Leica’s newest watches continue the brand’s legacy of precision engineering and minimalist design
Leica’s approach to watchmaking mirrors its iconic cameras – precise, functional and perfectly balanced in design. The German maker’s new timepiece duo, the ZM 1 and ZM 2 Urban Green, continues in that same spirit. Both models feature a gorgeous fumé noir dial that graduates from green to black, a subtle nod to the fusion of nature and modernity that defines its aesthetic.
First launched in 2022, the ZM series – short for Zeitmesser (German for “timepiece”) – marked Leica’s move into mechanical watchmaking, translating its photographic heritage into horological form. The project took more than five years to develop before the ZM 1 and ZM 2 were unveiled in spring 2022. Earlier experiments in the 1980s and ’90s saw Leica produce ETA-powered chronographs, but the ZM collection represents the brand’s first fully realised watchmaking vision.
Leica’s new ZM 2 Urban Green model features a 12-hour internal bezel for seamless tracking of a second time zone
Developed with a team of leading industry figures, including former A. Lange & Söhne head of development Reinhard Meis, the watches combine case and movement manufacture by Black Forest-based specialist Lehmann Präzision. A patented push-crown – modelled on the shutter release of a Leica camera – stops the movement, resets the seconds hand to zero and allows for precise time setting.
The new Urban Green models pair the tonal dials with delicately woven stainless-steel Milanaise bracelets, engraved with the Leica name and fitted with an integrated, adjustable deployant clasp. Beneath the domed sapphire crystal, the high-strength aluminium dial is finished with fine vertical grooves, while softly blasted case surfaces add texture and depth.
The ZM 1 remains a pure time-only piece, while the ZM 2 adds a GMT function with a day/ night indicator. Both are powered by Leica’s hand-wound mechanical movement, developed in-house and presented in this new Urban Green style. Released in a year that also marks the 100th anniversary of the Leica I camera, the watches extend a legacy built on precision engineering and understated design.
£12,500; leica.com
