Dubai Watch Week (DWW) returned for its seventh edition with a scale and ambition that surpassed every prior year. Staged in Burj Park under the shadow of the Burj Khalifa, the fair brought together 90 brands — roughly 60% more than the last edition in 2023 — and welcomed a remarkable 49,000 visitors over five days, up from just 23,000 two years ago. It was a week of new launches, discussion, and serendipitous encounters, all set against the backdrop of a temporary venue built in just six weeks but executed with the polish of a world-class exhibition.

The mood was upbeat. Despite a challenging market environment, the energy at DWW suggested a resilient, forward-looking industry. Notable figures attended, including Dubai’s ruler His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum and Rolex chief executive Jean-Frédéric Dufour, further signalling the fair’s growing stature under the leadership of the event’s chief executive, Hind Seddiqi.

This year’s event was held in Burj Park, which contributed to the jubilant atmosphere. Image – Dubai Watch Week

Initial thoughts

Rome wasn’t built in a day, but the impressive DWW venue was erected in just six weeks. The new Burj Park setting transformed a simple strip of waterfront into a miniature city, complete with large air-conditioned structures, full-service restaurants, and a visual identity befitting a major fair. Step outside at night and you were greeted with the laser shows of the Burj Khalifa reflected across the lake—an unmistakably Dubai tableau.

Dubai is arguably better positioned to host this type of event than any other city in the world, with a multi-lingual population and near-absolute safety and security for attendees. And that ease bled into the culture of the fair itself. You couldn’t walk ten paces without running into notable industry figures like Max Büsser, Kari Voutilainen, and Roger Smith, or a normally low key collector wearing something extraordinary.

The atmosphere was both jubilant and intimate. Despite the vast number of attendees, it remained possible to have impromptu conversations with leading lights of independent watchmaking, often without formal introductions or appointments. It is this blend of scale and accessibility — big enough to attract the world, small enough to feel personal — that makes the event unique.

Hind Seddiqi – Chief Executive Officer of Dubai Watch Week.

An open forum

A key attraction of DWW is the opportunity to engage with brand executives and industry leaders during the panel discussions. This year’s panels were something of a mixed bag; some delivered real substance, while others felt like they were planned in anticipation of announcements that ultimately didn’t materialise. But when they were good, they were very good.

The standout of the week was undoubtedly Jean-Frédéric Dufour’s appearance — a genuine rarity given how seldom the Rolex chief executive speaks publicly. His comments during a discussion with Seddiqi Holding Chairman Abdul Hamied Seddiqi revealed more about the inner workings of Rolex than we’ve heard in years. He reaffirmed Rolex’s long-term belief in silicon, noting that future remanufacturing of silicon components will be easier, cheaper, more precise, and less energy-intensive.

Abdul Hamied Seddiqi – Chairman of Seddiqi Holding.

 On distribution, he clarified that the Bucherer acquisition was opportunistic; Rolex has no plans to expand further into retail. The long-term vision remains partnerships with authorised dealers. The Certified Pre-Owned (CPO) programme was another area of emphasis. He and Hamied Seddiqi both encouraged other brands to adopt CPO, echoing what many regard as an emerging structural pillar of the market.

Mr Dufour also revealed a few interesting details about the brand’s vast internal infrastructure. Among the more striking details: the average age of machine tools in the Rolex manufacture is just eight years. The company invests roughly CHF100 million each year to retire older machines to ensure that every component is made using exclusively state-of-the-art equipment. On this point, Rolex is using artificial intelligence to improve efficiency in the way that machining operations are programmed and carried out.

He also disclosed that Rolex employs 1,900 watchmakers in after-sales service along with 85 PhD-level researchers in R&D, 2,000 engineers, and 500 apprentices across dozens of disciplines. “These people don’t want to work in a boring industry,” he said, arguing that leadership must keep watchmaking exciting not only for consumers, but for the next generation of talent.

