The Red Dot is one of the most important and widely recognized international design awards.

The Red Dot awards prizes for design in a multitude of categories, from refrigerators to lawn mowers and everything in between, and the awards are given on many levels: Best of the Best, Design Prize, and Honorable Mention.

However, until the 2015 edition of the competition, there was no dedicated watch category. That thankfully changed, and now the prestigious German award counts a three-person jury dedicated to watches, including Rüdiger Bucher, editor-in-chief of German watch magazine Chronos and head of editorial for the watch division of the Ebner Verlag publishing house, freelance journalist Gisbert Brunner, and British design strategist Michael Thomson in 2018.

See The 2015 Red Dot Has A New Watch Category. And The Winners Are  . . . for a full interview with Bucher on the creation of the new category and what goes on behind the scenes at the Red Dot judging session.

The Red Dot Best of the Best winners in 2018

“We orient ourselves primarily on the nine assessment criteria that Red Dot created,” Bucher explained in answer to my question about how the small team judges design. “We try to be as objective and impartial as possible.”

Bulgari Octo Finissimo Automatic on the wrist

So what do the jurors look for in particular? “Alongside a successful overall design, it is important to look for elements that bring a new aspect to watch design and that offer an emotional added value above and beyond the coherent shape,” he answered.

The Best of the Best is the highest honor, and in 2018 two watches from the hundreds entered achieved this status: the TAG Heuer Connected Modular 45 Luxury Kit and the Bulgari Octo Finissimo Automatic.

Red Dot Design Prize

Some of the 2018 winners of the Red Dot Design Prize like Nomos Glashütte and Maurice Lacroix have won in this category before. Without further ado, here is the full list of this year’s winners in the Design Prize category.

Nomos Glashütte Autobahn Neomatic 41 Datum

Nomos Glashütte’s Autobahn, introduced at Baselworld 2018, has been something of a contentious design that has thoroughly split watch fans down the middle in the three months since it was introduced. A very daring design for the Bauhaus-slanted brand, it has been rewarded for taking a risk by winning the Red Dot Design Award.

Nomos Autobahn Neomatik Datum 41

For more information, please see Nomos Glashütte Autobahn: Pedal To The Medal and/or visit www.nomos-glashuette.com/en/autobahn/autobahn-neomatik-41-date.

Quick Facts Nomos Glashütte Autobahn Neomatik 41 Datum
Case: 41 x 10.5 mm, stainless steel
Movement: automatic Caliber DUW 6101 with Swing System escapement
Functions: hours, minutes, seconds; date
Price: €3,800

HYT H0 Black

HYT’s H0 caught the eye of the jury with its striking black-and-green color scheme, liquid time-telling display, and highly domed sapphire crystal.

HYT H0 Black

This is an extremely eye-catching watch, one deserving of such an important design prize.

For more information on the fluid time-telling display, please see When Opposites Collide: Microfluidics Of The HYT H1 And H2 and visit www.hytwatches.com/collection-h0/watch/h0-black.

Moritz Grossmann Atum Email and Benu Tourbillon

Now that’s what I would call success: entering for the first time with two watches and winning a design prize with both of them!

Moritz Grossmann Atum Email

The purity of the Moritz Grossmann Atum Email also offsets the complication of the Saxon brand’s Benu Tourbillon – and both come out on top.

For more information, please visit www.grossmann-uhren.com/collection/atum-emaille and www.grossmann-uhren.com/collection/benu-tourbillon.

Zenith Defy Lab

I found the fact that the Zenith Defy Lab concept watch won a prize interesting. So the Red Dot design award can also be awarded to a concept watch, which may or may not end up in serial production?

Zenith Defy Lab on the wrist

The Defy Lab, introduced close to a year ago at the brand’s factory, was created to highlight the compliant silicon technology housed within its creative new movement. I’m sure I had not thought of this watch as a design piece, so this award puts quite a new spin on it for me.

Learn all about its groundbreaking technology in The Zenith Defy Lab Highlights Technology That Could Change Future Watchmaking and for more information please visit www.zenith-watches.com/campaign/defy-lab.

