When looking into buying a luxury timepiece, there are some brands that you probably should have heard of. If you haven’t heard of some of these, then let us enlighten you. Every single one of these brands offers buyers a classic piece of watchmaking, each with an extensive history in the market and watches with creativity behind them. To make it easier for you, we’ve broken down some of the most expensive watch brands in the world.
What is the most expensive watch in the world?
The most expensive watch ever made is designed and created by Graff Diamonds. It’s called the Graff Diamonds Hallucination and it’s certainly a statement piece. Worth a whopping 40 million pounds, the watch contains 110 carats of multi-coloured diamonds in an array of cuts. These diamonds are set in a platinum bracelet. The craftsmanship behind this watch is incredible, as the diamonds come in carefully crafted shapes like heart, pear and rounded diamonds. Also, the colours of the diamonds themselves are beautiful as they are coloured blue, pink and bright yellow.
Watch brands that will cost you
We’ve made it easy for you to explore some of the most luxurious watch brands money can buy.
Patek Philippe
Starting price: £12,000
There is a significant price difference between Patek Philippe watches and Rolex. Patek Philippe remains as the last family-owned, Genevan watch manufacturer. The CEO, Patek Stern, was keen on making his watches as luxurious as possible, which is why he focused on practising different engraving and enamelling techniques. If Patek Philippe’s mechanical watches were able to compete with quartz watches, then the brand would have to focus on making their watches to the highest standards. They started making all of the mechanical components in-house, which meant that the quality control was immaculate. Since then, Patek Philippe has manufactured some of the most expensive watches in the world.
F.P Journe
Starting price: £21,000
Again, this is a watch that is definitely marketed at the deep-pocketed few. F.P Journe focuses on seeing watchmaking as a type of art, with their watches designed to withstand time. The brand only makes around 900 timepieces a year, so you can only imagine the time and intricate detail which goes into making their watches.
Rolex
Starting price: £3,000
Rolex is arguably the most famous designer watch brand on this list. Ask someone to name a luxury watch brand – they’ll probably name Rolex. Seen on the wrists of the rich and famous, Rolex originally started by making a name for themselves in London, before moving to Switzerland after World War II. Like most of the brands on this list, Rolex has an extensive history in watchmaking, after they made the first fully waterproof watch in 1926 – the Oyster watch. One year later, the same watch made headlines for crossing the entire English channel on the wrist of an Olympic swimmer.
Audemars Piguet
Starting price: £12,000
Audemars Piguet began as a brand in 1875 by two individuals, Jules Louis Audemars and Edward Auguste Piguet, who used the beauty of the Swiss valley as an inspiration for their timepieces. The brand blended two important watchmaking qualities as they mix the basic foundations of watchmaking with more technical elements. Now, their watches tend to be much more technical, hence the hefty price tag. In 1993 Audemars Piguet dropped the Royal Oak Offshore, which was first seen as an unusually large watch, at 42mm. However, it soon became popular and gained the attention of celebrities, who too, helped promote the watch.
Cartier
Starting price: £2,000
Cartier is extremely famous for their Love bracelet, but less so for their watches. Saying that Cartier knows how to make a great watch too, and their history with watchmaking for royals certainly shows that. Unlike some of the other watches on the market, Cartier timepieces don’t need extravagance to attract attention, instead, they opt for a simple, but elegant design with their slim bodied watches. The Ballon Bleu de Cartier is the most popular watch.
Vacheron Constantin
Starting price: £12,000
Vacheron Constantin is the oldest watch manufacturer in the world, as they were founded in 1755. The brand is famous for developing the first complications for showing the days and dates on a watch. They are also responsible for creating the very first six quarter-repeater watches, this means that the watch hands can strike the hours and quarters. Vacheron Constantin has played a significant role in the history of watchmaking. Every single one of Vacheron Constantin’s watches offers buyers an impeccably made watch with technical elements and ethically sourced pieces.
Richard Mille
Starting price: £21,000
Richard Mille is one of the newest luxury brands on this list. Created in 1974, Richard Mille concentrated on manufacturing a watch that was made out of the same materials as they use to make planes or Formula One cars. You can tell a Richard Mille watch a mile off, thanks to their tonneau-shaped case, which is supposed to look barrel-shaped. All of the pieces used to build these watches have to be curved, which means that Richard Mille watches can be tricky and pricey to manufacture. Like a puzzle, if the pieces of this watch don’t fit together correctly, then there’s the chance dust or water would enter the watch and damage it.
Who owns the most expensive watch ever sold?
The most expensive watch ever auctioned is the Patek Philippe Grandmaster Chime Reference 6330A-010 and the owner is unidentified. The watch was sold for 27 million pounds in a charity auction, which beats the previous record of the 14 million pound Patek Philippe watch which was owned by Paul Newman.
Although we may not all be able to afford the most expensive watch ever sold, you can guarantee that if you choose to buy a watch from any of the manufacturers in the list above, then you’ll have yourself a quality timepiece and clever investment.
