Geneva's Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG) — the awards show widely called the Oscars of watchmaking — has picked just four cities for its 2026 World Tour: Mumbai, London, Geneva and Bangkok. The Thai capital's leg runs 15–18 October at Gaysorn Amarin, showing 78 nominated timepieces ahead of the 26th awards ceremony in Geneva on 7 November. It's the tour's first return to Bangkok in eight years, and the reason it's back says a lot about how the city has changed.
When the GPHG first came to Thailand in 2018, local watch buying was largely about brand names and resale value. Host Narun Thamavaranukup, managing director of PMT The Hour Glass, says visitors now ask about micro-rotors, grand feu enamel and hand-finished bridges — the kind of questions that used to be reserved for specialist circles. His own test for a true collector: knowing why a single dial can take 2,000 hours to make.
The demographic shift is striking. The average Thai luxury watch buyer was 45–50 years old in 2018; now it's 35–40. Armed with social media and online forums, younger collectors skip entry-level brands entirely and go straight to independent watchmakers, judging pieces on movement, finishing and craft rather than logo recognition. Narun credits Thailand's broader respect for arts and artisans, noting that local collectors happily buy anything built to a high standard, big-name or not.
That open-mindedness shapes the exhibition itself. Inside Gaysorn Amarin, houses producing tens of thousands of watches a year sit alongside workshops making fewer than 50 — all measured against the same criteria. The 2026 awards also reflect wider industry change: the old 'Men's' and 'Ladies'' categories are gone, replaced by 'Essential Watch' and 'Complication Watch', while a new 'Gemset Watch' category treats gem-setting as an art form in its own right.
For travellers with even a passing interest in watches, this is a rare chance to see shortlisted pieces that almost never leave their ateliers — free of the Geneva gatekeeping — in the middle of one of Asia's best shopping districts. Entry to a touring exhibition like this is typically complimentary or low-cost, and you'll be looking at candidates before the winners are announced, which makes for good bragging rights later.
Bangkok's selection also signals something bigger for Southeast Asia: international watch houses now see enough depth and sophistication in the Thai market to keep investing here, which usually means more boutique openings, launches and events reaching the region instead of skipping to Hong Kong or Singapore.
If you're in Bangkok between 15 and 18 October, the GPHG nomination tour at Gaysorn Amarin is an easy half-hour stop between malls — and possibly the cheapest masterclass in haute horlogerie you'll find anywhere.
Original reporting: Bangkok Post Life