Quick Facts Zenith Defy Lab concept watch
Case: 44 x 14.5 mm, Aeronith
Movement: automatic Zenith Caliber ZO 342 with monolithic silicon oscillator; 32.8 x 8.13 mm; 148 components including 18 jewels; 15 Hz/108,000 vph frequency, power reserve 60 hours; +/- 6 degrees amplitude
Functions: hours, minutes, seconds
Limitation: 10 unique pieces in a collector’s gift box, all pre-sold to 10 collectors before official launch

Junghans Max Bill Automatic

The Junghans Max Bill has been an absolute design classic in the world of watches since its inception in 1961 when Bill created a new line for the German company that was once the largest watch brand in the world by volume.

Junghans Max Bill Automatic

This latest version is characterized by tones of gold and grey, which underscore its minimalist design in a very elegant way.

For more information, please visit www.junghans.de/en/junghans-collection/watches/maxbill/maxbill-maxbillautomatic.

Maurice Lacroix Masterpiece Gravity

The Masterpiece Gravity entered Maurice Lacroix’s collection in 2015, placing an openworked movement that blends traditional and novel design elements with a large stainless steel case. The latest evolution of this watch, introduced at Baselworld 2018, adds a small seconds subdial to the successful design.

Maurice Lacroix Masterpiece Gravity

A forward-thinking timepiece, the Masterpiece Gravity is a great example of modern design using high-tech elements.

For more information, please see The Maurice Lacroix Masterpiece Gravity: My, How Things Change and/or visit www.mauricelacroix.com/Watch/Entry/Collection/masterpiece-3/Id/masterpiece_gravity.

Rado True Phospho

What design competition would be complete without a ceramic-encased entry from Rado? Design is this brand’s stock in trade!

Rado True Phospho

This limited edition Phospho was created by the three designers of Big-Game Design Studio in Switzerland and features a perforated black brass dial that allows a view of the automatic movement. The all-black matte ceramic watch also boasts interesting luminous numerals and markers.

For more information, please visit www.rado.com/collections/true-phospho.

Qlocktwo W39

“Showing the time in words – this innovative idea is realized here with impressive charm and style,” is what the Red Dot jury wrote about the interesting Qlocktwo W39, which indicates the time in written-out words: 110 letters indicate the times of day using light when a button is pushed to request it.

Qlocktwo W39

The words on this watch’s face change every five minutes, and it is available in 20 languages.

For more information, please visit www.qlocktwo.com/us/qlocktwo-w39.

MeisterSinger Salthora Meta X

The Salthora Meta X is probably the most unusual MeisterSinger watch of recent times with its jump hour window and sporty diver’s watch case. It is practically only recognizable as a product of the German brand thanks to its single hand making rotations around the dial.

MeisterSinger Salthora Meta X

For more information, please visit www.meistersinger.com/en/collection/single-hand-watches-models/samx.

Acustica

The Acustica watch is made for the blind by the Swiss Central Union for the Blind: a button activates a voice that announces day, date, and time. Additionally, the watch vibrates.

For more information, please visit www.acustica-watches.com.

Bólido

This relatively affordable Swiss watch from Bólido, which retails for well under $1,000 in its simplest form, comes from the interesting combination of Simon Husslein (probably best known through his work with Nomos Glashütte) and Pierre Nobs (previous founder and owner of Ventura).

The duo’s tagline is, “Conceived so that it can be manufactured 100% in Switzerland at a completely un-Swiss price.”

For more information, please visit www.bolido.rocks.

Rolf Cremer Twist

Rolf Cremer, a longtime German jewelry designer, has created inexpensive watches for about 20 years.

Rolf Cremer Twist

The particular quartz design of the Twist, which offers a “crooked” 35 x 35 mm square, caught the jury’s eye for its simplicity and ease in wearing.

For more information, please visit  www.rolf-cremer.de/gesamtsortiment/twist.

Special mention went to the Jianmin Zhang Integrated Watch and the Kerbholz Slim Midnight Maple.

And for more information about the Red Dot awards, visit www.en.red-dot.org.

You might also enjoy:

The 2015 Red Dot Has A New Watch Category. And The Winners Are  . . .
Bulgari Octo Finissimo Automatic: To Live With Is To Love
Nomos Glashütte Autobahn: Pedal To The Medal
When Opposites Collide: Microfluidics Of The HYT H1 And H2
The Zenith Defy Lab Highlights Technology That Could Change Future Watchmaking
Complete List Of The Eleven 2017 Red Dot Award Watch Winners