Watch Industry SITREP - April 2026

Watches and Wonders Releases, Aussie SASR Operator Charged with War Crimes, Fake AI Photos of Downed US Pilot in Iran, the War’s Effect on Watch Sales in the Middle East, Breitling Restructures, and the Return of the Rolex Rippers  

By Benjamin Lowry

It’s hard to believe, but Watches and Wonders has come and gone, and we’re already well into the best part of springtime, which means it’s time to get outside and Use Your Tools. At W.O.E., we’ve been busy writing Dispatch articles, editing videos for our YouTube Channel, and designing custom tools for all of you beautiful people that make up our community. 

No matter what we’re up to, we keep at least half an eye on the news, and the time is once again here for the Watch Industry SITREP or Situation Report, a curated monthly amalgamation of watch industry news, espionage-related happenings, and whatever else we deem interesting, all paired with our semi-informed commentary. 

Also in this month’s SITREP, W.O.E. catches feelings for a ceramic IWC.

I feel like a broken record at this point, but as ever, nothing you will find here is political. Watches are the lens through which we view and understand history and current events. Sometimes, that means encountering figures or topics you may disagree with. Should you, despite our best efforts, still find yourself with hurt feelings, the comments section stays open 24/7. 

This month, there’s a lot to like, including our top picks from the W&W release cycle, including a secretive Tudor collector meet-up, AI photos receiving undue buzz, an Australian special operator and watch nerd arrested for war crimes, the Iran War’s effect on the luxury watch market, managerial reshuffling at Breitling, the return of “Rolex Rippers”, and more. 

Watches and Wonders For W.O.E. 

By now, you’ve been beaten over the head with all of the new releases from Watches and Wonders, and we took care to avoid adding to the pile. To be honest, while acknowledging the impressive exercise in influence that is the luxury watch industry’s biggest trade show, we mostly don’t care, and it was a quiet year for tool watches, anyway. That said, there were a few releases that caught our attention, and we’ll quickly share them with you here. 

The new Costmonaute made its debut on the wrist of Artemis II Mission Commander Reid Wiseman.

Starting with a brand that wasn’t technically at Watches and Wonders (they did set up at the Four Seasons on the lake), we have Breitling with the new (inhales deeply) Navitimer B02 Chronograph 41 Cosmonaute ARTEMIS II, unveiled on the wrists of the Artemis II astronauts themselves. Yes, we know this is marketing, but it’s the kind of marketing we can get behind. Our Dispatch covering the watches of Artemis II, including Breitling’s role, can be found HERE. 

It wasn’t what we were hoping for, but the new Black Bay Ceramic is cool.

Next up is Tudor, one of the only brands we closely monitor at release time. While we didn’t get the Pelagos 39 GMT that many asked for (including W.O.E.), we were instead treated to a surprisingly interesting update to the Black Bay Ceramic, now complete with a full ceramic bracelet. Whether it’s worth the $7,725 it costs is ultimately up to you, but we think it’s pretty sweet. Ceramic probably isn’t the most durable material for a unit watch, but we can’t help but imagine this watch with a small red insignia at six.

The Monarch is cool, too, but really not our thing. All of that said, W.O.E. did attend an absolutely incredible collector meet-up for vintage Tudor enthusiasts, which was the real reason for his trip to Switzerland. More on that can be found HERE. 

If your favorite rap track is Tyga’s summer 2016 hit “Cash Money”, then you might have been moved by IWC’s new olive green ceramic version of the Ingenieur Automatic 42, which will set you back a cool CHF 22,000, which is something like twenty-eight grand in freedom dollars. W.O.E. is not the kind of guy I would have expected to dig this thing, but he was sending me wrist rolls all the same. Just when you think you know someone… 

Under the new Navy SEAL Panerai, it simply said “novelty”, which kind of sums it up.

Finally, despite our well-intentioned advice, Panerai has elected to continue its use of Navy SEAL branding as a marketing device. We’ve commented on this troubling phenomenon at length, but suffice it to say that the Trident or other SEAL-related iconography should be reserved only for those who have survived the crucible of BUD/S and life in the SEAL Teams. Slapping “Navy SEAL” on a watch in the hopes of selling it to the LARPing crowd is now and will forever be, for lack of a better word, lame. Ok, I think that’s enough new releases for this month’s SITREP. 

Former Australian Special Air Service Operator Arrested & Charged with War Crimes

Ben Roberts-Smith, a former member of the Australian Special Air Service Regiment (SASR), was arrested on 07 April and charged with war crimes for alleged actions committed in Afghanistan in 2009 and 2012. Often described as Australia’s “most decorated soldier,” Roberts-Smith was awarded the Victoria Cross, a rough equivalent of the Congressional Medal of Honor, for charging two fortified Taliban machine gun positions and neutralizing the threats at close range. 

Roberts-Smith’s Omega Seamaster is likely the SASR unit watch version. This caseback comes from a watch belonging to Andy White.

We are not informed enough to speculate on the veracity of the charges leveled against Roberts-Smith, and this is clearly a hyper-political topic in Australia. But what we do know is that he, like many in special operations, appears to have a serious appreciation for watches. To start, Roberts-Smith owns an Omega Seamaster that is almost certainly the Australian SASR Omega Seamaster unit watch with the SAS winged dagger over the outline of Australia on the caseback, as well as the member’s year of selection and their PMKEYS (regimental number). “Happy Wanderer” is the unit’s marching song. 

Roberts-Smith also owns a Breitling Superocean Heritage with a unit insignia at six o’clock.

