A total of 84 watches from around the world are competing across 14 categories at the GPHG Awards 2026. The Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève has revealed the six watches competing for the Sports Watch prize at the 2026 GPHG Awards, bringing together some of the year's most technically ambitious interpretations of the category.
From a 300-metre Grand Seiko diver and a skeletonised Hermès to an IWC Big Pilot with a perpetual calendar, this year's shortlist makes a case for just how far the modern sports watch has moved beyond the traditional steel-and-bezel formula.
The winners will be announced in Geneva on November 7, 2026. As the countdown begins towards the finale, let's look at the 6 nominated watches which are gearing up to travel as part of the GPHG exhibition programme, with Mumbai hosting the exhibition from September 28 to October 1, 2026.
For anyone who still thinks a sports watch begins and ends with a steel bracelet and a dive bezel, 2026's shortlist makes a fairly compelling case for expanding the definition. Check it out.
Chopard's collaboration with Italian design house Zagato takes its cues from the world of lightweight automotive engineering. The result is a concept-led sports watch that treats weight reduction and construction as part of the design.
Price: 130’000 CHF (~₹1,51,02,048)
Grand Seiko brings its Spring Drive technology to a serious diving watch with the Spring Drive U.F.A. Ushio 300 Diver. The name's U.F.A. (Ultra Fine Accuracy) is the headline technical proposition, while the watch itself is built for considerably less theoretical pursuits, with 300 metres of water resistance.
Price: 12’500 CHF (~₹14,52,120)
The Streamliner Pump continues that approach, using the collection's fluid integrated-bracelet architecture as the starting point for a more overtly sporty expression. H. Moser & Cie.
Price: 33’900 CHF (~₹39,39,519)
More often than not, skeletonisation changes the personality of a sports watch. Instead of asking you to look at the dial for information, the H08 by Hermes invites you to look through it. The H08 Squelette exposes the movement through an openworked construction, turning what is normally hidden beneath the dial into part of the design.
Price: 18’900 CHF (~₹21,95,297)
IWC's Big Pilot is already one of the most recognisable pilot's watches around. The perpetual calendar version adds an entirely different level of mechanical complexity, while Ceralume technology gives the case an unusual luminous quality.It is an almost deliberately excessive interpretation of the sports-watch formula: take an aviation-inspired case, add one of watchmaking's most useful complications and then make the case itself glow.
Price: 65’000 CHF (~₹75,49,965)
Bringing its signature rounded forms to a more travel-minded sports watch, Laurent Ferrier's Sport Traveller combines functionality intended for moving between time zones with restrained aesthetics. It leans towards a sport watch that doesn't necessarily look aggressive to be taken technically seriously.
Price: 66’000 CHF (~₹76,66,117)