Gubelin Brutalist "Dagger"

Most watches play nice. This one draws blood.

This angular 1960s Gubelin earned its nickname—The Brutalist—thanks to its unapologetically sharp geometry and cold-blooded precision. Crafted in 18k yellow gold with an 18k white gold bezel, it doesn’t just wear architecture—it is architecture. The entire design feels like it was pulled straight out of a modernist museum and shrunk to wrist-size.

The standout feature is what we call the “dagger weave”—a repeating triangular motif that moves with intention across the dial and bracelet. It’s sharp, geometric, and totally committed to the aesthetic. The bezel doesn’t copy the motif outright, but complements it with clean, angled carvings that cleverly double as hour markers. Together, they catch and bend light in all the right places—crisp, shadowed, and constantly shifting.

Matching the motif are a pair of angular gold dauphine hands—sleek, deliberate, and very much in on the aesthetic. Inside ticks a manually-wound G.0703 caliber, based on the Fredrique Piguet Cal. 21, with 18 jewels and just enough resistance to remind you this thing was built by people who cared about feel.

It measures 25 x 31mm and fits up to a 7" wrist with two micro-adjustments. Don’t let the size fool you—on wrist, it wears bold thanks to its wide-set stance and bracelet that feels like jewelry forged by someone with a ruler and a grudge.

The condition is, frankly, ridiculous. For a watch with this many edges, there’s nowhere to hide abuse. And yet here it is—razor-sharp and totally intact, as if preserved in amber. Originally spotted at an Antiquorum auction in Geneva a few years back, it’s since kept a low profile. Until now.

A rare and cutting edge piece of design-forward watchmaking by one of Switzerland’s most respected names in horology. Gubelin—known for their deep roots in both jewelry and watchmaking—didn’t make a ton of these. Which makes sense. There aren’t many wrists bold enough to pull it off.