Welcome to the world of luxury watch collecting and everything you need to know to buy a luxury watch.
Whether it’s your first, or your 100th, we hope you’ll learn something about luxury watch collecting here.
This is a fascinating subject: for collectors who want the rarest pieces, for fashionistas who want to look wonderful, and for investors who want pieces that hold (or increase in) value.
Luxury watch buying needn’t be confusing.
So let’s get started.
Do you want to wear a beautiful timepiece or make an investment?
Why do you want a luxury watch?
The purpose of your purchase is the most important starting point.
It will guide your decision making.
I believe that the most rewarding collections are the result of personal passion rather than cynical calculation.
But there’s nothing wrong with buying for resale value.
Or simply following your own personal taste.
Collectors tend to thrive on completion and some sort of theme.
An achievable goal and a smidgeon of direction will help you navigate what is a huge field:
Luxury watches are limited-edition exclusive items but there are around 1 million new Rolexes produced every year.
Slow, painstaking work is the key to the best watches.
In a history that stretches back to 1905 there are myriad different themes you could pick out - colours, movements, complications, a single reference - to build a satisfying collection around.
That's from just one maker.
Let's narrow the field for you.
The 10 best luxury watch brands
There’s no scientific measure for “best”.
And so to a certain extent judgements about the desirability of a brand are going to be personal.
However, the watch industry has a long history. It’s minutely chronicled by many thousands of experts. And a vocal and dynamic fan community.
So we can call this a sampling of expert views.
1 - Rolex
The massive brand recognition of Rolex makes it the name every person on the street thinks of when you say “luxury watch”.
And it’s a deserved reputation.
They have made genuine leaps in innovation - like the day/date complication for the Rolex President, the waterproof Oyster case - and continue to provide design that watch collectors love.
No serious collection is complete without a Rolex and a single reference like the Submariner could keep a collector busy for life.
2 - Patek Philippe
The Nautilus changed the world of watches when it came out. Buyers still love it 5 decades later.
The top 10s of the most expensive watches at auction are heavy with Patek Philippes: $34 million, $21 million, $5 million…
You don’t have to spend those amounts to buy Pateks but you do need fairly deep pockets, and a lot of patience if you want to sit on the waiting list for some new references.
The company is very old, dating back to 1839, and its greatest specialisation is in complications, the clever mechanical devices that deliver fucntions like stop watching, elapsed time timers, calendars and so on.
Their output is very limited and each watch takes years to make.
The Nautilus and Aquanaut are their most famous sports watches and the Calatrava has a good claim to be the most beautiful watch ever made.
3 - Audemars Piguet
The exposed screwheads are a trademark of Audemars Piguet.
Another pair of Swiss gentlemen came together in 1875 to create another legendary watch company.
They’re known for technical breakthroughs, including 1892’s first minute-repeating movement. They made the first skeleton watch and have specialised in ultra-thin watches.
By far their best known model though is the 1972-launched Royal Oak. It ditched precious metals to give watch fans a luxury sports watch in stainless steel. The rugged design with exposed screws was given even more machismo in the Royal Oak Offshore.
They push design boundaries in their Code 11:59 range, and love skeleton cases and tourbillon movements.
4 - Vacheron Constantin
The Overseas is a traveller's watch par excellence and captures VC's dedication to simple, sophisticated design.
With Audemars and Patek, Vacheron complete the so-called Holy Trinity of watchmaking (Rolex are considered too mass market for this company!).
The company was founded in 1755 and is one of the world’s oldest existing horological businesses. They have celebrated this heritage (including basically inventing the idea of movement complications) by making pocket watches well into the modern era.
Their wrist watches are very expensive and tend to have simply elegant and classic designs.
Their occasional special issues like the 250-year anniversary Tour de l’ille and the 57620 pocket watch can be hugely complicated and are sold in exceptionally limited runs (or as unique items) for huge sums: $1 million each for seven Tour de l’ille wrist watches.
It’s the pocket watches that make the most at auction, but their modern wrist watch range is highly sought after by collectors.
5 - Omega
Omega is in a similar position to Rolex on this list.
Some of the most selective connoisseurs do not consider them to be an exclusive enough company to be considered luxury watch makers.
But Omega have made a huge number of horological breakthroughs and have enough celebrity and performance clout to be in any good watch collection.
They were founded in 1848 and have spent a fair portion of their history battling Rolex.
James Bond wears an Omega Seamaster, and they have been officially used by the Royal Flying Corps, US Army and most famously NASA - Omega are the watches that went to the moon.
