There's never been a better time to be a watch collector than right now, and it's a sentiment we've been feeling all year with each new release, so it should come as little surprise that our year-end roundup gets harder and harder to curate every twelve months. 2026 was obviously no exception, and it's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it, and we managed to come away with ten handpicked references that stood head and shoulders above an extremely competitive field. So pour yourself a warm 'cuppa, and join us as we count down our ten favorite releases of the year.
10
The original Seiko SKX007 is on the watch collecting 'Mount Rushmore', and for very good reason, as it balanced superb quality with plenty of capability and character – all for an unbeatable price point. For 2026, Seiko returns to the beloved SKX with a colorful new quartet that retains all the trappings that made the SKX so special, now in the Seiko 5 colleciton.
9
No, it's not an error – for the second year running, the Longines Legend Diver 39mm is back on our year-end roundup, this time in the bright white dial, which feels chic, timeless, and still sporty and perfectly sized in these new 'Goldilocks' proportions. We've said it before and we'll say it again: this is one of the best vintage-inspired divers in the game, full stop.
8
The Dark Side has never been more tempting than with the 2025 Speedmaster 'Dark Side of the Moon' capsule, where a quintet of stealthy ceramic references stole the early spring show. And while the skeletonized moon motif on the Apollo 8 variants might have led the early inquiries, it was the brooding all-black "Vader" that shot straight to our Christmas list, and nine months later, it's still here (c'mon Santa, let's make it happen).
7
Long overdue, 2025 was the year Glashütte Original finally gave its North American collecting community its own exclusive edition, doing so with a stunning "panda' dialed Seventies Chronograph, designated 'X' for the decade of this best-selling collection. It was our favorite German-made watch of the year, and every bit deserving of a slot on the recap.
6
There's always something to celebrate, so in 2025, we debuted our new "Burlingame Edition" capsule collection with the Fears Redcliff Confetti, and folks all over the world agreed – this was the perfect watch for occasions great and small. And though the Burlingame Editions will only ever be available at Topper, our friends across the pod can find this watch in the window in Fears' own Bristol boutique.
5
Big, bright, and more wearable than ever, the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Tech might have made its debut in the summer of 2025, but it wasn't until many months later that we'd see the bottom of its lengthy waitlist – and for good reason: it's big, bright, and super wearable. And with a newly engineered interchangeable strap system, there's truly no wrist, and no mission that this watch wasn't built for.
4
Ask any collector, and you'll hear how the story of the Grand Seiko "UFA" (Ultra Fine Accuracy) is two-fold: on one hand, you have the long-awaited bracelet micro-adjustment clasp finally making its debut on this reference. Then on the other hand, you have a new finely adjusted Spring Drive movement achieving a brand new accuracy standard of 20 seconds per year. Accuracy and comfort – together at last.
3
We've done nearly twenty Topper Editions over the last 15 years, but our Zenith Defy Extreme Diver just might have been our most ambitious collaborative concept yet, with its dazzling multi-layered "Biolume" wave dial, which will mesmerize both day and night. In many ways, this watch exceeded all our expectations from a design standpoint, and we think you'll agree.
2
Can the G-Shock still be improved? You could argue that the original square-cased G-Shock is already perfect – with class-leading wearability and capability for over four decades and now dripping in nostalgia. But in 2025, G-Shock updated its cornerstone with a brand new Memory-in-Pixel display, yielding an ultra-sharp, extra-legible new digital dial, which can still be toggled to the old LCD display aesthetic. It's truly the best of both worlds, and primed for the current and next generation of G-Shock collectors.
1
Back in January of this very year, we predicted that the Planet Ocean would get a refresh at some point in 2025 – it was, after all, the 20th anniversary of Omega's groundbreaking 'super diver.' But what we didn't know, was that Omega had far more dramatic changes in store – which, once handled in the metal, we're convinced it was the best dive watch in a year of absolutely stacked competition (hat tip to the exceptional Breitling Superocean Heritage refresh). But there could be only one number one, and that watch was simply the Planet Ocean.