The Best Luxury Watch Brands, Ranked

With your life moving faster than ever, keeping track of time is essential. Sure, you can do it with your phone, but why not do it in style with one of the world’s best luxury watches on your wrist?

Luxury watches are destined to never go out of fashion. No phone can beat the exceptional elegance and rich history of a beautifully crafted timepiece. Checking the time becomes a rather exciting endeavor with one of these watches.

A proper mechanical watch isn’t just to tell time. A watch from one of the best luxury watch brands in the world is an emotional and financial investment. A treasured possession. And it will most likely go on to become a prized family heirloom.

Not forgetting that a designer watch is also an enduring symbol of taste and class. Because what says luxury like a Rolex? What conveys distinction and fashion flair quite like a Patek Philippe?

Our list of the best watch brands in the world today is here to help you find the watch that’s best for you. This guide was created based on in-depth research to identify the luxury watch manufacturers that enjoy a global reputation for delivering high-quality timepieces. A demonstration of exquisite craftsmanship, incomparable aesthetic sensibility, and a passion for pushing boundaries have distinguished these brands as the best top-tier watchmakers today.

The best luxury watch brand is Rolex: no other maker matches its blend of craftsmanship, near-unrivaled value retention, and instant recognition. Below is our definitive ranking of the finest watchmakers in the world, grouped into tiers and judged on what actually lasts.

How we rank the best luxury watch brands

A ranking is only as good as its criteria, so here are ours. We deliberately ignore advertising budgets, celebrity deals, and the noise of any single year’s releases, and judge every brand on four things that hold their meaning over a lifetime of wear.

Heritage and horological significance. Not age for its own sake, but what a brand has actually contributed. Did it invent something the whole industry now depends on, like Breguet’s tourbillon or Audemars Piguet’s luxury sports watch? Longevity matters most where it is backed by consequence.

Movement-making. The mechanical heart of a watch is where craft is real or absent. We weight in-house calibers, the quality of finishing, and the difficulty of the complications a brand can execute. This is where A. Lange & Söhne, Jaeger-LeCoultre, and NOMOS earn placings above their price.

Value retention. An honest ranking has to address money. A small number of brands, led by Rolex, Patek Philippe, and Audemars Piguet, hold or grow their value on the secondary market. Most luxury watches do not, typically shedding a fifth to two fifths of their price the moment they leave the boutique. We reward the brands whose watches you can sell without wincing.

Design language. The best brands have a signature you recognize instantly: a Cartier Tank, a Royal Oak, a Reverso. A strong, consistent design identity is the difference between a watch that dates and one that becomes a classic.

The best luxury watch brands, ranked

Read on for the ultimate list of the top high-end watches by some of the world’s most exclusive brands. You’ll also find a guide to buying a luxury watch, information about whether luxury watches make good investments, a detailed explanation of how to care for and maintain your luxury watch, and our answers to the most frequently asked questions related to the watch industry.

Tier I: The benchmark

Three names define what “best” means in watchmaking. Two anchor the collector’s world; the third, Rolex, is the standard everyone else is quietly measured against.

1. Rolex

If there is one watch brand everyone knows, it is Rolex, and it tops this ranking not through any single feat but through a refusal to be second-best at anything. The cases are cut from a proprietary steel most rivals consider too hard to machine efficiently, and the movements are certified to run within two seconds a day, tighter than the official Swiss chronometer standard. The very name has become a byword for luxury and prestige.

Then there is the part no competitor can copy: value retention. A Submariner, a GMT-Master, a Daytona, all hold their value like almost nothing else you can wear, and the most sought-after references trade above retail. You can read that as an investment story, but the truer point is quieter. A Rolex is the rare luxury purchase you almost never regret.

It is also the watch that has been everywhere worth going, into the deepest ocean, up the highest peak, and onto the wrist of the world’s most famous James Bond. From its classic collection to its dive watches, Rolex applies decades of horological know-how to timepieces owners keep for life and pass on to their children. For the person buying one serious watch in a lifetime, this is the safest, and the smartest, place to spend.