You’ll see a big OMEGA clock counting away the seconds when you next watch an Olympic race.
Omega has won several accuracy trials and continue to make technical breakthroughs today.
Collectors love the Speedmaster model (it’s the Moon watch) and Seamaster diving watch, the one worn by James Bond.
6 - Jaeger-LeCoultre
A lot of very distinguished figures - Charlie Chaplin, Benedict Cumberbatch, Picasso, Winston Churchill - have worn Jaeger LeCoultre watches.
Founded in 1833, Jaeger-LeCoultre are perhaps best known for their technical expertise, which extends to clocks and measuring instruments. They have invented hundreds of devices and movements, have patents coming out of their ears, and are called “the watchmaker’s watchmaker”.
Favourite pieces include the Reverso, a polo watch that can be turned in on itself to protect the watch face while riding your pony. A truly tiny movement allowed the Calibre 101 range to put watches into beautiful jewellery - Queen Elizabeth II wore won for her coronation. The Atmos range of clocks is close to a perpetual motion machine. The Geophysic is a traveller’s watch (or an elegant dress watch) that features world maps on its face.
7 - Breitling
Breitling is best known for its professional watches and like Omega can claim watches that have gone into space. It’s flyers watches are among the most coveted of the type.
Breitling was founded in 1884 in Switzerland and were specialists not just in watches but in measurement devices.
Their first timepieces were beloved of armies and police forces but as aviation started to take off - militarilly and commercially - they developed watches that helped pilots calculate fuel use and the like while flying.
The went into space in 1962 on the wrist of Lt. Commander Scott Carpenter. His bespoke watch became the Chronomatic Cosmonaut.
They also made it into the James Bond universe, when a Breitling that could detect radiation helped Bond to thwart a nuclear plot in Thunderball. (The baddies wore them too.)
They continued to work with pilots to make watches that worked at high altitude but produce the usual family of professional watches too - sailing, travel, driving.
The Navitimer (navigation timer) pilot’s watch is the signature model for collectors, who will want to add a Chronomat to their portfolio too. The Breitling Emergency has a radio beacon that has saved more than one pilot's life.
8 - Cartier
Cartier are a fashion brand and their watches look amazing. The models that make the most at auction tend to be special, limited edition partnerships with designers like the warped Cartier Crash owned by Elton John that just sold for close to $300,000 at auction.
They’ve been making watches since 1904 and are the choice for the wearer who wants to stand out.
They undoubtedly work though.
The Santos was made for pilot pioneer Alberto Santos Dumont. The Tank was inspired (perhaps oddly) by the new tanks storming the Western Front in World War I.
They didn’t start making their own movements until 2010, but Cartier can be considered a substantial and important watch-making company.
9 - Blancpain
One must include what is probably the oldest existing watch company in the world on this list.
With a foundation date in 1735 Blancpain is bursting with history - though it is now in corporate ownership (like many of these companies). They still boast that they make a handful of watches each day and that each one is made from start to finish by one person. They go so far as to treat “Blancpain has never made a quartz watch and never will” as a company slogan.
They made the first automatic watch in the 1920s but hit their heyday from the 1950s to the 1970s.
The standout model is the Fifty Fathoms diving watch, introduced in 1953, it’s said to be a favourite with military divers, issued to US Navy SEALs. Jacques Costeau put one on when he went under the waves.
Villeret watches have been made since the 1980s and are the standard line, an elegant dress watch that comes with some fancy complications.
If you really want to push the boat out look for a 1735 Grande Complication of which there are just 30.
10 - Richard Mille
Richard Mille watches don't look like anything else.
At the very top end of the market, you will have to pay hundreds of thousands of pounds to get a Richard Mille watch either new or used. Expect to wait if you shop for new models.
Mille founded his company in 2001.
His watches often stand out in the sometimes conservative world of high-end horology. They use unusual materials and unusual shapes - movements are often on display.
They’re extremely practical though, and Mille is said to insist his ambassadors (who include tennis player Rafael Nadal) must wear the watches he gives them while performing their sport.
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce wears one - the RM 07-04 Automatic Sport - and you can indeed see it on her wrist in action photos as she sprints at the very highest level.
His watches are numbered rather than named and some early models are now hitting auctions. The least valuable I could find on a quick search had a low-end estimate of $80,000.
Buying the best luxury watches today
The pre-owned luxury watch market is the shopping place for many watch collectors.
It’s an exciting and engaging way to look for value as you build a collection.
And, with waiting lists for many of the most popular makers and references it’s a market you need to master.
We have some beautiful pre-owned luxury watches here.
