The Most Expensive Watches Made Today

For the majority of people, and especially those not actively engaged in the field, the word most synonymous with watch collecting is ‘expensive’.

It is a fair point. Spending thousands, or even multiples of thousands, on something which doesn’t tell the time as well as the phone in your pocket can seem like a frivolous outlay.

Those just starting out might dip their toes into this new hobby by looking at what the likes of TAG Heuer or Oris offer for around the $1,000-$2,000 mark. If the bug bites, they may move up the pyramid a step and invest in a Tudor or Longines or, depending on circumstance, perhaps fulfil a lifelong dream and secure a personal grail from Omega or Rolex.

For most, that’s usually where it stops. Generally, collectors are regular people with regular incomes, and have had to do some serious sacrificing to afford that one watch that should last a lifetime.

This article is not about us!

In another world entirely, the uber-wealthy, point-one percenters want to play. This is where the competition to own or do the most expensive thing possible with their boundless resources exists. So, when they are not blasting off into (or quite near) space in personal rockets or entrusting their lives to papier mâché submarines, the game is to obtain the planet’s priciest cars, houses, planes or, yes, watches.

Happily, there are manufactures out there willing and more than able to furnish these masters of the universe with some wrist ornamentation—brands which reside at the very top of horology’s hierarchy and got there through an obsessive dedication to the most unforgiving standards of perfection. The watches they create are staggering works of art, with price tags which are equally astounding.

Of course, many of these pieces will be one-offs or even a special commission from the quadrillionaire concerned. As such, we mere mortals rarely even see pictures of them, let alone glimpse one in the flesh. They might crop up at auction perhaps once in our lifetime, generally selling for many times their original price to the next plutocrat in line.

We’re not going to count those unique models.

The list below is of the top five most expensive watches in production today that you, theoretically, could go and buy.

Patek Philippe Grand Complications Perpetual Chronograph (ref. 5208R-001). Price: Approx. $960,000

It is not a surprise to see Patek in this list. In fact, it won’t surprise you to see them here twice. Acknowledged today as possibly the finest watchmaker of them all, the brand’s reputation for excellence is unsurpassed.

The ref. 5208 was the first Grand Complication wristwatch from Patek to be released as a series, kicking off with 2011’s ref. 5208P in platinum. In 2017, the marque created the extraordinary titanium-cased ref. 5208T, a one-off for the ‘Only Watch’ auction to raise funds for the Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy charity, where it sold for over $6m. The latest reimagining is the 42mm ref. 5208R-001, the first time the watch has been seen in rose gold.

What is Patek’s Grand Complication collection though? To be included in the assembly the watch in question (either pocket watch or wristwatch) has to house a chronograph, perpetual calendar and a minute repeater at a minimum. The ref. 5208 has all of those and adds a moonphase and age display. What’s more, that chrono is an elegant monopusher to keep the case silhouette tidy and the perpetual calendar (and Patek were the first to include one on a wristwatch way back in 1925) is an aperture type with instantaneous jumping action for precise midnight changes.

All of this is controlled by the in-house R CH 27 PS QI caliber, a 719 part, automatic movement equipped with a silicon hairspring and a precision of -3/+2 seconds a day.

Up front, the ebony black sunburst dial is given gold applied hour markers, with every component hand-finished—from the polished repeater strikers to the engine-turned guilloche micro rotor.

In line with the others in the series, buying a ref. 5208 requires both a mandatory application and the approval of the ruling Stern family. But don’t worry. If you are deemed unworthy, there’s nothing stopping you from obtaining your model on the preowned market. Well, except for the current $1.2m+ price tag, of course.

Jacob & Co. Astronomia Tourbillon Baguette Arlequino Hand Wind Watch. Price: Approx. $1,000,000

Founded in 1986 by diamond designer Jacob Arabo, Jacob & Co. is responsible for a host of truly stunning and utterly unique timepieces.

The Astronomia from 2015 is a work of both pure extravagance and almost unparalleled mechanical virtuosity.

At its base, the underlying dial is invisibly set with 281 baguette-cut multicolor sapphires totaling around 12.65 carats in weight. There are a further 6 carats of diamonds on the lugs.

Above that, there is a bizarre but visually enthralling four satellite structure in continuous motion known as the Astronomia Tourbillon. At the end of each arm of the assembly is a different feature, acting as the perfectly balanced counterweight to its partner. So, we have a skeletonized time display dial opposite a triple-axis tourbillon on one limb, and a beautiful magnesium globe in blue lacquer with white gold continents, and a 1-carat Jacob-Cut diamond with 288 facets on the other.

The entire arrangement completes a rotation of the dial once every 20-minutes, while the tourbillon itself turns on two further axes, one in 60-seconds and the other in one minute and 15-seconds.

Its white gold case is 50mm in diameter and 25mm thick and is fitted with four sapphire crystal windows to allow unfettered views at the astonishing craftsmanship within.