Availability is the one thing Rolex cannot promise. Authorized dealers hold waitlists measured in years on the steel sports models, so the buyer with the budget often still cannot get the watch. We ranked the best Rolex Submariner alternatives for anyone who wants a diver on the wrist this month, and the best Rolex Explorer alternatives for the one-watch buyer.

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Country of origin	United Kingdom
Year founded	1905
Most popular model	the Rolex Submariner
Official website	www.rolex.com

2. Patek Philippe

Switzerland is synonymous with luxury watches, and if Rolex is the best watch to own, Patek Philippe is the best watch to aspire to. The last great family-owned maison in Geneva has stayed in the Stern family since 1932, and that independence shows in a catalog answerable to no one but its own standard. Its famous line, that you never actually own a Patek Philippe but merely look after it for the next generation, is marketing, but it is also true. These watches are built and priced to be inherited.

The craft justifies the reverence. Every movement is hand-finished to a level most owners will never see, and the brand’s grand complications remain a benchmark for the entire industry. The Calatrava defines the dress watch, while the Nautilus, penned by Gérald Genta in 1976, became the most quietly coveted steel sports watch in the world.

Scarcity does the rest. Patek makes only a small fraction of what Rolex produces each year, and demand for the hardest references dwarfs supply. For the collector who wants the summit of traditional watchmaking, this is the name at the top of the wish list.

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Country of origin	Switzerland
Year founded	1839
Most popular model	the Patek Philippe Nautilus 5711
Official website	www.patek.com

3. Audemars Piguet

Audemars Piguet completes the holy trinity, and it earns its place with a single act of nerve. In 1972, faced with a slumping market, the maison launched the Royal Oak: a stainless steel watch, designed by Gérald Genta, priced like gold. It looked like nothing before it and invented the luxury sports watch as a category. Half a century later it remains the most desirable steel watch money can rarely buy.

What keeps AP at this altitude is that the Royal Oak was never a fluke. Still independent and still based in the Vallée de Joux, the brand pairs that audacious design with movement finishing and complication work equal to anything from its trinity peers. AP watches travel the world on the wrists of the rich and famous, worn by men and women alike.

It is the trinity’s most extroverted member, the one worn by athletes and artists rather than only quiet money. For the buyer who wants haute horlogerie with a pulse, nothing else quite fits.

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Country of origin	Switzerland
Year founded	1875
Most popular model	the Royal Oak
Official website	www.audemarspiguet.com

Tier II: Haute horlogerie’s summit

Below the benchmark sit the brands a purist reaches for when logo recognition stops mattering and finishing starts. These are the watchmaker’s watchmakers.

4. A.Lange & Söhne

Ask a watchmaker which movements are the most beautiful in the world, and the answer is often German rather than Swiss. A. Lange & Söhne, based in the tiny Saxon town of Glashütte, produces finishing that many experts rate the finest anywhere. The signature three-quarter plate, the hand-engraved balance cock unique to each watch, and the German silver that ages to a warm patina are all done the hard way, on purpose.

The story is as remarkable as the craft. Founded in 1845, the company was expropriated after the Second World War and vanished behind the Iron Curtain. It was only after German reunification that Walter Lange, great-grandson of the founder, revived it, unveiling the outsize-date Lange 1 and re-establishing the brand at the very top of the field within a single generation.

A Lange sits comfortably alongside the Swiss trinity on merit, and many collectors add it as a fourth pillar. In short, it is all the evidence the world needs that not all the best luxury timepieces are Swiss.

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Country of origin	Germany
Year founded	1845 (Re-launched in 1990)
Most popular model	the Lange 1
Official website	www.alange-soehne.com

5. Vacheron Constantin

Vacheron Constantin has been making watches without interruption since 1755, longer than any other manufacturer on earth. That is not a marketing line, it is more than two and a half centuries of continuous production, a claim no rival can make. If Patek is the trinity’s grail and AP its rebel, Vacheron is its aristocrat, the one that never needed to raise its voice.