This sentiment resurfaced during the CEO roundtable featuring Audemars Piguet chief executive Ilaria Resta alongside Georges Kern of Breitling, Julien Tornare of Hublot, and Karl-Friedrich Scheufele of Chopard. Topics ranged from tariffs to the need for long-term thinking even in volatile periods. Ms Resta echoed Mr Dufour’s view that desirability must be cultivated continuously, especially when macroeconomic signals are as mixed as they are now.

Another productive session was the Louis Vuitton Watch Prize panel moderated by SJX, featuring Jean Arnault, Mohammed Seddiqi, Raúl Pagès, and Wei Koh. Mr Seddiqi set the tone with a simple principle: buy what speaks to you, not what your neighbour admires — a reminder that independent watchmaking is an artistic pursuit best approached on personal terms.

As for the prize itself, Mr Arnault explained that it’s intentionally inclusive, with the committee actively scouting emerging talent across Asia to keep the field diverse and competitive. Mr Pagès, last year’s winner, summarised what it takes to stand out to the jury: commit to your design language, stay true to what makes you unique, and pursue it consistently over time.

Mohammed Seddiqi, Chief Executive Officer of Ahmed Seddiqi.

Elsewhere, Mr Kern formally introduced the House of Brands, his growing ecosystem around Breitling that includes Gallet and Universal Genève. And the succession panel featuring Max Büsser and Kari Voutilainen proved unusually candid. Each outlined their approach to building resilience beyond the founder — a subject that will loom larger as more first-generation independents plan for the future.

New releases

The growing prominence of DWW means brands are increasingly using the fair as a launchpad for significant products. This year saw a broad spectrum, from major complications to accessible tool watches.

The exhibition space. Image – Dubai Watch Week

The most technically significant debut was the Chopard L.U.C Grand Strike, a compact grande et petite sonnerie with sapphire gongs and a clear, resonant tone that carried across the hall. It builds on the Full Strike of 2016 but introduces a new case architecture with soldered lugs and concealed thickness, giving it a more refined profile.

Chopard’s overall momentum was notable. With the Grand Strike arriving just after Ferdinand Berthoud’s Naissance d’une Montre 3, it’s easy to argue that 2025 is shaping up to be the manufacture’s most important year since the original L.U.C launch in 1997.

Smaller brands showed up in force as well. Biver expanded the Automatique line with a range of exotic stone and enamel dials — mahogany obsidian, lavender jade, blue quartzite, oeil de fer — alongside new Clous de Paris and two-tone options. While stone dials are increasingly common, Biver’s selection felt genuinely fresh, supported by a technically ambitious micro-rotor movement with zero-reset seconds and 18k gold bridges.

Audemars Piguet, meanwhile, unveiled an intelligent watch winder, developed with Dubai Future Labs, capable of reading the dial of a perpetual calendar via a built-in camera and adjusting all indications through a motorised crown-gripping arm. Still in development and limited to the new calibre 7138, it felt more like a conceptual talking point than a commercial product—but in the context of DWW, its blend of robotics and watchmaking felt perfectly at home.

The intelligent watch winder is compatible with Audemars Piguet’s latest generation of perpetual calendars. Image – Audemars Piguet

Ulysse Nardin and Urwerk debuted the UR-Freak, a collaboration that merged the Freak’s rotating movement architecture with Urwerk’s wandering hours satellite display. Conceptually, it’s a collaboration that feels almost inevitable. At the more accessible end of the spectrum, Tudor introduced the Ranger 36, a truer-to-vintage proportion with an attractive “dune white” dial.

Concluding thoughts

Dubai Watch Week 2025 appeared to be a success by any measure. The new Burj Park venue elevated the fair into something approaching a permanent fixture, even if it will be dismantled and rebuilt again in two years’ time. The combination of safety, accessibility, and scale created an atmosphere few other fairs can match. Panels ranged from revealing to philosophical, offering real insight into the direction of the industry. And the slate of new products — from Chopard’s Grand Strike to independent highlights and even an AI-powered winder — underscored the fair’s role as a global stage for both tradition and experimentation.

More than anything else, DWW illustrates that the watch world still values a gathering place where brands, collectors, and watchmakers can meet on equal footing.

The Burj Park venue. Image – Dubai Watch Week