Five Of The Wildest Watches From Geneva Watch Days 2025

Launched in 2020 at the height of the pandemic, Geneva Watch Days was Jean-Christophe Babin’s radical answer to Baselworld’s collapse—part necessity, part rebellion. What began as an agile, open-air gathering putting independents in the spotlight has grown into the watch world’s own Milan Design Week. Hotels, boutiques, and lakeside galleries become stages, and the city itself transforms into a showcase for a traditional industry that needs to pivot in the face of challenging times.

Now in its fifth year, the roster has swelled. Alongside the founding brands, which include Bulgari, Breitling, and MB&F, big-brand newcomers like TAG Heuer shared the limelight with daring independents like Singer, Ulysse Nardin, Czapek, and microbrands, creating a melting pot of heritage and creative risk-taking. And it’s that last part that makes Geneva Watch Days the boldest watch fair on the calendar and a canvas for horology’s wildest instincts. Here are five watches that capture that spirit.

Czapek Antarctique Rattrapante R.U.R.

For a few years now, Czapek has offered the Antarctique as a strong modern alternative on the sizzling scene of integrated bracelet sports watches. The Antarctique’s winning ticket is an appealing blend of clean lines and a recognizable bracelet, often juxtaposed by intense dial art. With the debut Rattrapante a few years back, the imagination of CEO Xavier de Roquemaurel saw Czapek turning chronograph tech back to front. 

Avid readers might recognize this new Czapek Antarctique Rattrapante R.U.R. as being based on the 2021 Antarctique Rattrapante. That is long since sold out, making for a welcome return, with a charming easter egg in the shape of a robot. I bet you didn’t expect that—a fun twist coupled with exquisite movement finishing, featuring the pop of a 5N rose gold winding rotor that frames a rather quiet rear. In R.U.R., the action happens front and center.

The 42.5mm stainless steel case appears wide on paper, but an ergonomic 46.6mm lug-to-lug measurement makes the best of its prominent 15.3mm thickness. On the wrist, it wears remarkably well thanks to the tapering bracelet with its C (get it?)-shaped mid-links, and sub 47mm lug stretch. If you’re a fan of complex timing, you’re likely accustomed to split-second complications being relegated to the back of the movement, but Czapek flipped the script. This puts the intricate mechanism on full display, skeletonized and running at 28,800 vph with a 60-hour power reserve. Its intense monochrome gearscape then becomes surprisingly fun when you zoom in.

The chronograph complication features a horizontal clutch and two column wheels, one of which sits underneath a detailed robot head at 12. Its eyes turn yellow when the chronograph is started, red when stopped, and blue when reset. The sci-fi theme is continued around the sapphire chapter ring on the rehaut, as well as the subdial rims, all marked with some sort of alien glyphs. The markings are actually inspired by the alphabet of the Predator movies, and are a play on the letter X, and we’ll leave you to figure out which furtive CEO mind was behind that idea.

Visit Czapek for more information.

Renaud Tixier Monday Organica

Dominique Renaud has always been an inventive watchmaker, and his part in Renaud & Papi’s legacy speaks volumes to his restless ingenuity. In 2023, Renaud Papi joined forces with Julien Tixier to unveil Renaud Tixier with a debut that juxtaposed an understated dial with the poetic engineering of the RVI2023 calibre, a micro-rotor movement unlike any other. 

In this inaugural piece, the movement was the star, featuring a unique design that enhanced the efficiency of the micro-rotor through an inertia wheel and a “dancer” spring. As a high point of my meeting with Dominique last Thursday, he brought out the LEGO Technics (true story) mock-up he built first to demonstrate its principles. A subtle mechanism has been designed to fit within the micro-scale of watchmaking with extreme precision, while evoking the automotive engineering behind EV energy recovery systems.

This time, the inventive calibre proves its mettle behind a dial that feels alive thanks to enamel art supremo Olivier Vaucher. The Monday Organica has 112 hours of enamel artistry behind each dial, layering hand engraving, grand feu enamel, and tactile finishes into a Mandala-like landscape. The shapes might seem random in their sweeping shapes, but are a kaleidoscopic blend of parts within the RVI2023 caliber. Only seven will be made, enclosed in a short-lugged and comfortable scalloped platinum case—40.8mm across and 12.6mm thick. 

Like the original Monday, the deep flanks are hand-engraved, as is the space behind the lugs. The platinum and enamel play hypnotically with the light, and the challenging-to-shoot gloss blues leave me with a strong impression. There is something talismanic about the dial, especially knowing the hours behind its sweeping shapes, and it offers strong competition to the cityscape under the rear sapphire. The Monday Organica is less a watch than a manifesto, questioning what timekeeping can look like when invention leads the way.