Every watch worthy of the name carries the Hallmark of Geneva, the oldest guarantee of fine watchmaking, and the brand’s Les Cabinotiers department produces one-off pieces of almost unimaginable complexity. Yet its everyday hero, the Overseas, is one of the most versatile luxury sports watches you can wear, and the Patrimony one of the purest dress watches.

Because it trades on heritage rather than hype, Vacheron often flies below the radar of buyers fixated on the other two names. That is precisely its appeal. For the collector who wants trinity-level pedigree without the queue, it is the quiet, knowing choice.

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Country of origin	Switzerland
Year founded	1755 (became Vacheron Constantin in 1970)
Most popular model	the Patrimony
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6. Jaeger-LeCoultre

Jaeger-LeCoultre is the brand other great brands rely on. Over its history the Grande Maison of the Vallée de Joux has developed more than 1,200 in-house calibers and supplied movements to houses at the very top of this list, which is why insiders call it the watchmaker’s watchmaker. Few names combine that technical depth with such fair pricing.

Its icons make the case on their own. The Reverso, born in 1931 with a case that flips to protect its crystal, is one of the most elegant dress watches ever designed. The brand is known for its inventiveness, holding hundreds of patents, and every mechanical watch passes a rigorous 1,000-hour test before it leaves.

You get haute horlogerie substance without a six-figure barrier to entry, which makes JLC one of the smartest choices in fine watchmaking. For the enthusiast ready to graduate from the mainstream, this is the connoisseur’s gateway to the top tier.

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Country of origin	Switzerland
Year founded	1833
Most popular model	the Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso
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7. Breguet

No brand has shaped watchmaking more than Breguet, and none is more underrated by the modern market. Abraham-Louis Breguet, working in Paris from 1775, invented so much of what we still take for granted that a fair share of any watch you own traces back to him. He patented the tourbillon, devised the self-winding perpétuelle, and created the coiled overcoil and the slender pomme hands that carry his name to this day.

You can recognize a Breguet on sight: the fluted caseband, the hand-engraved guilloché dial, the coin-edge detailing. The Classique collection distills two centuries of that vocabulary into a dress watch of quiet authority, and the client list, from Marie-Antoinette to Napoleon, is written into the design language of every model.

Now a Swiss manufacture in the Vallée de Joux, Breguet pairs that heritage with thoroughly modern movement-making. For the purist who wants a direct link to the origins of the wristwatch, few names come close.

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Country of origin	France
Year founded	1775
Most popular model	the Breguet Classique
Official website	www.breguet.com

8. Blancpain

Blancpain is the oldest name in watchmaking, founded in 1735, and it wears that history with a purist’s discipline: in nearly three centuries it has never made a quartz watch. Every timepiece is mechanical, and production is deliberately tiny, only around 30 watches a day. That scarcity is not a marketing pose; it is the pace hand craftsmanship actually happens at.

The complications justify the wait. Perpetual calendars, minute repeaters, and one-minute flying carrousels sit alongside decorative work few houses attempt, from enamel miniatures to dials in Japanese shakudō and binchōtan. Modern engineering is present too: Blancpain fits silicon balance springs across its collections for accuracy and magnetic resistance.

And then there is the Fifty Fathoms. Launched in 1953 for combat divers, it set the template every modern dive watch still follows: rotating bezel, luminous markers, serious water resistance. A brand that can claim both grand complications and the original dive watch belongs in the summit tier, and Blancpain does.

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Country of origin	Switzerland
Year founded	1735
Most popular model	the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms
Official website	www.blancpain.com

9. Girard-Perregaux

Girard-Perregaux has been making watches since 1791, and nearly everything in them is made in-house, which is why watchmakers hold the brand in higher regard than the broader market does. For the buyer, that gap is the opportunity: summit-grade manufacture watchmaking without the summit-grade waiting list.

