Table of Contents
Watches
Why are these watches so expensive watches?
Some are expensive solely because they are a construct of costly materials. Others come at a high price for the time it took to finish the watch or the complexity of the design and its machinery.
Some of these watches date back to the 18th century, while some are a bit more modern.
Before seeing this list, I invite you to watch this impressive video of how one of the most expensive watches
in the world was the design and created:
1. Piaget’s Emperor Temple Watch – $3.3 million
A Swiss luxury watchmaker, George Piaget, founded the Piaget company in 1874. Initially, he only dealt with watch movements and later began to develop his watches.
To date, the most expensive Piaget watch is Emperor Temple.
This watch is a two-in-one with two hidden faces covered and surrounded by diamonds. One look are believe behind a large emerald cut diamond that functions as a lid. The other side has 162 diamonds.
2. Patek Philippe Chronograph Watch from 1928 – $3.6 million.
Patek Philippe & Co. is found in 1851. It started when Polish watchmaker Antoni Patek teamed up with French watchmaker Adrien Philippe. Since then, the company has known for producing the highest quality watches.
Looking at this 1928 watch, you may wonder why a ‘normal’ looking watch can command such a high price. First of all, it is a Patek Philippe that automatically ensures its build quality. Second, this watch is white gold.
3. Patek Philippe Watch 1939 Platinum World Time – $4 million.
Patek Philippe is not only famous today for their high-end watches; they were already note in the mid-19th century.
They have had famous clients such as Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, Pope Pius IX, and many other famous (and infamous) world leaders.
This Patek Philippe model was sold in 2002 for a record price of $4 million. Although it doesn’t look like an overly complicated watch at first glance, it has 41 cities, regions, and countries stamped on a rotating bezel.
4. Meteoris, by Louis Moinet – $4.6 million.
Louis Moinet is one of the greats in the history of watchmaking. Some of Moinet’s famous clients are Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, and Napoleon Bonaparte.
The Meteoric is one of the fascinating watches ever created. Technically, the Meteoris is a set of four clocks.
Meteorite fragments from Mars, the Moon, Mercury, and an asteroid are embedding in the clock.
As a bonus, the watch comes with a mechanical solar system that also acts as a display for all four watches.
5.The Breguet 2667 Watch – $4.6 million.
Since the 18th century, Abraham-Louis Breguet watches have drawn crowds an auction for one of his watches every time.
Breguet’s watchmaking prowess was unsurpassed, and the quality of its products attracted the most prominent names of its time. Notable Breguet clients include Louis XVI, Napoleon Bonaparte, Tsar Alexander I, King George III, Arthur Wellesley, and Queen Victoria.
6. Hublot Big Bang Watch – $5 million.
If Piaget taught us anything, if you want to increase the value of a watch, you have to stick many diamonds on it. This is a formula that Hublot has followed to perfection.
This Swiss-based manufacturer took one of its ‘standard’ watches as a model and set 1,282 precisely cut and put diamonds on it.
The final price reaches a whopping $5 million. Too expensive for most of us, but not for singer Beyonce.
The singer bought one for her husband, Jay-Z, for his 43rd birthday.
7. Patek Philippe Caliber 89 – $6 million.
Most of the Patek Philippe watches we are putting on this list are relatively old creations. This is not.
In 1989, the Swiss luxury watchmaker decided to celebrate its 150th anniversary with what the company has called the world’s most complicated watch.
It is a two-sided watch. In addition to all the usual features you’d expect from a look, it includes features such as a thermometer, sunrise and sunset indicator, stopwatch, moon phase indicator, and the full calendar of days, months, and years.
It took nine years to develop and manufacture four of these watches.
8. Patek Philippe Henry Graves Supercomplication Pocket Watch – $11 Million.
In 1925, watchman and banker Henry Graves Jr. commissioned Patek Philippe to create a unique pocket watch.
The order stemmed from a competition between Graves and automaker James Ward Packard who could get the world’s most complicated watch.
Eight years later, the clock was complete. Patek Philippe had created for Graves the most complicated watch in the world.
Dubbed Supercomplication, the watch has 24 functions, including a perpetual calendar, the night sky of New York City, the phases of the moon, and the sunrise and sunset indicators.
Do you like it? This November, it will be an auction, and experts say they will pay at least $15 million for it.
9. Chopard 201 – 25 million dollars.
The runner-up on today’s list is a watch that looks like it was creat by a kid who had plenty of jewels, pearls, glitter, and lots of glue to spare.
That said, this creation by Swiss luxury watchmaker Chopard has a total of 874 diamonds that vary in size and color.
The largest is 15 carats and pink in color. The three largest heart-shape diamonds are linked to a spring mechanism to open like the petals of a flower and reveal the watch’s face.
10. Breguet Grande Complication, Marie Antoinette – $30 million.
Before Abraham-Louis Breguet founded his watchmaking business in 1775, he had made several connections with high society through his studies.
The highest of these social connections was undoubtedly the French royal family and, above all, Marie Antoinette.
Breguet began work on the project in 1782. His son completed it in 1827. By this time, Marie Antoinette and Breguet were all already dead.
The watchmakers of the Breguet brand were commission to make a copy of the Breguet of Marie Antoinette.