This is an edition of the newsletter Box + Papers, Cam Wolf’s weekly deep dive into the world of watches. Update 10/7/26: I take my list of the year’s best watches extremely seriously. I strive to sniff out the models that we’ll be talking about and chasing after well beyond 2026—the pieces that represent a brand’s leap in its evolution, or even a broader trend in watchmaking.
I haven’t updated this list since June, and despite that extended gap, I’m adding just six new selections here. This limited batch packs quite the punch, however. It includes what I consider to be a burgeoning modern icon, my personal favorite watch of the year, and what I think may well be the defining watch of 2026.
Read on for the full list of new selects. The New Standard Award: Nomos Club Sport Neomatik Worldtimer “Dark” I really liked the Nomos Club Sport Worldtimer when they first dropped a year ago in a palette of muted but eccentric colors. The thinking was that the Worldtimer watch was made for travel—why else have access to the times in 24 cities around the world?
So, last year, Nomos initially released them in vacation-ready colors: split-pea-soup green and red clay. In September, the brand released a “dark” version that feels ready to be worn at your home base. Limited editions were rounded out by a handful of more standard variations with navy blue, white, and silver dials.
Now, I just found out about recency bias—new favorite bias, tbh—and it might be at play here because this dark version might be my favorite of the whole bunch. Seeing the Club Sport this way rearranges all the precious colors in my head, sorting them as the zany uncles to this solidly reliable option. My Grail Award: AnOrdain Porcelain Model 1 If I had a watch fairy godmother to save me from the evil entity constantly draining my bank account (me; seven $7 cappuccinos a day), this would be the watch I’d spend my fortune on.
This might even be the watch I’d wish into my collection if I could have any piece on the list, even if it wouldn’t be the biggest coup at just $2,967. (It’d rank second after Vacheron’s Overseas Ultra Thin if we’re being totally honest, though.) I fell in love with the Scottish brand’s Model 2 Porcelain when it first dropped in 2025, with a dial designed in the style of a field watch. AnOrdain reinvented the watch in August, bestowing it with these numerals from the typographer Kia Tasbihgou. The swoopy numbers are reminiscent of the iconic “Breguet” style—created by the famous watchmaker Abraham Louis Breguet in the late 1700s, and now used on watches across the industry—only supercharged with a subtle modern edge.
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