The Roundup: the “Last Week of 2025" Edition
The Roundup
Each week, EWC will be gathering horological industry news, cultural conversations and moments surrounding our favorite topic: timepieces. Happy Friday; here’s what’s on our watch.
It’s the last full week of 2025, and we’re looking forward to ringing in the new year. This week is the start of the liminal space between the Christmas and New Year’s holidays, where we sometimes lose track of what day it is and how many leftovers we’ve eaten, so let’s jump in to what’s going on in the world of watches.
New release
Bell & Ross introduced a very shiny version of its BR-05 model with the BR-05 Grey Mirror Steel. Known for its signature design elements like rounded corners on a square case and bezel and an integrated bracelet, this version goes tone-on-tone and shiny-on-shiny with the dial, hands, and applied indices all mirror-polished. The combination of mirror polishing on all of the dial elements make it very reflective, and a tilt of the wrist to play with the light makes it almost feel like jewelry without the gemstones. The case and bracelet have a combination of brushed and polished steel, bringing a pleasing contrast of textures.
Celeb sighting
Carmelo Anthony appeared as a guest on The Big Podcast with Shaq, wearing a Roger Dubuis Excalibur Spider Pirelli Black DLC Titanium 45mm. This skeletonized, lightweight timepiece has been a mainstay for his recent string of podcast appearances.
Industry news
Swiss watch exports to the US dropped by 52% in November, according to figures published by the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry. All exports of Swiss watches were down by 7.3% globally, in both number of units and overall value. The sharp decline of exports to the United States has been attributed to the 39% tariff previously imposed by the U.S. on Swiss imports, which was recently reduced to 15%. It remains to be seen what the impact will be on Swiss exports while the tariff question still remains in the hands of the Supreme Court of the United States.
Price increases for Rolex in 2026 have been reported, with an average 7% price increase across the board in the U.S. Gold models will see the largest increase, up to 9%, ostensibly due to the price of gold reaching over $4,500 an ounce, while steel models will see increases between 5-6%.
Price increases for Tudor, which is owned by Rolex, have been reported, with a range of 4-8% across its line of timepieces. Steel watches without chronograph complications will have the lowest price increase, while the gold Black Bay 58 will reportedly get a price hike of 7.9%.