You don't have to be a platinum-selling rap artist or a freshly-minted tech billionaire to be interested in what the most expensive watches of all time are. Regardless of the figure on your bank balance, we've all dreamed about owning our dream watch – and wondered just how much you could actually drop on one if money was no object.
Back in 2014, Graff pulled the wraps off a gem-set job called the Hallucination which, at $55m, was claimed to be the most expensive watch ever made. And in 2019, a unique Patek Philippe Grand Master Chime fetched $31m at the ONLY WATCH charity auction, eclipsing the previous $17.8m record price for a wristwatch paid two years earlier for Paul Newman’s personal Rolex Daytona.
In reality, even if you had $100m to spend there’s bound to be a watchmaker somewhere who would happily come to your rescue – but, while you carry on working on that app, here are a dozen watches with price tags that make the cost of an average ‘luxury timepiece’ seem like peanuts.
Jacob & Co Billionaire Timeless Treasure – $20m
The clue’s in the name – so only the seriously minted (looking at you, Rick Ross) are likely to be spotted wearing the priciest offering yet from Jacob Arabo, purveyor of shamelessly flash watches to the stars. The ‘BTT’ is iced to the max with 482 matched, Asscher-cut yellow diamonds weighing a wrist-dragging 216.9 carats, with the tourbillon movement alone carrying 57 of them. jacobandco.com
Patek Philippe Grand Master Chime Ref 6300/403G – £3.78m
If the standard Grandmaster Chime (like Jay-Z's) doesn’t quite make enough of a statement, maybe this jazzed-up version of Patek’s most complicated wristwatch will do the trick? In addition to the 20 separate functions – which include an audible date striker, perpetual calendar, dual time zones, moon phase display and leap year indicator – this upgrade of the dual-faced marvel is enhanced with 118 emeralds and 291 diamonds. patek.com
Franck Muller Aeternitas Mega – $2.58m
Got mega money? You’ll need it if you want to buy what’s claimed to be the most complicated wrist watch in the world. The Aeternitas Mega from Franck Muller is made from 1,483 separate components and offers a mind-boggling 36 functions, including a perpetual calendar that works on a renewable cycle of 1,000 years. That had better be true, because we’ll be back to check. franckmuller.com
Purnell Escape II Absolute Sapphire ‘Hancock red’ – $2m
The Purnell brand has only been around for three years, but that hasn’t stopped it going large with some of the most expensive watches on the planet. The current star of its collection is the Escape II which sees 'the world’s fastest triple-axis tourbillon’ housed in a 48mm case made from red sapphire crystal. The ‘Hancock Red’ bit comes from the fact that the colour of the crystal was made to match that of a famous red diamond of the same name. purnellwatches.com
Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Quadriptyque –1.35m Euros
This ultimate version of JLC’s flip-case Reverso features displays on both sides of the watch head, as well as on the cradle it sits in and on the case back. The most complicated Reverso ever made, it’s claimed to be the first watch to have four functioning display ‘faces’ and the only one capable of predicting astronomical events such as supermoons and eclipses. Just 10 will be available – so get your order in quick. jaeger-lecoultre.com
Richard Mille RM 88 ‘Smiley’ – $1.2m
Graphic designer Harvey Ball was paid a measly 45 bucks for creating the original Smiley Face logo in 1963 for U.S. assurance firm State Mutual – which, even accounting for inflation, wouldn’t buy a strap for Richard Mille’s latest, grin-inducing tourbillon. As well as the Smiley, the dial is decorated with miniature sculptures of other ‘happy’ symbols, including a parasol, a rainbow and a pineapple. Anyone up for a rave? richardmille.com
Roger Dubuis Excalibur Spider Countach DT X – £727,000
If you’re a Lamborghini owner you probably like your timepieces to be as loud and proud as your cars – which is why the marque’s partnership with not-for-the-shy watch maker Roger Dubuis seems like a match made in heaven. The Excalibur Spider Countach DT X features a twin tourbillon movement inspired by the Countach LP1 800-4’s monster V12 engine. A planned 112 Countach cars will be made – but there will only ever be eight watches. rogerdubuis.com
Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Grande Complication White Ceramic – $725,000
Released ‘under the radar’ back in the spring as a one-off ‘piece unique’, it’s very likely to have been sold. But, since Audemars Piguet is still showing it on its website at time of writing, we think it’s fair game to include here as a watch you can actually buy if you’re looking for something to do with that vast wad of cash. As the name suggests, it features a 44mm case made from white ceramic and is powered by the Calibre 2885 movement with minute repeater, perpetual calendar, split seconds chronograph and week indicator. Oh – tells the time, too. audemarspiguet.com
Breguet Reference 5345 PT Classique Double Tourbillon ’Quai d’Horloge’ – £670,000
If you ever doubted a watch could be a mechanical work of art, you probably haven’t seen one of these Breguets. The gold caseback is painstakingly engraved with an image of the house on the Quai de l’Horloge, Paris where the great Abraham-Louis Breguet settled in 1775, while the ‘open’ front of the watch reveals the meticulously finished double tourbillon movement in all its micro mechanical glory. breguet.com
Greubel Forsey QP a Equation – 670,000 Sfr
Veteran watch dealer Marcus Margulies once told me Greubel Forsey made the best watches in the world – and when you see one in the metal, such an accolade seems entirely justified. GF makes only around 100 watches per year, and just two or three of those are’ QP a Equation’ models which combine a perpetual calendar with the ‘equation of time’ – ie the difference between ‘apparent’ and ‘mean’ solar time. greubelforsey.com
Louis Vuitton Tambour Opera Automata – £534,000
This automaton watch features a pink gold dragon’s head that rises up, revealing a jump hours display on the forehead of an enamelled theatrical mask. The dragon’s tail simultaneously becomes a retrograde minutes indicator, while the mask’s expression changes from happy to sad as its eyebrows frown, its left eyelid shuts and the pupil of its right eye retracts to reveal a flower in the form of the LV monogram. Mad, or what? louisvuitton.com
Hublot Big Bang Full Blue Sapphire – £454,000
Back in 2021 Hublot introduced its first Big Bang made entirely from sapphire. That ‘clear’ version was followed last year by a purple one and now by this ‘true blue’ version. The sapphire is ‘grown’ in Hublot’s own labs over several months before being machined into shape. The fact that the crystal is both time consuming to create and difficult to work with accounts both for the eye-watering price – and the fact that just 10 Full Blue Sapphires will be made. hublot.com
