Form, Function, and Fiction: The Watch Releases Defining Early 2025

A curated look at the year’s first wave of watches—what they say about taste, scarcity, and the evolving language of horological design.

Prelude

I find myself drawn to watches because they reflect something essential about our current moment. Here in early 2025, I feel caught in a strange tension—simultaneously nostalgic and hyperconnected, yet quietly desperate for something that will last. The designs I'm seeing all seem to be looking backward, as if the future has become too uncertain …