Top 5 watch moments of September 2023: From Swatch and Seiko to Adam Levine’s modified Rolex Daytona, Hong Kong actor Tony Leung’s Bulgari in Venice and a tribute to Bruce Lee

Meanwhile, in Switzerland, the Grand Prix de la Horlogerie of Geneva announced the finalists for this year’s awards, and independent brands collaborated to bring us exciting new products and designs.

Here are our top viewing moments for September.

1. Swatch and Blancpain are switching to bioceramics in the spirit of Moonswatch

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2. Film and music icons celebrate fine watchmaking.

Although he was unattended when he took the stage for the iconic moment, he was later spotted wearing an octagonal Bulgari Octo Finissimo watch during the press conference. The all-gray watch is made of titanium, thin, light and stylish. They will be a worthy decoration for an Italian home, which can be worn to a celebration of cinematic excellence in Venice.

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Lee was not known to wear many watches, but the watch he was most often seen wearing was a vintage Seiko chronograph with a unique steel bracelet, the holes of which are most often seen on rubber racing straps of the era. The limited edition model comes in black with gold accents and has an engraved bezel containing a Jeet Kune Do maxim, which the watch brand translates as “Use neither the way nor the way; having no limitation as limitation.”

Its modifications include neon green accents, lacy subdials, a modified rotor visible through the caseback, and—perhaps most ostentatiously—a white glow-in-the-dark bezel and dial. In total, the secondary market efforts cost the musician a tidy sum of CHF 3.552 million ($3.9 million).

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3. The Grand Prix de la Horlogerie de Genève, also known as the Oscars of Watchmaking, announces the finalists

The Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG) took this year’s celebration of the best timepieces to a new level, announcing the finalists in numerous award categories and launching the watches around the world. The collection stops in Macau, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur and New York before returning to Geneva.

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4. Independent brands unite for large-scale collaborations.

Independent watch brands shared the love this month, with new brands and watchmakers announcing collaborations after major collaborations. Russian watchmaker Konstantin Chaykin has teamed up with Swiss boutique maker Louis Erard to create Time-Eater II: From Dusk Till Dawn, which strikes the perfect balance between the eerie and the intriguing. Meanwhile, craftsman Sylvain Pinault began work on his first-ever collaboration with pure collaborator Massena Lab on the openwork Monopoussoir chronograph.

For a more affordable price point, cute microbrand Brew Watches, best known for its square watch faces, has collaborated with content creator Worn & Wound to create the Brew Metric Chrono Regulator in three stunning colorways with its signature TV watch face design. Meanwhile, rising star Furlan Marri and dial artist Seconde-Seconde aim to make quartz great again with their new Hertz Beat, applying Seconde-Seconde’s signature pixel art onto Marri’s elegant sector dial with a hybrid mecha-quartz movement.

5. Well-known brands are ahead of the competition by introducing new designs.

Traditional brands haven’t been left behind, with exciting new launches coming this month. Tag Heuer continues to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Carrera with perhaps the most elaborate pun in watchmaking. The racing watch maker has collaborated with Porsche to create the Carrera Chronosprint, which features a retuned chronograph mechanism in which the second hand “accelerates” during the first 9.11 seconds of the 12-4 index as a tribute to the Porsche 911.

Citizen, Jacob & Co and Jaeger-LeCoultre have added more complexity to their dials this month. Citizen launched the Washi Paper AQ4103 dial, choosing the material for its texture, thinness and durability, as well as its use in art restoration and calligraphy. Jacob & Co gave us double the watches in stunning fashion with the release of the double time World is Yours, but Jaeger-LeCoultre may have just taken the cake with stunning new designs for its beloved 101 collection.