2019 GPHG Jury Announced

Every year, a highlight of the horological calendar is the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG).

While the pointy end of the judging doesn’t occur till much later in the year, the jury has been released this week, showcasing a field of experts that include both veterans and fresh faces. Legends of the watchmaking industry who have served on the jury before include Jack Forster the Editor in Chief of Hodinkee and independent watchmaker Philippe Dufour, to name just a few.

Notable new inclusions to the jury include Aldis Hodge (actor, watch designer), Jiaxian Su (collector and founder of SJXwatches.com) and Jessica Yu (founder of Hantang Culture).

While it is enthusiastically nicknamed “the Oscar’s of Watchmaking”, it is much more than that to those both involved and who observe from afar. The watch loving community holds its collective breath in anticipation to see if their favourite watches of the year are chosen as finalists, or if they achieve the highest honour as the winners of their category.

All in all, there are 14 categories with prizes to be won, which are judged over two rounds voting from the jury members.

The categories themselves have been tweaked slightly from last year, and now include a Diver’s prize and an Iconic prize given to “watches from an emblematic collection that has been exercising a lasting influence on watchmaking history and the watch market for more than 25 years”. Brands have until June 21^st to submit their entries, with finalists and winners announced around September and November respectively.

For more on the Grand Prix visit https://www.gphg.org