These Iconic Watches Just Got Some Impressive Engineering Upgrades
This season, brands are tweaking their classic wristwatches with revamped designs and of-the-moment movements.
From high-velocity calibres to feather-light constructions, the watch world continues to reimagine its most enduring icons through the lens of innovation.
This season, leading brands have unveiled refined updates to their best-loved timepieces—pairing cutting-edge mechanics with the distinctive design codes and luxurious styles that have long defined their names.
Rocket Science
Accutron Spaceview 314
Launched in 1960, the Spaceview, with its tuning-fork movement, was the world’s first electronic wristwatch and a giant leap from traditional manual-wind and automatic watches. Sixty years later, Accutron has reimagined this technology thanks to the microscopic precision that only modern specialized machinery can deliver. This hand-assembled mechanism has been paired with its signature see-through Spaceview dial.
Reverse Engineering
Chopard L.U.C Qualité Fleurier 20th Anniversary Edition
While the L.U.C Qualité Fleurier collection is only turning 20 this year, the 1950s feel of the fancy lugs and the two-tone sector-type dial of this limited-edition anniversary model suggests a much longer legacy. This forward-thinking automatic timepiece is powered by a 3.3-millimetre-thick movement, which uses two barrels to deliver an impressive 65 hours of running time—rare for such a slim watch.
Tropic Thunder
Alpina Heritage Tropic-Proof Handwinding
A faithful reissue of Alpina’s historic adventurer’s watch from the 1960s, this time-only model maintains a historically accurate 34-millimetre case and a hand-wound (not automatic) calibre. However, it does make some concessions to the modern age: The original acrylic dial has been replaced with a box-type sapphire crystal and the water resistance has been boosted to 30 metres.
Quick Change
Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Tech
The Fifty Fathoms Tech is the modern, wearable and versatile answer to Blancpain’s original dive watch. This well-rounded timepiece also features more colour options for its integrated rubber strap and a new tool-free interchangeable system that allows quick strap swaps.
Rock On
Bulgari 50th Anniversary Limited Edition
Born in 1975, this iconic style turns 50 this year. To celebrate, Bulgari released a limited-edition watch with a Verde Alpi deep-green marble dial. It’s powered by the brand’s very thin (just 3.8 millimetres) calibre BVL 191 automatic movement, which offers a 42-hour power reserve.
This article first appeared in FASHION’s November 2025 issue. Find out more here.
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Rhonda Riche is a National Magazine Award-nominated writer with particular interests in art, watches and design. Riche is the author of the book "The Wonderful World of Women's Watches" (teNeues, 2025) and co-author of the book "Covet Garden Home". She has written about watches for FASHION, the Globe and Mail, DuJour, and Departures. Off the page, she co-created the short films Felt, Angst and Perspective 5: Time Traveler and was a contributor to CBC Radio’s "Definitely Not the Opera". She is currently the Editor At Large for Watchonista.
Riche spends most of her free time scouring thrift shops and flea markets for horological treasure and exploring the many diverse culinary options of her hometown, Toronto.
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