What to know (and want) in watches this May 2026
Get all your watch news and updates for May right here
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WATCHES AND WONDERS has wrapped but regular watch news keeps ticking.
This month, there are new arrivals from Girard-Perregaux Laureato, a 42mm Chronograph to be exact; TAG Heuer adds another chapter to their Formula 1 line.
Ralph Lauren drops a new Preppy Bear timepiece
The Polo Bear has been many things over the years – a skier, a golfer, a man in black tie who somehow looks comfortable.
The latest iteration puts him in a navy blazer, repp tie and khakis, miniaturised onto the white dial of Ralph Lauren’s new Preppy Bear watch.
The 3D-printed illustration is finer than it has any right to be at that scale. Housing it is a stainless steel case running a Swiss automatic movement, with interchangeable straps that include a striped grosgrain option.
Available from spring 2026 at select Ralph Lauren stores and online. Straight outta Ivy League (finance) and on to your wrist.
Jaeger-LeCoultre dropped their most ambitious watch of 2026
The tourbillon has always been watchmaking’s most theatrical of complications – a spinning cage designed to neutralise the effects of gravity, and, in practice, an excuse to put something visually arresting on a dial.
Jaeger-LeCoultre’s new Duometre Heliotourbillon Perpetual in platinum turns things up a notch with three axes to spin on instead of one.
Limited to 20 pieces, the 44mm watch houses Calibre 388, built around the brand’s patented Duometre architecture: two independent gear trains running from separate barrels, one for timekeeping, one for complications, keeping each from interfering with the other’s power supply. The Heliotourbillon – 163 components, under 0.7 grams – sits above a deep blue lacquer field on an otherwise all-grey dial of opaline, brushed and azuré surfaces.
Calibre 388 also carries a perpetual calendar with Grande Date display, moon phase, and a leap year indicator in red. The hours and minutes can be set in either direction without unsettling the calendar. Twenty pieces, platinum bracelet included.
TAG Heuer Formula 1 38mm Solargraph Indy 500
Vroom.
TAG Heuer’s relationship with the Indy 500 runs to thirteen dedicated editions now, which says something about the sincerity of the partnership. Since 1911, the race has tested drivers across 500 miles of concentrated effort at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and timing has always been central to how that effort is measured.
This latest collaboration, the Formula 1 Solargraph X Indy 500, carries that connection into the details. The caseback is engraved with the Yard of Bricks pattern, the strip of original track surface that has marked the finish line since the race’s earliest years, alongside the Indy 500 logo.
The watch itself is a 38mm sandblasted steel case with a black opalin dial, brown minuterie and the same brown detailing carried through to the TH-Polylight bidirectional bezel. A red central hand provides some nice contrast. Inside, the Solargraph movement draws power from both natural and artificial light. One minute of direct sunlight is enough to run it for a full day, while a complete charge sustains it for up to ten months in total darkness. The accumulator is rated for fifteen years.
Girard-Perregaux Laureato drops its new Chronograph
The Laureato has been a fixture in Girard-Perregaux’s catalogue since 1975, its tonneau-shaped case and octagonal bezel largely unchanged for good reason.
This new Chronograph 42mm revisits the two-tone aesthetic that defined the watch’s era of origin, pairing a 904L steel case with rose gold on the bezel, crown and pushers, and swapping the link bracelet for a brown rubber strap embossed with a Clou de Paris hobnail pattern.
The brown dial carries the same motif. Inside sits the manufacture Calibre GP03300: 419 components, 63 jewels and a minimum 46-hour power reserve. The finishing is visible through a sapphire caseback and numbers are limited to 50.
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