1. Swatch and Blancpain go bioceramic à la Moonswatch

Why Richard Mille watches are known as ‘the billionaire’s handshake’

2. Film and music icons celebrate high horology

Though he was watchless when he took the stage for the iconic moment, he was later spotted wearing the octagonal Bulgari Octo Finissimo during a press conference. The all-grey watch is made out of titanium and is thin, light and stylish – a fitting piece from the Italian maison to wear at Venice’s celebration of film excellence.

Why Audemars Piguet is headed for record sales despite inflation

Lee was not known to wear many timepieces, but the watch he was seen with the most was a vintage Seiko chronograph with a unique steel bracelet whose holes are more often seen on racing rubber straps from the era. The limited-edition piece comes in all black with gold accents, with a bezel engraving containing a Jeet Kune Do maxim that the watch brand translates as, “Using no way as way; having no limitation as limitation.”

His modifications include neon green accents, open-worked subdials, a modified rotor visible through exhibition caseback, and – perhaps most ostentatiously – a white bezel and dial that glow in the dark. All told, the aftermarket efforts cost the musician a cool 3.552 million Swiss francs (US$3.9 million).

Green light: why jade jewellery still captivates us, 9,000 years on

3. The Grand Prix D’Horlogerie de Genève aka the “watch Oscars” announces finalists

The Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG) kicked its celebration of this year’s greatest watches up a notch by announcing the finalists for its numerous categories of awards with presentations of these pieces taking place around the world. The collection makes stops in Macau, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur and New York before returning to Geneva.

Tech bro bling: 9 watch brands that Silicon Valley millionaires love

4. Independent brands band together on massive collaborations

Independent watches shared the love this month as upstart brands and watchmakers announced collaboration after massive collaboration. Russian art watchmaker Konstantin Chaykin joined hands with Swiss boutique maker Louis Erard on the Time-Eater II: from Dusk to Dawn, sitting perfectly between creepy and intriguing. Meanwhile, artisanal maker Sylvain Pinaud broke ground on the first ever tie-up with pure collaborator Massena Lab on the openworked Chronograph Monopoussoir.

On the more affordable side, lovable microbrand Brew Watches – best known for its square dials – worked with content creator Worn & Wound to produce the Brew Metric Chrono Regulator in three stunning colourways for its signature TV dial design. Meanwhile, rising star Furlan Marri and dial artist Seconde-Seconde look to make quartz great again with their new Hertz Beat, stamping Seconde-Seconde’s signature pixel art on Marri’s elegant sector dial piece featuring its mechaquartz hybrid movement.

5. Established brands sprint ahead of the competition with new designs

Traditional brands were not far behind as we saw some stunning releases from them this month as well. Tag Heuer continues to celebrate the Carrera’s 60th anniversary by executing perhaps horology’s most intricate pun. The racing watchmaker collaborated with Porsche to create the Carrera Chronosprint, which features a readjusted chronograph mechanism where the seconds hand “accelerates” through the first 9.11 seconds of timekeeping across the 12-4 indices, as a nod to the Porsche 911.

Citizen, Jacob & Co and Jaeger-LeCoultre all got intricate with their dials this month. Citizen released the AQ4103 Washi Paper dial, choosing the material for its texture, fineness and durability, and for its use in restoring art and calligraphy. Jacob & Co gave us double the watch in stunning fashion with the dual-time World is Yours piece, but Jaeger-LeCoultre may have just taken the cake with stunning new designs of its much-loved 101 collection.