Visit Renaud Tixier for more information.

Bianchet Ultrafino Sapphire

Putting my cards on the table, I can say that I am no fan of sapphire crystal-cased watches, and they’re hardly a new concept either, so what makes this new Bianchet ‘wild’? Ultrafino means ultra-thin in Italian, and that’s a big clue, but I’ll get back to that. Bianchet has managed to pack a lot into a 9.8mm sapphire case, and its flying tourbillon makes it the thinnest on the market. The closest tourbillon contenders are between 15 and 17mm, constituting a whopping difference. 

The UT01 Flying Tourbillon looks impressive on spec, as does the curved 50m water-resistant case. The white rubber gasket, making the rare-for-sapphire 50-meter spec possible, is visibly sandwiched between the two clear halves, matching up with a smooth FKM rubber strap.

With a 40mm width and 47.5mm lug-to-lug, the Bianchet’s wild aspect lies in its representation of the exact opposite of the sapphire watch genre. It is not ostentatious, flamboyantly colored, or overwhelmingly large. During a conversation with Bianchet’s founders, Rodolfo and Emmanuelle Festa Bianchet, I was struck by the understated charm of this piece. This is not something you would expect from a sapphire-cased watch, or a tourbillon for that matter. 

Bianchet has a razor-sharp focus on tonneau designs featuring Tourbillon movements, including titanium and carbon fiber versions, characterized by delicate bridgework and calm symmetry. I could even admit to this being the first time I actually desired a sapphire-cased watch, and I didn’t see that coming.

Visit Bianchet for more information.

Singer Caballero

Last week, I finally got to try on the beast, which is the Divetrack from Singer, even attempting to make it fit under my shirt cuff (to smuggle it out?). But what stood out in their Geneva Studio, a space that felt more like an architect’s practice than a watchmaker’s atelier, was the unexpected Caballero. 

From the Spanish term meaning a gentleman, it is a radical and dressier departure from designer Marco Borracino, and despite my initial four-pronged reservation, it works. The Singer Caballero is the brand’s first dressy, minimal time-only piece, and comes with a much more complex movement than what you would expect. With a twin set of double barrels and a substantial 6-day power reserve, the Calibre 4 displays its prowess proudly on the dial. And somewhat divisively so, with the gloss lacquer minimalism broken up by four countersunk rubies.

On paper, I was not a fan, but the four rubies are a conversation-starting way of displaying the chronometric performance gained by quadruple barrels. My initial impression was decidedly changed when I wore it. The 10.5mm case, with its 39mm diameter, is remarkably comfortable, featuring a classic C-shape design that has been modernized. In some press shots, the prominent rubies look odd, misplaced even. 

But in real life, especially on the black and blue lacquer dial, the purple shine of each made for a spectacular pop of semi-transparent colour that got to me big time. At around CHF 17,500, it is not an affordable timepiece, but the studied details within the dial, the open-worked movement, and sheer chutzpa of the exposed rubies stuck in my mind throughout the Geneva Watch Days.

Visit Singer Reimagined for more information.

Behrens x Vianney Halter KWH

When young upstarts meet legends, it makes for some of the best collabs around, and Chinese tech-focused brand Behrens teaming up with steampunk icon Vianney Haleter just proved my point. Vianney Halter is one of the most celebrated independent watchmakers of his generation, a member of the Académie Horlogère des Créateurs Indépendants (AHCI) since 2000 and lately seen wielding his magic wand for brands like Louis Erard. 

The Master Collection KWH feels more like an electrical relic reborn than a watch, with a rounded rose- or white gold case that exposes a dial alive with motion. Inspiration comes from vintage meters, but the execution is unapologetically futuristic, with hints of the Snake and Tetris games included in the mix. It is as wild as it sounds, all juxtaposed with intricate finishing in a refreshing modern-but Halter style.

The BM06 calibre—870 components strong—anchors the spectacle. Twin barrels feed power to a ruby-set chain inspired by a snake slithering around the dial to mark the hours, while rotating drums carry the minutes (right), power reserve, and night/day indication (left). With equal parts arcade nostalgia and horological ingenuity, the back features a quiet moonphase and date, completing a complex picture. 

With just 18 pieces split between rose and white gold, the KWH isn’t designed to please everyone, but is shamelessly eccentric, born of two minds intent on pushing mechanical imagination further. 

Visit Behrens for more information.