The heritage is consequence, not just age. The Esmeralda tourbillon with its three gold bridges took a gold medal in 1889 and remains one of the most beautiful movement architectures ever drawn, still produced today with the bridges as the design itself. And in 1971, Girard-Perregaux presented the first quartz watch ever produced in Switzerland, whose 32,768 hertz frequency became the standard the entire industry still uses.

The Laureato, the house’s integrated-steel sports watch born in 1975, rounds out the case. For the enthusiast who wants haute horlogerie substance without paying for a logo, Girard-Perregaux is one of the quiet best buys in fine watchmaking.

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Country of origin	Switzerland
Year founded	1791
Most popular model	the Girard-Perregaux 1966
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Tier III: The modern icons

Brands with a design language you can name across a room, and cultural weight beyond the collector’s world. They sit just below the summit on finishing but often ahead of it on sheer wearability.

10. Omega

Omega is the only mainstream brand that can look Rolex in the eye, and it has delivered exceptional watches to collectors for more than 170 years. Its résumé is unmatched in one respect: the Speedmaster is the watch that went to the moon with Apollo 11, and it remains the only timepiece NASA has flight-qualified for spacewalks. The Seamaster, meanwhile, has spent decades on the wrist of James Bond.

The engineering backs up the storytelling. Omega’s co-axial escapement, developed with the legendary watchmaker George Daniels, reduces friction for longer service intervals, and its Master Chronometer certification tests every watch to resist magnetic fields of 15,000 gauss, a level that would stop most movements dead. On precision and anti-magnetism, Omega genuinely leads the industry.

It typically costs less than the Rolex equivalent while giving up very little, which makes it one of the best values in luxury watchmaking. For the buyer who wants a genuine icon with real technical credibility, Omega is the obvious rival to the crown.

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Country of origin	Switzerland
Year founded	1903
Most popular model	the Omega Speedmaster
Official website	www.omegawatches.com

11. Cartier

Cartier proves that a watch does not need a round case or a famous movement to be one of the greats. Though many first think of its jewelry, this world-renowned maison is the undisputed authority on shaped watches, and its landmarks are older than most of the sports watches that dominate collector chatter. The Santos, made in 1904 for the aviator Alberto Santos-Dumont, was among the first purpose-built pilot’s wristwatches. The Tank, launched in 1917, is arguably the most elegant watch design ever drawn.

What sets Cartier apart is restraint. These are watches defined by proportion and line rather than horsepower, and they read as effortlessly chic on any wrist, on any occasion, across every decade since. The brand’s jewelry pedigree only sharpens that eye for form.

For the buyer who values style over specifications, or who simply wants the most timeless design on this list, Cartier is in a category of one. It is the watch that never looks like it is trying.

A steel Tank Must is the entry point at around $3,150. If the rectangle is what you are after rather than the name on the dial, our guide to the best Cartier Tank alternatives ranks the watches that get closest to that shape.

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Country of origin	France
Year founded	1847
Most popular model	the Cartier Tank
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12. Richard Mille

If most brands at this altitude trade on centuries of tradition, Richard Mille made its name doing the opposite. Launched in 2001, it set out to build a wristwatch with the engineering mindset of a Formula 1 car, and priced it to match. The signature tonneau cases are machined from aerospace-grade materials, grade-5 titanium, Carbon TPT, even sapphire, around skeletonized movements engineered to absorb shocks that would stop a conventional watch dead.

That durability is proven in public. Richard Mille straps its watches to elite athletes at full tilt, and Rafael Nadal has played entire tournaments wearing one. No other luxury house submits its work to that kind of live crash test.

The market has delivered its own verdict. Richard Mille timepieces sit among the most expensive watches in the world, and deliberate scarcity keeps demand, and secondary-market values, extraordinarily strong for a brand this young. As pure wearable engineering, and as a store of value, nothing else contemporary comes close.

