Dubai Watch Week returns from 19 to 23 November, transforming Burj Park at Dubai Mall into the region’s most magnetic meeting point for horology, design, and the people shaping both. Now in its seventh edition, the event continues to stand apart: not as a trade fair, but as a cultural space where craft, innovation, and community intersect — a format championed by its long-time organisers, the Seddiqi family. This year feels especially charged, with global maisons, independent creators, and cross-disciplinary voices converging in Dubai for a programme that spans exhibitions, panels, collaborations and hands-on encounters with watchmaking.
KHAMSA rounded up the best of the first day — from the headline moments to the quiet wonders.
١. Audemars Piguet — House of Wonders
Audemars Piguet marked its 150th anniversary at Dubai Watch Week with the House of Wonders, a 1,000 m² immersive exhibition in Burj Park that brought Le Brassus to Dubai through archival pieces, horological rooms, and snowy Jura landscapes. AP also hosted an innovation panel with the Dubai Future Foundation and opened two hands-on masterclasses — The Art of Finishing and The Watchmaker’s Gesture — reflecting its long-standing relationship with the Seddiqi family and its ongoing push to make Haute Horlogerie more accessible.
٢. Hermès — Slim d’Hermès Hippocampe
Hermès unveiled its Dubai Watch Week novelty, the Slim d’Hermès Hippocampe — a whimsical dial where engraving and leather marquetry bring to life a seahorse imagined by London-based illustrator Stuart Patience. A delicate blend of craft and fantasy, the piece showcases the maison’s quiet mastery in turning illustration into horology.
٣. Van Cleef & Arpels — Brassée de Lavande Automaton
Van Cleef & Arpels brought a dose of pure enchantment to Dubai Watch Week with the unveiling of the Brassée de Lavande automaton, a new Extraordinary Objects creation revealed for the first time. Sprigs of lacquered rose gold curl into a floral dome that slowly opens to release a fluttering butterfly, while two polished white-gold snails keep time as a delicate melody plays. A dreamy blend of mechanics, poetry, and rare crafts — everything the Maison has championed since 1906.
٤. Bvlgari — Mattar Bin Lahej x Octo Finissimo
Bvlgari returned to Dubai Watch Week with a striking collaboration: the Mattar Bin Lahej x Octo Finissimo, a limited-edition piece that fuses Italian design with the Emirati artist’s signature calligraphy. Laser-engraved Arabic script wraps across the titanium case, bracelet, and dial, echoing the words of H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum on imagination and the future. Unveiled under the patronage of H.H. Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the piece stands as one of the week’s clearest dialogues between culture and design.
٥. Louis Vuitton — Escale Ornamental Stones
Louis Vuitton introduced two limited-edition Escale timepieces that turn ornamental stones into true horological art. Available in turquoise and malachite, each dial is paired with a seamless monolithic case ring carved from the same mineral — a rare feat of craftsmanship. Limited to 30 pieces each, the models pair their vibrant stones with platinum lugs, bezel, crown, and caseback, letting the colours and textures take center stage in classic LV fashion.
٦ PIAGET — Art, distilled.
A burst of colour, a flash of gold, and Warhol’s iconic collage spirit: the Andy Warhol Watch ‘Collage’ Limited Edition channels the artist’s 1986 self-portrait into a marquetry dial framed by a 45mm yellow-gold case. Limited to just 50 pieces, it’s a rare fusion of Pop attitude and Piaget precision — bold, collectible, unforgettable.
