Trick or treat! Here’s 9 of the spookiest watches just in time for Halloween

Jamie Weiss

Halloween is one of my favourite festive seasons of the year, even if Australians don’t often celebrate with trick-or-treating. (Halloween parties? That’s a different story. Any excuse for a party.) It might not traditionally be the kind of holiday where you’d celebrate with a gift… But watch fans rarely need much of an excuse to pick up something new. So, here are a few watches you should consider as a Halloween treat.

Swatch Aye Carumboo

For anyone who’s experienced the equal share of laughter and screams found in a Treehouse of Horror episode, the Aye Carumboo from Swatch’s The Simpsons collection is guaranteed to put a smile on your face whenever you check the time. Featuring the skeleton and outline of Bart Simpson mid-electrocution, you can keep America’s most suffering 10-year-old on your wrist all year round. It may be 47mm in diameter, but the 44.8mm lug-to-lug length makes the plastic case and silicone bracelet combination surprisingly comfortable, despite its size. Its quartz movement keeps the weight (and price) down, too. Price: US$145

Mr Jones Night Howl

Truthfully, there are literally dozens of Mr Jones designs that you could include on this list, but we’ve elected to feature the Night Howl. Designed by the French author and illustrator Xavier Broche, the watch depicts a haunting scene that is completely immersive. Outside a cozy cabin, a figure with a torch explores the snowy wilderness outside their door. As the minute hand rotates, represented by the torch beam, various things that go bump in the night are unveiled in bright light. The hour hand is the ghost, which intersects with the beam once per hour as our hero discovers the frightening phantom! The translucent blue disk that plunges everything outside the torchlight into a night palette is nothing short of genius. Price: £195 (~US$263)

Boldr Venture Staghorn

As an evolution of one of our favourite affordable field watches, the Boldr Venture Staghorn is a titanium dive watch with solid specifications. Named and themed after the critically endangered staghorn coral, the pale orange of the dial and bezel is juxtaposed with the dark grey of the 38mm titanium case for a slightly ethereal effect. The various matte textures also make it seem somewhat otherworldly, leaning into the pumpkins-at-night atmosphere of Halloween. For less than $500, it’s also just a great value dive watch that’s lightweight, robust, and easily serviceable thanks to the Seiko NH35 movement. Price: US$499 from the Time+Tide Shop

Peren Nera Rogue BW

Peren is quite a prolific brand considering how niche their USP is, focusing on Transylvanian heritage blended with contemporary watchmaking. Although its early releases went pretty hard on the vampiric associations with the region, recently it’s been taking more inspiration from the actual historic culture. While the brand’s most recent offerings have done away with their old vampire fang logo, the Peren Nera Rogue BW still sports it on its dial and crown and embraces a dark, brooding aesthetic with a blacked-out bezel. If your ideal Halloween watch is both spooky and a functional diver, then the Peren Nera Rogue BW is the choice for you. Price: CHF 689 (~US$866)

Mido Commander Gradient Catrines

Strictly speaking, this is a Day of the Dead watch, but its skeletal visage also makes it the perfect Halloween watch. Each year, Mido celebrates one of Mexico’s most vibrant traditions with a limited Commander edition. 2025’s Commander Gradient Catrines continues this story, with a multicoloured luminescent skull graphic adorning a smoked acrylic dial. These coveted Midos are rarely sold outside of South America, so it is a real treat to be able to stock an extremely limited number of pieces in the Time+Tide Watch Discovery Studio Melbourne for our Australian supporters this October. Price: A$1,750 (~US$1,179) from the Time+Tide Shop

Doxa SUB 300 Carbon Professional

Doxa’s iconic orange dials may be more closely associated with summer recreation and Jacques Cousteau than anything else, but in the marbled black and grey case of the SUB 300 Carbon, those orange highlights definitely lean into jack-o’-lantern territory. Even the faux-aged lume with its yellowed tinge can evoke the sense of candle flame behind carved holes. It may not give anyone goosebumps on sight, but it’s close enough for anyone to feel frighteningly festive while retaining ultimate diving utility. Price: US$4,505 from the Time+Tide Shop

Behrens x Konstantin Chaykin Ace of Hearts

While including one of Konstantin Chaykin’s Wristmons on this list seems like an obvious move (and indeed, the Russian watchmaker even made a pumpkin head-shaped “Green Halloween” model back in 2019), I’d describe them as being playful rather than being spooky – and they’re a little bit cost-prohibitive for something you might only wear once a year in October. However, the collaborative Behrens x Konstantin Chaykin Ace of Hearts is a little bit more accessible price-wise, but more importantly, it’s actually kind of creepy, meaning it really suits the Halloween brief. Based on Behrens’ Ultralight, its asymmetrical case houses a Joker-shaped movement seemingly suspended in midair, its ghoulish grin betraying some seriously impressive watchmaking. Price: US$7,500

Strom Memento Mori, Carpe Diem

Strictly speaking, the Memento Mori tradition of acknowledging the inevitability of death has nothing to do with evil, ghouls or goblins, but its embrace of Gothic truths and gruesome aesthetics makes it a perfect choice for lovers of darkness. Seeing a wealth of rock and metal music royalty in the brand ambassador list makes a lot of sense. The brand itself is the brainchild of Daniel Strom, son of Armin Strom and legendary in his own right for his tenure as Product Manager at Omega, overseeing several iconic designs. Price: CHF 16,000 (~US$20,110)

Time+Tide Timeless Pick: Spinnaker Fleuss Automatic x seconde/seconde/ Editions

The last few Halloweens, Spinnaker and horological provocateur seconde/seconde/ have collaborated on limited edition versions of the brand’s Fleuss dive watch that have paid loving homage to the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms, but with a spooky twist. 2023’s edition was branded the “50 Phantoms”, and appropriately, had 50 little ghosts in a multicoloured array of lume take over the watch’s dial – a brilliant visual pun, but also a novel use of luminescence.

2024’s edition saw the ghosts migrate to the watch’s bezel, while a ‘No Apparitions’ logo above 6 o’clock paid tribute to the highly collectible ‘No Rads’ version of the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms. Both models offered plenty of hidden luminous Easter eggs and included a UV torch and a luminous cap. Each reference was limited to 888 pieces, and they have both long since sold out.

As of publishing, 2025’s edition is still available for pre-orders (although deliveries aren’t slated until May 2026, so this’ll have to be one for next year’s costume). This collab goes one step further than the previous too, with phantoms taking over the Fleuss’ dial like 2023’s edition, except this time over a ghostly grey dial, but more importantly, paired with a spooky, wavy bezel that mimics the phantoms’ design. It’s also available in 40mm and 43mm diameters.