While innovation drives things forward, there’s nothing quite so appealing as an iconic watch design given a new spin. These six updates are our favorites of 2026. The Reverso is indisputably Jaeger-LeCoultre’s most famous watch, merging functional performance and elegance in a singular deco design since 1931.
You’d think it would be a challenge to reinvent such an outwardly simple watch. But then, in 2025, the house set jaded horological hearts aflutter with a version made almost entirely—from the case to the woven Milanese band and granular dial—from rose gold. This year, JLC added an 18k white-gold edition to the mix.
As with its predecessor, the silvery granular dial throws the polish of the case into sharp relief. And the band on its own is something else, requiring 16 meters of tightly woven 18k white-gold wire to create. $52,500 When it was released in 1976, the Patek Philippe Nautilus was a disrupter in every way. It was big for the age, at 40mm, and simple too, with a display of just hours, minutes, and date.
It was made of steel (not then considered particularly chic), and its appearance had an almost industrial impudence about it. That, in creator Gerald Genta’s mind, was precisely the point. In an era when the unbeatable accuracy of quartz put mechanical tool watches on notice, the Nautilus created an entirely new language of luxury and remains one of collecting’s most coveted watches.
This year’s anniversary version is in white gold, one millimeter bigger than the original, and date-free but otherwise true to the first Nautilus, with a display showing just hours and minutes and a deep-blue sunray dial with distinctive horizontal embossing. $93,774 In 2002, the Roadster emerged for the new millennium as a watch distinct from every Cartier that had come before it. Deeply inspired by 1950s and ’60s sports cars, it featured aerodynamic curves and dashboard-like dials, making it (ironically, perhaps) a bold new step into the future. The original Roadster ceased production in 2012, but after that hiatus it is back in 2026 in steel (as seen here), gold, and gold and steel combined—with its curvy looks fully intact.
Yet this is no easy reedition of an old favorite. More than 100 Cartier artisans worked on everything from the case and dial to the movement and strap, refining throughout and leaving nothing unimproved or unevolved. $10,200 It may seem a bit hasty to call this year’s Octo Finissimo 37 a new take on a classic, given it’s based on a watch design that debuted only in 2014. But a record-breaking run of prize-winning complications in the Octo Finissimo family since then has firmly established this unique watch as a pinnacle of contemporary horological design.
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