The brand is called N3W5 — pronounced “news,” with the letters standing for North, East, West, South — and it will operate under the Honourable Merchants Group, the broader platform Bennahmias established following his departure from AP. The inaugural watches are scheduled to debut at Dubai Watch Week 2027.
A Platform, Not a Manufacture
The structural logic of N3W5 is the most consequential thing about it. Rather than building a vertically integrated manufacture, Bennahmias has conceived the brand as a collaborative hub — a framework that draws on a defined network of independent specialists, each contributing a specific area of expertise. The announced collaborators cover the full chain of watch production:
- Bracelet and case: Biwi, Multicuirs, Werthanor
- Design: Xavier Casals, Dalibor Klas, Sébastien Perret
- Dial: LM Cadrans, Metalem
- Engineering: Astro
- Métiers d’art: Engraver Pierre-Alain Lozeron and Kevin Vatteau; enameller Anita Porchet; guillocheur Yann von Kaenel
- Movement: Alpine Précision, Régence Production, TimeForge
- Stone setting: Niru Swiss SA
- Packaging: Technew
Several of these names are well-regarded within the Swiss industry but rarely credited publicly. The explicit naming of each contributor is itself a design decision — a statement about where Bennahmias believes value actually resides, and where it has historically gone unacknowledged.
In his own words: “In an industry increasingly defined by logos and trends, we want to focus on the essential, which is often overlooked: the silent expertise, the creative decisions and the people whose contributions shape exceptional objects. Without them, the industry would not be what it is today and it is about time they get the credit that they deserve.”
Two Collections, Two Calibres
N3W5 will launch with two collections. One features a round case; the other a cushion-shaped case. Both are powered by new, dedicated calibres developed specifically for the brand — one of which is protected by patents. No further technical specifications for either movement have been disclosed at this stage, and no dial configurations, finishing details, or case materials have been formally described ahead of the Dubai Watch Week debut.
The decision to develop two proprietary calibres from the outset — rather than sourcing an established base movement — signals a meaningful level of investment for a brand that has not yet shown a single watch publicly. It also reflects the collaborative model: movement development is distributed across Alpine Précision, Régence Production, and TimeForge, rather than concentrated in a single atelier.
Scale and Ambition
The Honourable Merchants Group has stated that N3W5 aims to produce and sell several thousand watches annually. That figure places the brand in a different category from the micro-independents — the one- or two-person ateliers producing dozens of pieces per year — while remaining well below the output of any established group manufacture. It is a scale that, if achieved, would require the collaborative network to function with genuine industrial coherence, not merely as a creative concept.
The broader Honourable Merchant platform was always described as spanning multiple product categories, with watchmaking as one strand among several. N3W5 represents the first concrete watch project to emerge from it, and Bennahmias has indicated that additional watch projects remain in development.
What the Model Implies for Design
From a design and craft perspective, the N3W5 structure raises a specific question: how does a watch achieve visual and material coherence when its components are conceived and produced by a distributed network of independent specialists? The presence of Anita Porchet — one of the most accomplished enamellers working in Switzerland today — alongside a dedicated guillocheur and engravers suggests that decorative finishing will be central to at least some references. Whether that points toward highly ornamented dials, restrained surface work, or something else entirely will only become clear at Dubai Watch Week 2027.
The two case geometries — round and cushion — are the only formal design parameters confirmed so far. They are conventional enough to suggest broad commercial intent, but the calibre patents and the depth of the métiers d’art roster indicate that the execution may be more considered than the initial announcement conveys.
The full picture will depend on what Bennahmias and his collaborators actually put on the table in Dubai. Until then, the structure of the enterprise is the most legible signal of intent.