In addition to the Seamaster, Roberts-Smith also wears a Breitling Superocean Heritage unit watch with a parachute at six o’clock that is likely the SASR’s “Fast Wings” insignia. 

Any jokes about being sketchy are likely in poor taste here, but we are always pleased to see an elite military operator honoring the culture of their community with a custom unit watch. 

Viral Photo of Downed Pilot in Iran is Actually AI 

By the time anyone realized it was fake, this photo had already made the rounds.

On Friday, 03 April, a United States F-15E Strike Eagle was shot down by a shoulder-fired missile system in southwestern Iran. One of the two pilots onboard was quickly recovered, but the other, a colonel and weapons systems officer, ejected, sustained injuries, and spent a harrowing 48 hours behind enemy lines before being rescued by special operations units. As news of the successful rescue operation broke, an image quickly went viral, with many sending it to W.O.E. to inquire about the watch on the aviator’s wrist. The only problem is that the image was, pretty clearly, AI. 

The imaginary G-Shock or Garmin-like watch on the AI-viator’s wrist was one obvious tell, but there were many issues, including but not limited to the open sharing of what would be Tier One special operators’ faces, made-up equipment, the obligatory flag, and the fact that this fresh-faced young man is supposed to be a colonel (the average age to make colonel in the USAF if 45). 

Iranian state media was quick to share photos of the wreckage from the downed F-15E. (Photo Credit: The Warzone)

If you thought the photo was real, or if you believe you’re going to get a decent, unredacted photo from a special operations raid the night before, you may need to adjust your settings. 

According to Reuters, “The image shared online referencing the rescued weapons-systems officer can be traced to an X account that describes itself as a supporter of the Make America Great Again movement.” 

Iran War Not Great for Luxury Watch Industry

The world’s largest Rolex boutique, located in the Dubai Mall, will no doubt be affected by the ongoing conflict in Iran.

The broader Middle East accounts for around 10% of the global luxury industry, and while that might not seem like a lot, it’s a noticeable chunk that is also responsible for purchasing many of the most expensive “high horology” timepieces. As we learned during W.O.E.’s visit to Dubai Watch Week, the region is a big player in the watch industry. In recent years, strong Middle Eastern watch sales have helped to bolster an industry suffering from tariff woes, high gold prices, a strong Swiss Franc, and falling Chinese sales, but the ongoing Iran War has changed all of that. 

With many retailers in the region operating at 50 to 70% of capacity amid the ongoing conflict, according to Fashion Network, this slump will likely last as long as the war, leaving watch brands to look to other markets, like the US, to take up the slack. 

Breitling Restructures Management Under George Kern’s New “House of Brands” Conglomerate 

W.O.E. and I had the opportunity to visit Breitling in Switzerland a couple of years back, and we hope for the best as the brand restructures.

Owned and operated by the Schneider family for decades, Breitling sold a majority stake to CVC Capital Partners in 2017, which remains a minority owner along with Partners Group, which has owned a majority stake since coming on board in 2022. Georges Kern also owns a small stake and has served as Breitling’s CEO since 2017. Now, Breitling is restructuring not only the Breitling brand but also the newly relaunched Universal Geneve and the soon-to-be relaunched Gallet under Kern’s new conglomerate brainchild, House of Brands. 

Breitling may not be what it once was in the eyes of the W.O.E. community, but we’ll always be fans.

This move sees sweeping leadership changes, with Breitling, Universal Geneve, and Gallet all getting new CEOs. Breitling USA has also received a new boss, former Panerai CEO Jean-Marc Pontroué, and is poised to launch Universal Geneve and Gallet in the US as well. At W.O.E., we look back lovingly on the Schneider years when so much of Breitling’s sketchy identity was established, and we can only wait and see what will come next. 

Gallet in particular could be of interest to our community, given its tool watch heritage and focus on a more affordable price point. 

The “Rolex Rippers” Return?

Romanian national Stefania Tinica (left) is the only member of the gang to have been caught. A Rolex stolen by the gang in 2021 is shown on the right. (Photo Credit: MSN)

While we have favored international intrigue and new releases over crime this month, it just wouldn’t be the SITREP without your dose of timepiece-related illicit activity. The name has been thrown around for years, but the “Rolex Rippers” moniker actually stems from a British, all-female team of luxury watch thieves and a series of crimes dating back to 2021. The gang, which is implicated in at least fifteen known robberies, typically worked in pairs, where one woman would inappropriately fondle a target, generally an elderly man, before the other subtly relieved him of his watch. 

After a few years with no crimes matching this MO, a 70-year-old male pensioner in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, was attacked earlier this month. According to Thames Valley Police, the assailant offered the victim sexual services and touched him inappropriately over his clothing before grabbing his Rolex and fleeing the scene. Are the Rolex Rippers really back, or is this simply a copycat crime? Only time till tell, but I’d still recommend leaving your Rolex at home while going for a long walk alone pretty much anywhere in the UK… You never know who is going to reach for your junk or your watch. 

Final Thoughts 

From a $30k ceramic IWC in Geneva to AI-generated battlefield fantasies and alleged war criminals with unit watches, April proved once again that the link between timepieces, war, and espionage is as strong as ever. At W.O.E., we’ll keep one eye on the watch world and the other on everything swirling around it, filtering signal from noise along the way. 

In our world, there’s always another release, another scandal, or another intriguing marketing angle just over the horizon. Until next month’s SITREP, stay skeptical, mind your six, and as always, Use Your Tools. Should you run into any interesting watch or espionage-related news you think belongs in the SITREP, you know where to find us.