The S7 Frosted Edition is competing in the Time Only category at this year's Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève. We're not going to be coy about it. It's a good feeling to see one of ours on the competing list, and we'd very much like to see it go further. So, wish us luck.

We've made that final six three times before, with the S4, the S3 Mark II, and the S3 Deadbeat Seconds. A fourth would mean a lot. Time Only is a crowded category, though, and we're up against some worthy competition.

How it got there 

An anonymous member of the GPHG Academy put the watch forward for consideration (thanks if that was you!). The Academy is the body of collectors, retailers, journalists, and watchmakers that the GPHG draws on to sift the field each year, and its members can propose watches they think deserve a look. We then confirmed the entry after we were notified, so nothing arrives on that list by accident. 

We don't go looking for this sort of thing. If a watch is worth putting in front of a jury, we think it’s better that somebody other than us says so first. On 1 September, the jury will cut each category down to six, and those six are the final nominated watches. Until then, the S7 Frosted is entered and in the running, which is a good place to be. Let's see what happens in September.

What the S7 Frosted is 

A 38mm steel watch, hand-wound, 9mm thick, good for 43 hours off a full wind. The dial is triple guilloché in a basket-weave pattern and is rhodium-plated after the cutting is done.

Guilloché is also known as engine turning. The pattern is cut into the metal with a sharp tool rather than printed or pressed onto it, which is why the surface seems to shift as the light moves across it. The machine provides the controlled movement. The hand controls the cut. 

Ours are historic rose and straight-line engines, both over 60 years old and still working for a living. The hour track sits on an applied chapter ring, circular-grained and infilled, so it reads as a separate layer rather than a line printed on the dial. The numerals are infilled by hand with purple ink, and the observatory hands are heat-purpled, which means stopping a shade before the blue you usually see, on a colour that doesn't wait around. 

The calibre BF04 began life as a vintage Swiss movement and now features our bridges, our rhodium-plated, hand-frosted surfaces, and a balance cock frosted and engraved by hand. That last one is the bridge holding the balance wheel, so it's the part your eye lands on first through the back. Lovely stuff, even if we do say so ourselves. None of which you'd ever see, were it not for the exhibition back. 

The “Frosted” name comes from the case. The 904L steel is bead-blasted to a fine, even matte finish, and the blasting work-hardens the surface as it goes, so it takes marks less readily than a polished case would. A finish that does something, rather than just looking like it might.

Why in the Time Only category? 

Each category has its own eligibility criteria, so a watch largely sorts itself into one. Time Only is what it sounds like: hours, minutes, and seconds, and nothing else asking for attention. No calendar, no chronograph, and nothing clever to carry the watch on its behalf. It also rules out open-working and skeletonisation, so there's no cutting away the dial to show off the movement underneath either. Which makes it the category with the least to hide behind, and that seemed like the right place for a watch that's mostly about how it's finished.

What happens next 

The six watches going through in each category are announced on 1 September 2026. The winners are announced on 7 November. Between those two dates there's not much for us to do but get on with making watches and getting them out to their patient owners. Every Garrick is made to order, so patience is rather built into the arrangement. Ours included, for the next few weeks at least. 

More information about the S7 Timepiece

Wish us luck!