HORSEPOWER
Watchmakers Saddled Up for 2026 Year of the Horse
The year is 3/4 finished, but its worth looking at how important The Year Of The Horse was to Swiss Watchmakers.
The Chinese zodiac’s Year of the Fire Horse has given watchmakers a wonderful excuse to unleash engravers, enamellers, miniature painters and enough red and rose gold to make a Ferrari showroom look restrained. The results range from subtle little equestrian winks to watches that practically gallop off your wrist. Of course, Hermès takes forst place, but take a look at the others in the field:
At the serious end of the stable is Vacheron Constantin, whose Métiers d’Art approach turns the horse into sculpture. One version features a beautifully modeled gold horse seemingly leaping across the dial, surrounded by indications for the time, day and date. This isn’t somebody stamping a pony onto a dial and calling it a limited edition. It’s miniature art, and exactly the sort of ridiculous craftsmanship that makes high horology fun.
Jaeger-LeCoultre may have the most natural claim to the theme. The Reverso was, after all, created in the 1930s with polo players in mind. Its Reverso Tribute Enamel “Horse” puts the animal on the reverse side of the swiveling case. Flip it over and—boom—a magnificent engraved horse appears against black Grand Feu enamel. Ten pieces. That's it. Talk about an exclusive stable.
Arnold & Son goes full cinematic with its Perpetual Moon Year of the Horse. A sculpted golden horse rears beneath an enormous mother-of-pearl moon against an aventurine sky. Subtle? Absolutely not. Gorgeous? Absolutely yes. It's essentially National Velvet meets haute horlogerie.
Then there is IWC, which takes the opposite approach. Its Portugieser Automatic 42 Year of the Horse looks relatively civilized from the front: rich burgundy dial, gold-tone numerals and classic Portugieser proportions. Turn it over, however, and the movement's rotor has been transformed into a galloping horse. That's clever. You don't have to wear the Chinese zodiac on your forehead to participate in the party.
Oris also keeps things comparatively wearable. Its deep burgundy dial incorporates a small running horse around the center-right portion of the display. You notice the watch first and the zodiac connection second—which, frankly, isn't a bad formula.
Piaget, naturally, couldn't simply draw a horse. Its interpretation turns the dial into a canvas, with a dramatic blue-and-white horse rendered in cloisonné-style enamel surrounded by diamonds. It's less "watch" and more "tiny piece of jewelry that happens to know what time it is."
And Dior goes in an entirely different direction. Its horse wanders through a lush garden of flowers, butterflies, gemstones and gold details. If the Vacheron horse looks ready for battle, Dior's looks like it has reservations for lunch at Eden-Roc.
What makes this year's crop interesting is how differently the brands approached the same assignment. Some put the horse front and center. Others hid it on the caseback or movement, almost like a private joke between owner and watchmaker. Some produced serious métiers d'art masterpieces; others simply incorporated the symbol into an otherwise wearable watch.
The horse already belongs in the luxury world. Polo, racing, breeding, Hermès, Ferrari—the animal has represented speed, power, elegance and wealth long before anyone in Geneva decided to put one on a dial.
For 2026, the watch industry didn't merely acknowledge the Year of the Horse.
It saddled up.
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