Complications Take Center Stage at Day 3 of Watches and Wonders Geneva 2026

The shadow of Rolex looms large over the ongoing Watches and Wonders 2026 in Geneva, largely in the form of a resurrected reference and references now gone. Nevertheless, watchmaking appears to be taking certain cues from the Geneva giant, while leaving specific paths to it. Of course, we refer here to dive watches and the rush to push these out as if they are going out of style. That is over now, apparently, and the complication is returning to form. Take a look at highlights from previous days for a bit of context here, because we prefer to avoid getting into Rolex and Patek Philippe again. We will not even get into TAG Heuer and Parmigiani Fleurier again; for the record, we are likely declaring both of their special chronographs as watches-of-the-fair.

We have to interrupt the flow of this story with news that broke for us at the end of the third day of Watches and Wonders Geneva. The IWC ProSet perpetual calendar mechanism, which we discovered at our appointment at 6pm CET, is a true game-changer for the brand and perhaps an entire high complication. The brand that delivered the world’s first perpetual calendar where just one crown could set all functions has finally resolved a key pain point with that incredible achievement by the legendary Kurt Klaus.

IWC now has a perpetual calendar that maintains the single crown control feature, but can now be adjusted forwards and backwards. As the savvy amongst you might guess, that means there is no grand lever anymore, and it just one part of a story we must return to at greater length soon. For now, recall that IWC has three kinds of perpetual calendars in its catalogue from now on, not counting multi-complications and the Eternal Calendar.

On that note, it is a big fair, with 66 brands showing watches, so it would be self-indulgent to say complications are en vogue again just on the basis of a handful of brands. So, we present today a couple of examples here, mainly the dramatic Van Cleef & Arpels Midnight Jour Nuit Phase de Lune. For good measure, we also mention the A. Lange & Sohne Lange 1 Tourbillon Perpetual “Lumen,” the Hermes Arceau Samarcande, and the H. Moser & Cie Streamliner Pump, albeit briefly. We will begin though, with a personal highlight, which was at Audemars Piguet where we finally managed to feel the RD#5 in our sweaty palms – in our defense, the booth was somewhat warmer than expected.

Completely unexpectedly, the pushers were not so soft as to spark anxiety over accidental activation. It was, to wax lyrical, smooth sailing. The manner of the chronograph’s engagement, from seconds to minutes and then hours, was also clearer from the demonstration via the plastic model. As for the actual novelties for this year, we will get into those at a later date. For now, we move on to a true surprise for us, and that was at Van Cleef & Arpels.

For years now, the watch press have been singing praises of the Parisian jeweller, to the point that a casual observer might feel that we are all biased somehow – and perhaps Alhambra shoppers. In all seriousness, the two new Midnight models are something of a departure for Van Cleef & Arpels. which remind us that the brand is also a Swiss watchmaker, but for now we will zoom in on the Midnight Jour Nuit Phase de Lune. A dual complication piece, the watch pairs a 24-hour indicator with a moonphase display; seems simple enough to consign this description to the category of ‘meh.’ Consider that there is a story here because stories are a necessity for Van Cleef & Arpels. Now, we already met with a senior member of the technical team to discuss this watch so you know there is a lot to digest here but we will keep it light for now.

What is important to know is that the dial animation turns every 24 hours, and brings with it a moon phase display. That means the moon phase indicator turns even as the 24-hour display turns; this is mainly impressive given the size of the display because this is the entire dial of the 42mm watch. Moon phase indicators do often co-exist with day/night indicators, after all. What elevates this complication here is that the moon is sometimes hidden behind the guilloche section so information about the moon phase will be hidden.

Van Cleef & Arpels offers a solution by making the moon phase available on-demand, with the pusher at 8 o’clock sending the day/night display spinning. This happens without affecting the accuracy of the moon phase display. Once again, we will have much more to say about this watch soon because for now, the fair marches on and we must also bring you news about some of those watches we name-dropped earlier.

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