Some objects do not need to be beautiful to be desirable. They only need to have been there: on that wrist, on that morning, when something important was happening. The ICE forever belongs to that rare category of objects that have become, almost despite themselves, markers of an era.
Ice-Watch relaunches it in 2026 with the same promise it made fifteen years ago: a round watch, a silicone strap, numerals firmly set on a monochrome dial. Nothing superfluous. Everything has character. And its price — €99 — still feels like a challenge in a market where entry-level pieces from some houses easily exceed a thousand.
A Proustian madeleine on the wrist
In the 2010s, the ICE forever sold by the millions. It was everywhere: on the wrists of teenagers, parents and sometimes grandparents. Black for minimalists, red for the bold, white for purists. It was not merely a watch; it was a way to exist in public with something colourful and cheerful, at a time when mass-market watchmaking no longer knew what to invent.
Almost everyone remembers their first ICE forever. The exact moment. The person who gave it to them. That town-centre jeweller, that birthday, that prize-giving. This is the rare power of an object that becomes a memory before it becomes an accessory: not a stylistic imprint, but an emotional one.
What the press release does not say is that this return touches on something major houses sometimes struggle to create with their €10,000 pieces: attachment. The ICE forever did not endure because it was perfect. It endured because it was real.
The discreet return of an accessible classic
The relaunched collection retains its original DNA: a 39 mm format, an interchangeable silicone strap and water resistance to 10 ATM. The broad colour scheme remains the same — black, white, a few accents — but now worn with the restraint of an object that no longer needs to prove anything. Ice-Watch is not trying to reinvent itself. It is trying to find those who loved it and reach those who have not yet had the chance to encounter it.
At €99, the ICE forever remains what it has always been: a gateway into watches for anyone who has not yet found their own. An everyday object that embraces its simplicity and makes it a strength. In a market saturated with complications and vintage references, that is almost a revolutionary gesture.
What it says about the market
The ICE forever returns at a particular moment for watchmaking. On one side, the luxury watch market is thriving: five-figure pieces sell quickly and waiting lists lengthen. On the other, the watch as an everyday accessory has nearly disappeared from the wrists of a generation that checks the time on a phone.
The ICE forever occupies an in-between space: neither luxury nor disposable accessory. It is the watch for those who want something tangible on their wrist without committing a season’s budget to it. In that territory, it does not really have competitors of equal stature.
There is something moving about this return. No loud global campaign, no collaboration with a passing celebrity. Just a watch returning quietly, as the things that mattered do.
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