Best watches to buy for 2025, from Patek Philippe to Bremont
If you’re looking for a super-stylish and extremely capable watch to see in the new year – and many many new year’s to come – we have a great list of seven of the best watches to buy for 2025, from a brilliant Bremont to a sumptuous Seiko, and from Patek to Christopher Ward.
Bremont Supermarine Full Ceramic, Jungle Green
“I have probably taken my Bremont to more places on the planet than anyone else and the Supermarine has performed incredibly on my jungle missions this year.”
No, Aldo Kane isn’t talking about Friday nights at Fabric. As a Bremont ambassador, Kane first went to the jungle as a Royal Marines Commando when he was 19, and over the last 28 years he’s made this challenging environment his own, either as a reconnaissance sniper or a TV presenter. So, from tracking tiger poachers in South-East Asia, to climbing into the canopy in Central Africa, the fact he’s this happy with his all-green-ceramic Supermarine diving watch says a lot.
“The forest is the great equaliser. It crushes egos, builds resilience, and hones a deep connection to the natural world. If you can operate in the jungle, you can operate anywhere.”
It’s a brief that Bremont, which started just 20 years ago making military tool watches, has risen to with typical aplomb. And this is no small undertaking: the ceramic case is resistant to water at depths of up to 500 metres. From a basis of ceramic zirconium-oxide powder, the loose material to form the case is placed into a very precisely shaped mould. Following a high-pressure sintering process at 1,450°C, the size of the case shrinks by 23 per cent, but still must assemble to micron tolerances, and cohere into a consistent shade of – in this case – ‘jungle green’. • £6,450 – BUY IT HERE
Richard Mille RM 65-01 McLaren W1
It says everything about the world of supercar ownership that now the car isn’t enough: you have to have a watch to match.
Great news, then, for those 399 customers who have pre-ordered their new ‘W1’ McLaren, which does 0–200kmph (yes, 200) in 5.8 seconds, then 300 in just shy of 12.7. The sinuous forms of the car’s NASA-grade aerodynamics have inspired Switzerland’s own high-speed machinists, resulting in Richard Mille’s RM 65-01 McLaren W1, billed as the watchmaker’s most complicated to date. It comes with a ‘thin-ply’ carbon case designed to mimic the car’s curves and a “jump start” pusher for the movement. The idea is, should your watch need a kick, you can use the button – in McLaren orange – at eight o’clock, which will activate a rachet-and-pinion mechanism allowing the chronograph-equipped mechanics to be wound without removing the watch from your wrist. A stripped-back open-worked chassis of a dial, plus orange rubber strap complete the look.
Bad news is the car is sold out, good news is, if you have a spare CHF320,000 (approx. £285,000) there are still 101 RM 65-01 McLaren W1s left. • £285,000 – BUY IT HERE
Seiko Presage Style 60s
Also known as ‘European Exclusive in retro blue’ (nomenclature has never been a strong point for Japan’s titanic watchmaker), the Presage Style 60s is inspired by the post-war craze for Tokyo’s city slickers apeing the US Ivy League style, known as ‘Miyuki-Zoku’. They would congregate in the Miyuki-dori area of Ginza dressed in natty blazers and cotton trousers, which inspire Seiko’s latest iteration of its dressy Presage line. Ideal for propping up a bar in Broadway Circus. • £550 – BUY IT HERE
Orient Bambino 38 Small Seconds
Orient is making a name for itself as one of those ‘#IYKYK’ Japanese brands. It has the spirit of an independent, the history of an established brand, and the resources of a Japanese mothership who shall remain nameless (Seiko). It is beautifully proportioned, elegant, with applied indices worthy of Patek Philippe, and can take you effortlessly from boardroom to cocktail bar. • £287.99 – BUY IT HERE
Citizen Tsuyosa Automatic
]A bit Rolex, slightly Seiko, but really the ‘Tsuyosa’ is in a category of one. It is a watch that is far better than it has any business being. The sun-brushed dial is a ray of autumnal sunshine, the date’s magnifying ‘cyclops’ lens brings some retro-futurism, and the stainless-steel bracelet is smooth. The movement is also ultra-reliable with a 40-hour power reserve. And all for much, much less than dinner at Sushi Kanesaka. • £299 – BUY IT HERE
Christopher Ward C65 Aquitaine Desk Diver
Romaric André, the cult graphic vandal of classic watches has turned ‘establishment’ collaborator, working with the likes of Britain’s Christopher Ward. Under his guise of ‘seconde/seconde/’ André says of his take on the oft-underused diving watch: “The irony is, I qualify as a ‘desk diver’ myself… daydreaming is my first occupation… Reversing this trajectory and taking you back into hard-core-norm-core felt like the obvious next step.” Which is the long way of describing an anarchic redesign of Ward’s C65 Aquitaine Desk Diver (£995) – complete with pencils, paper clips, Post-It notes, Stabilo Boss highlighter and board pins. Thankfully, it does go down to 200 metres if you finally get to switch on your ‘OOO’. One of the best watches making use of customisation. • £995 – BUY IT HERE
Patek Philippe Cubitus Reference 5821
Patek Philippe set #watchnerd social channels ablaze last week with the shock drop that is its ‘Cubitus’. This beautiful creation is a more geometric take on the brand’s octagonal sports star, ‘Nautilus’, complete with bold, horizontal dial grooves. At its core is the Reference 5821, which the prima donna of Geneva proudly positions as a reinvention of its ‘casual chic’, enhanced by alternating finishes: vertical satin-brush on the flat of the bezel, gleaming polish on its ‘chamfered’ drop-off. As divisive as the Cubitus may be proving, bear in mind that this is Patek Philippe; they didn’t get here by mistake, and ‘time’ will surely tell. Truly one of the best watches to buy right now. • From £35,330 in steel – BUY IT HERE
William Wood Dunkirk
Hot on the heels of its endorsement by the mighty Watches of Switzerland group, British indie startup William Wood is launching its most ambitious and also most heartfelt watch yet. This is saying something, since founder Jonny Garrett has always lent on the memory of his heroic firefighting ancestor, whose name the brand takes. In keeping with Grandpa Wood’s noble career path, the ‘Dunkirk’ watch commemorates – just in time for the 85th anniversary of the Allies’ miraculous salvation from France’s north coast in 1940 – one of the 850 ‘little ships’ that set sail from Ramsgate Harbour: a firefighting boat by the name of Massey Shaw.
Braving enemy fire throughout three Channel crossings, to convey some 600 of the 331,000 soldiers rescued from the Nazi push, the flat-draft vessel then went on to pump 3,000 gallons of Thames water per minute throughout the Blitz bombings, and help St Paul’s Cathedral survive 28 direct hits one late-December night. It’s comfortable below-deck even provided a furtive meeting place for government officials finalising the bill for the formation of the NHS, in 1947.
So, William Wood’s new 600-piece limited edition has a lot of heavy lifting (pumping?) to do, and it does it well: rough-hewn bronze case, powerful Swiss-made Sellita movement, a dial design echoing the bridge’s twin-telegraph control, plus fire engine-red case detailing referencing the hull’s water pipes. The strap’s made of upcycled jackets worn by firefighters in the UK Fire & Rescue Service and a significant portion of the £3,995 pricetag goes towards Massey Shaw rejoining the flotilla to Dunkirk in 2025. Watch or not, you can at least wave it off from its native mooring: Canary Wharf. • £3,995 – BUY IT HERE
• City PM’s journalism is supported by our readers. .