These are 12 of the most expensive luxury watches on the plant. These watches are the creme de la creme. They feature amazing details like floating movements that can handle over 5,000 G’s, dials made from meteorites, movements with over 1000 components, flying triple axis tourbillon’s and much more.
You may never buy one of these watches, but you can learn a lot about what makes a great watch and apply that information to obtaining something more reasonable.
The first and cheapest watch in the list is the The MB&F HM3 Frog and it sells for just shy of $100,000.
MB&F HM3 FROG
The MB&F HM3 Frog ($100,000) is one of MB&F’s cheaper offerings. It features a zirconium-case with sapphire domes. The two domes represent the the house and minutes, while the top dial represents the day. Just in case you’re wondering zirconium is a stronger relative to titanium and is mostly used in nuclear reactors. The movement has 304 parts and 36 jewels.
BREGUET LA TRADITION FUSEE TOURBILLON
The Breguet La Tradition Fusee Tourbillon ($175,600) features a one-minute tourbillon with a titanium cage, bridge and fusee. It also includes a straight-line level escapement plus a silicon balance spring which runs at 2.5Hz. The case is 41mm and when looking at the face you will see the tourbillon, two mainsprings, and the black dial. The dial is black coated 18k gold with steel hands which sits under a domed sapphire crystal.
URWERK CC1
The Urwerk CC1 ($260,000) was made to tell time in a linear direction. At the bottom of the watch you see two horizontal cylinders that represent the hours and retrograde minutes. Above those indications you have a digital and linear seconds indicator. The case is fairly large coming in at 53mm. It’s made from white gold with a titanium caseback and covered in a sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating. The CC1 is self-winding and has a 39 hour power reserve.
MAITRES DU TEMPS CHAPTER ONE
The Maitres Du Temps Chapter One ($540,000) is a modern take on their very first movement. The complicated movement features a tourbillon, monopusher chronograpoh, date and GMT. It also includes moon phase and day indicators that are shown on rollers. This watch is not for the faint at heart, the case is 46 x 62 millimeters. There were only 11 pieces made, hence the half a mil plus price tag.
JEAN DUNAND PALACE
The Jean Dunand Palace ($410,000) is a unique expertly crafted watch. If you look at the case you will see two oval-shaped tracks that are reminiscent of the “Milwaukee Mile”. In between those tracks is the heart of the watch, the flying tourbillon. The left track, indicating GMT and a 72 hour power reserve indicator on the right. The winding miechanism was made to evoke a vintage motorcycle chain. The movement contains 53 jewels, and 703 parts.
THOMAS PRESCHER FLYING TRIPLE AXIS TOURBILLON
Thomas Prescher is the inventor of the flying triple axis tourbillon that’s included in the Thomas Prescher Flying Triple Axis Tourbillon ($500,000). The watch features two axis that track minutes, a third that tracks hours, a case back that includes a hand engraved geometric pattern, three dials on the front that are reduced by the golden rule, and use of high end metals like rose and yellow gold. Each of the watches are custom made to the clients wishes.
A. LANGE & SOHNE TOURBOGRAPH POUR LE MERITE
The A. Lange & Sohne Tourbograph “Pour le Mérite” ($500,000) was created by one of the worlds top watch makers. The limited edition Pour le Merite features the A. Lang & Sohne tourbillon, a fusee and chain transmission, and a split second chronograph that’s accurate down to 1/16 of a second.
RICHARD MILLE RM027 RAFAEL NADAL
The Richard Mille RM027 Rafael Nadal ($525,000) is the ferrari of watches. Just like an engine can be dropped into a Ferrari race car the RM027 movement is dropped into its case and held in suspension by cables that have a diameter of just .35mm. The cables are held taut by a pulley system and because the movement is floating it can handle over 5,000 G’s. The RM027 only weighs 3.5 grams making it one of the lightest watches on the planet. The case is made from an anthracite polymer injected with carbon nanotubes making it extremely light and rigid.
AUDEMARS PIGUET ROYAL OAK GRANDE COMPLICATION
The Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Grande Complication ($702,000) features the much touted Grande Complication movement which has 52 jewels, a 45 hour power reserve and 648 components. The 44mm case is made from Titanium and covered with a sapphire crystal front and caseback. The bracelet is also made from Titanium and has a titanium AP folding clasp. Additional features include minute repeaters on two gongs, a moonphase made with PVD metal onto sapphire, and a split time chronograph.
PATEK PHILIPPE SKY MOON TOURBILLON
FRANCK MULLER AETERNITAS MEGA 4
The primary goal of Franck Muller was to produce a very complex watch. They’ve reached that goal in spades with the creation of the Franck Muller Aeternitas Mega 4 ($2.4 million). The Aeternitas Mega 4 has over 1483 components, 36 complications and 99 jewels. More than any other watch on this list. It has a minute repeater that is activated by a push-piece at 10 o’clock. A perpetual calendar gives you the day, date, month and moon phases. It also takes into account the length of each month and doesn’t require any manual intervention accept three times in a row every 100 years. Additional features include a thousand year calendar, multiple time zones, and moon phases.
LOUIS MOINET TOURBILLON ROSETTA STONE
The last and most expensive watch on the list is the Louis Moinet Tourbillon Rosetta Stone ($4.6 Million). The dial of the Rosetta Stone features a hand-crafted piece of the Sahara 99555 meteorite that is believed to come from the planet Mercury. Geological tests have estimated the date of the rock to 4.6 billion years old.
