Expensive watches
Watches are, well, timeless in their value. Even for the many that now use their mobile phone to check the time, a watch is a thing of beauty and value – if you pick the right one. It shows the significance of a timepiece when people are awarded one at retirement. They can vary from just a dollar or two to extremely expensive. Let’s look at some of the most expensive watches.
Some of the more common expensive watches cost in the 5,000 dollar range, but, if you’re paying so little, why bother? The watches that cost enough to make this list must be in the six figure range. Matthew Morse, editor in chief of WatchTime magazine says: “Then as now, at the most expensive levels wristwatches are status symbols meant for collectors, though some watch companies don’t make a lot of money off of their highest-end watches because of the cost of research and development, they still produce them to give their brand an ambiance of exclusivity. For people who can afford them, they’re about the pleasure of owning something extraordinary, whether or not they ever actually wear them.”
There are so many features with the more expensive watches; you may need to study for a while just to understand what you’re getting. There are chronograph functions for timing laps, moon phase indicators for tracking slices of the lunar pie, and perpetual calendar functions which track days, months and even years for centuries. Some things you get with the ‘Grande Complication’ by Jean Dunand include: a mono-pusher split-second chronograph, split-second hand isolator, minute repeater, tourbillon, bi-retrograde perpetual calendar, and even a see-through sapphire back signed by its creator, Christophe Claret. The makers like to call it ‘one of the five most complicated wrist watches in the world’. We wonder who would want that label. It is certainly one of the most expensive watches ranging from $700,000 to $800,000 depending upon materials used.
When searching for a watch in the more expensive range, you must know about the ‘tourbillon movement’. This is an intricate mechanism that eliminates time-keeping errors caused by minute variations that result from shifts in gravity whenever a watch changes position. It was Invented way back in 1795 by Abraham-Louis Breguet.
Another nice feature of some very nice watches is the ‘minute repeater’. First created in the days before widespread use of electric lighting, repeater watches aid wearers in the dark by chiming or “repeating” the current time at the push of a button. Using bells of different tones, a minute repeater will ring out hours, quarter hours, and the minutes past since the last quarter hour. If you consider this a must have, you’re a real watch enthusiast. It is also quite practical.
One problem with getting the watch you want isn’t the money. There seems no shortage of people with several hundred thousand dollars to spend on their watch. The problem is getting your hands on the limited quantity. Many of the world’s most expensive watches are produced in severely limited quantities–including just one. They frequently have buyers lined up long before they’re finished, often at rates of just a few per year.
Money is still a factor, though. At the high end, in 1999 the most expensive watch ever sold, a 1933 gold Patek Phillipe with 24 complications, was auctioned off at Sotheby’s for $11 million. So if you’re in the market for a rare and exquisite watch, having the big bucks is just the start. Maybe you should start treating your watchmaker or local jeweler to lunch.
