The Most Luxurious Watch Brands in The World

The lengths people go to to stand apart from the rest are, at times, borderline crazy. Luxury cars, yachts, houses, clothes, watches. People are willing to pay shocking amounts of cash for objects; things other people do not deem essential.

Wristwatches have evolved from simple timepieces to invaluable ornaments. The obsession to flaunt and buy watch parts that cost more than a house did not start yesterday; it has been a practice in the making. As a result, a new industry focused on creating luxury watches popped up.

The following are the world’s most luxurious watches:

Patek Philippe

Swiss

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Patek Philippe holds a special place in the wristwatch industry. Patek Philippe and Co made the first-ever wristwatch. A Swiss watchmaking company, it was founded in 1839 by Antoni Patek, Franciszek Czapek and Adrien Philippe.

Patek is one of the famous Holy Trinity Watch Brands, which is an exclusive club of the top 3 watch brands in the world. One of their watches, the Graves Supercomplication, fetched $11m in 1999.

Vacheron Constantin

Swiss

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Another member of the Holy Trinity, Vacheron Constantin, was founded in 1755 and since then has been creating masterpieces. The company is among the oldest watchmakers and boasts a lot of high-end products in their catalog. They recently unveiled the world’s most complicated watch (57 watch complications) that costs about $8m.

Audemars Piguet

Swiss

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The other Holy Trinity member and without doubt one of the most widely known luxury watch brands. Audemars has been around since 1875 and is known for making water-resistant watches that can withstand tremendous water pressure. For this reason, they are used by deep-sea divers.

The Royal Oak Complication Audemars Piguet is their most expensive piece, and it retails at $870,000.

Blancpain

Swiss

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Blancpain was established in 1735 and currently holds the unique distinction of being the oldest surviving watchmaker in the world. They were the pioneers in the making of diving watches, and their blueprints have inspired other companies. The first-ever diving watch was by them, and it was called Fifty Fathoms.

The most expensive watch in their catalog is the Blancpain Specialities Tourbillon Diamond watch, which costs about $1.34m.

Ulysse Nardin

Swiss

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Another Swiss manufacturer that has been operational since 1846. It started as a simple watch stand but has now grown into a respected watch brand. Ulysse is best known for the beautiful marine chronometers. Aside from nautical watches, they also specialize in making other types of luxury watches.

Their most expensive piece is the Royal Blue Tourbillon diamond-encrusted watch that costs $1.1 million.

Jaeger-LeCoultre

Swiss

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Jaeger-LeCoultre is unique; they are one of the few watchmakers that manufacture and create almost every part of the watch. This has afforded them the luxury of quality control that has made their products to be among the most accurate in the market.

Their most valuable creation was the Calibre 101 which they designed explicitly for Queen Elizabeth for her 60th anniversary in 2012. No one outside JLC knows how much was paid for it, but it was a lot.

Omega

Swiss

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Omega watches have appeared in numerous films like James Bond. It was also the watch that Buzz Aldrin wore when he took his first steps on the moon. Because of all this, Omega is the second most recognized watch brand in the world.

Their most valuable timepiece is the Omega Speedmaster Professional Moonwatch Limited Edition. Only 69 of them were ever made to commemorate the year of the moon landing.

Glashutte Original

German

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The first non-Swiss luxury watchmaker on the list. Glashutte Original was established as recently as 1994. Within that short period, the company has been able to scale its way up to the big boys’ list, an unimaginable feat. Glashutte watches are magnificently engineered with immaculate finishes and accurate timekeeping capabilities.

Their most expensive piece is the Julius Assmann 4 that retails at $161,000.

Rolex

Swiss

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Now, this is a name that everyone knows. Rolex is the most widely recognized watch brand in the world with 100% brand recognition. Rolex is so famous that it has become the default world for luxury watches. Founded in 1905, Rolex manufactures about 2000 watches a day, the most of any other maker on this list.

The most expensive Rolex watch ever sold was Paul Newman’s Rolex Cosmograph Daytona, which fetched about $17m at an auction.

Jaquet Droz

Swiss

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Founded in 1721 by an engineer called Jaquet Droz, the unique pieces made by this company have fascinated watch enthusiasts for long. Jaquet Droz would frequently travel the world, making watches and, on the way, picked up ideas for new designs. Most Jaquet Droz watches are worn by royalties across Europe and Asia.

The most expensive Jaquet Droz piece fetched about $475,000.

Bausele

One more addition to the list, Bausele is a Swiss-made, Australian-designed watch brand, well known for offering the best swiss watches. Founded by the watch industry veteran Christophe Hoppe back in 2011, Bausele was introduced as Australia’s first premium watch company, which stands for “Beyond Australian Elements.”

The company has presented some of the best timepiece collections of all time, including Oceanmoon, Vintage 2.0 aka Hybrid Smart Watch along with a prestigious collaboration producing a watch with and for the Sydney Opera House. The company ships free all around the world and you can enjoy 5 years warranty (can be expanded to one more year by registering the watch online), as well.

Notable Mentions

Other brands worth mentioning quickly include the following;

• Hublot – A Swiss watch maker that was founded in 1980.
• Cartier – A French watch manufacturer with the most expensive watch costing $660,000.
• Baume & Mercier – A Swiss watchmaker founded in 1918. They are best known for sports watches.
• Piaget – It was ranked the 6th most prestigious watch in 2008. The most expensive piece ever sold fetched $500,000 in 2014.
• Tag Heuer – Founded in Switzerland, the company is associated with sports. The highest-priced watch was sold for $800,000 in 2012.

Conclusion

The luxury watch market was valued at $6.83 billion in 2018, and it was projected to reach $9.3 billion by 2025. The demand for these expensive timepieces is ever-growing. There are newer entrants into the industry who are also carving out a niche for themselves slowly. If getting a luxury watch is your cup of tea, then this list should be your reference point.