All in all, this is an utterly astonishing timepiece, very much in the ‘let’s see what’s technically possible’ space. And it’s yours for a mere $1m.

Richard Mille Tourbillon Pablo Mac Donough Black Dial Watch RM53-01. Price: approx. $1,200,000

If you’re unfamiliar with the name Pablo Mac Donough, then you’re obviously not spending enough time participating in that good old fashioned working class pursuit of polo.

The Tourbillon Pablo Mac Donough is actually the second collaboration between Richard Mille and the Argentinian polo player (he of the 10-goal handicap, donchaknow), the first coming about in 2012. That piece, the RM53, was made from titanium and was basically an armored shell with a tiny figure of eight-style aperture into which were placed a dial and a tourbillon.

In fact, it had to be made in that way in order to survive the incredible stresses placed on it during a match. By way of research, Mille apparently gave Mac Donough an RM010 to wear throughout the 2011 season and it came back utterly destroyed.

The follow-up RM53-01 from 2018, however, has progressed massively. This time around the complicated, multipart 44.5mm case is forged from TPT carbon, a layered form of the material which is not only good to look at but also insanely durable.

Inside, the movement is suspended on RM’s cable system, developed for their earlier partnership with Rafael Nadal’s signature watch, with tennis players subjecting their timepieces to similar amounts of physical trauma.

The arrangement involves two metal cables on 10 pulleys, held by four ‘suspensioners’ to absorb the shocks and vibrations. On top is a laminated sapphire crystal, with two sheets bonded together with a clear adhesive film. It is reportedly one of the strongest crystals of its type in existence.

Elsewhere, the color combination of dark grey case against the light blue elements is a perfect contrast and the whole thing has Mille’s trademark lightness.

Only 30 pieces have been made, and you can still get your hands on one for $1,200,000

Franck Muller Aeternitas Mega 4. Price: approx. $2,580,000

For those with a love of extreme numbers in their horology, I give you this; 2009’s Aeternitas Mega 4 from Franck Muller,

At one time the most complicated wristwatch ever made, the Aeternitas (Latin for Eternity) boasts 36 complications, with 23 displays via 18 hands, 5 discs, 7 pushers and 4 correctors.

Want more? Ok. Its movement has 91 wheels, 99 jewels and a total of 1,483 components, the whole thing took five years to design, an entire year to assemble, and it all costs $2,580,000.

There’s a reason independent uber-manufacture Franck Muller enjoys the industry title of Master of Complications. I can’t list every one of the functions present on the Mega 4, because it makes my fingers hurt, but a few of the highlights include:

Grand and small strike, minute repeater, movement and strike power reserve indicator, tourbillon, flying tourbillon carriage, perpetual and secular calendars, moonphase and equation of time, two additional time zones and three-column wheel chronograph with flyback.

And it tells the time.

All of that is miraculously housed inside one of Muller’s characteristic Cintrée Curvex wrist-hugging style cases, measuring some 42mm in diameter, 61mm in length and 19.15mm high. So it won’t be slipping under the average shirt sleeve. But, if you’re spending more than $2.5m on a watch, you probably won’t want to hide it away.

An unbelievably convoluted timepiece, the Aeternitas is a wonder of the modern world.

Patek Grandmaster Chime ref. 6300/400G. Approx. Price $3.85m

Patek’s second entry into the ‘I’ve got more money than I know what to do with’ catalog, the ref. 6300 is the epitome of their Grand Complications range.

There are currently four versions of the Grandmaster Chime in the line-up, with an unadorned rose and white gold piece (ref. 6300GR-001), plus three gemstone-enhanced variants, all in white gold.

Two of those, each with 291 diamonds and either 118 emeralds (ref. 6300/403G) or 118 sapphires (ref. 6300/401G) embedded in the bezel for your choice of green or blue, came out this year. But dwarfing both is the ref. 6300/400G, released in 2022 and outfitted with an outrageous 409 diamonds.

All of the models feature 20 complications, with grande and petite sonnerie, minute repeater, perpetual calendar, second time zone, four digit year display and moonphase among them. And each has an ingenious double-faced reversible dial on which to display them, meaning that both faces stay remarkably uncluttered and readable.

But the 400G is undoubtedly the flagship, its 49.4mm case absolutely swamped in diamonds, but in that not quite verging into the ridiculous way Patek seems to have perfected. The price, on the other hand, is laughable.

At retail, once you’ve jumped through the Stern family hoops, it ran about $3.85m. However, should you be deemed unworthy, current preowned rates for the watch are hovering around the $8m-$10m mark.

And if that seems a little steep, you can always console yourself with the fact that a one-off steel version, the ref. 6300A-010, went for $31.2m at the Only Watch event we mentioned earlier. So, now it looks like a bargain.

We’re going to be covering the most expensive watches sold at auction in our next article, so keep checking back for some more eyewatering numbers.

Featured Photo: Y.Leclercq, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons, Mixed by Oriol Mendivil.