial event, organized by the UAE retailer Ahmed Seddiqi, has grown into a de facto trade fair, with booths, presentations, and product introductions. Heck, Jean-Frédéric Dufour, the CEO of Rolex, is even participating in a keynote entitled “The Time to Act is Now: A Note to the Watch Industry.” (He’ll be in conversation with Abdul Hamied Seddiqi, chairman of Seddiqi Holding, and Revolution founder Wei Koh.)

This year’s Dubai Watch Week coincides with the retailer’s 75th anniversary. The occasion has already spawned several limited-edition timepieces from brands such as Chronoswiss, Hublot, and Breitling, with more anniversary models due out on Nov. 19, opening day. 

Some of the buzziest new releases include the Tonda PF Minute Rattrapante “Arctic Rose” by Parmigiani Fleurier, a deceptively simple-looking watch boasting a useful timing complication; the DB Kind of Two Jumping GMT from De Bethune, a double-sided model displaying two time zones operated by a single movement; and the L.U.C Grand Strike from Chopard, a magnum opus of a chiming watch featuring a grande sonnerie, petite sonnerie, and minute repeater with proprietary sapphire crystal gongs—a decade in the making.

The caliber of the pieces debuting in Dubai suggests that the week, now in its seventh edition, is getting bigger and better. As a first timer, I’m not quite sure what to expect. My schedule is filled with an intriguing mix of panel discussions, private appointments and unexpected masterclasses (the “Craft a bookmark from antique Norwegian silver” session caught my eye). I’ve been told the event is fun, productive, and luxurious.

I’ll be on the ground for just two days and three nights—I have to leave early to make it home in time to celebrate my son’s seventh birthday on Friday (6-7!)—but since all the major keynotes and meetings take place on the first two days, I don’t expect to miss much. In fact, I’m prepared to spend at least 95 percent of my waking hours at the venue, the Dubai Mall at Burj Park. If there’s time for anything else (a quick dash through the textile souk, perhaps?), I’ll consider that a bonus. Watch this space for takeaways about what I learn here!

The 2025 GPHG Winners
While I have a great deal of respect for the GPHG organizers, I can’t help but think that the watchmakers who continue to win the awards are the usual suspects. Cruise the 2025 list of winners and you’re likely to find only two names that aren’t familiar: Anton Suhanov, winner of the Horological Revelation Prize for his St. Petersburg Easter Egg Tourbillon Clock, and the Chinese brand Fam al Hut, winner of the Audacity Prize, for its Möbius watch.

A few years ago, I wrote about the first Chinese brand to win a GPHG award, CIGA Design, which won the Challenge Watch category in 2021. To hear eyewitnesses at that year’s ceremony describe the moment CIGA’s surprising win was announced, it was clear that the Swiss watchmaking establishment was not prepared to share the limelight with a Chinese maker. I’m happy to see Fam al Hut’s win promote a more inclusive vision of watchmaking’s future.

​​​​​​U.S. Slashes Tariff on Swiss Goods 
Surely the most consequential news of the past few weeks came out Friday, Nov. 14, when the industry learned that the U.S. would drop the tariff on Swiss watches to 15 percent, from 39 percent. While the agreement was scant on details, watch dealers hailed the news as an important psychological boost for an industry dogged by rising material costs, currency swings, and global economic uncertainty.

“Confidence drives the watch market more than any single economic lever,” Joshua Ganjei, CEO of European Watch Company, says. “If tariffs come down to 15 percent, it won’t just influence costs—it will influence sentiment. Whenever sentiment is positive, that’s when we see new and old collectors increase activity.”

At the online pre-owned dealer Bob’s Watches, founder and CEO Paul Altieri says his business has been flying high since the tariff went into effect, driven by sales of higher-priced timepieces, including solid-gold watches.

“Last month, we were up 34 percent in sales year over year,” Altieri tells Robb Report. “For the year, we’re up between 20 percent and 25 percent. But the tariff war that started a few months ago put upward pressure on prices and created a supply imbalance. Consumers couldn’t buy new product because it wasn’t coming in and were thrust into pre-owned. Now we’ve settled at 15 percent. That’s still an increase in prices—somebody’s got to absorb that.”