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Country of origin	Switzerland
Year founded	2001
Most popular model	the Richard Mille RM 011
Official website	www.richardmille.com

13. Grand Seiko

For decades Grand Seiko was Japan’s best-kept horological secret, the top-tier line built to rival the finest Swiss houses and sold almost entirely at home. Since becoming a standalone brand in 2017, it has become the connoisseur’s answer to logo fatigue, with an almost obsessive devotion to finishing that punches far above its price.

Its Zaratsu-polished cases are worked by hand to a distortion-free, mirror-like sheen, and its dials are textured to evoke the Japanese landscape. The celebrated Snowflake dial captures freshly fallen snow so faithfully it seems to shift with the light. Then there is the engineering: the proprietary Spring Drive movement pairs a mechanical mainspring with a quartz regulator, producing a seconds hand that glides rather than ticks, accurate to within a second a day.

You get dial work and case finishing that shame watches costing several times more. For the buyer who prizes craftsmanship over recognition, Grand Seiko is one of the most rewarding names in modern watchmaking.

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Country of origin	Japan
Year founded	1960
Most popular model	the Grand Seiko “Snowflake”
Official website	www.grand-seiko.com

14. IWC Schaffhausen

IWC is the engineer’s luxury watch. Founded in 1868 in the eastern Swiss town of Schaffhausen, it built its reputation by marrying American production ideas with Swiss craft, and that clarity of purpose still runs through everything it makes. Where other brands chase ornament, IWC chases legibility, robustness, and a design you can read at a glance.

Its pilot’s watches are the heart of the range, direct descendants of cockpit instruments. The Portugieser brings elegance, the Ingenieur brings anti-magnetic toughness, and across the board the movements are built to be serviced and worn for a lifetime rather than admired in a safe. The brand is also a sustainability leader, the first Swiss watchmaker to publish a report to Global Reporting Initiative standards.

There is a purposeful clarity to an IWC that resonates with buyers who want substance without fuss. For the person who wants a serious tool watch with genuine haute horlogerie underpinnings, it is one of the most honest brands you can buy.

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Country of origin	Switzerland
Year founded	1868
Most popular model	the IWC Portugieser Chronograph Ref. 3714
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15. Panerai

Panerai owns one of the strongest design languages in watchmaking. The cushion-shaped case, the sandwich dial, the signature crown-protecting bridge of the Luminor: you can identify one across a room, which is exactly what a modern icon requires.

The look is earned. Founded in Florence in 1860, Panerai spent decades as a quiet supplier to the Italian navy’s divers, and its two pillars date from that service: the Radiomir of 1938, whose radium-based lume gave it its name, and the tritium-lit Luminor that followed. Those military dive watches were tools first, and that DNA survives in the brand’s oversized legibility today.

Modern Panerai backs the heritage with its own in-house calibers and multi-day power reserves, while limited editions keep its collectors, the self-described Paneristi, among the most devoted in the hobby. For the buyer who wants presence and a genuine story on the wrist, Panerai delivers both.

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Country of origin	Italy
Year founded	1860
Most popular model	the Panerai Luminor
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16. Breitling

Breitling built the professional chronograph. The house spent the twentieth century as the instrument-maker of aviation, and the Navitimer of 1952, with its slide-rule bezel for flight calculations, remains one of the most recognizable tool watches ever made, worn by generations of pilots.

The engineering claim is unusually concrete: every watch Breitling sells is a COSC-certified chronometer, a standard very few brands apply across an entire catalog. The in-house B01 chronograph caliber, with its roughly 70-hour power reserve, powers the modern Navitimer and Chronomat and stands with the best series-produced chronograph movements in the industry.

Under its current revival, the brand has sharpened its vintage-led design language and its value story alike. For the buyer who wants a serious pilot’s chronograph with genuine heritage, Breitling is the definitive choice.

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Country of origin	Switzerland
Year founded	1884
Most popular model	the Breitling Navitimer
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17. Bulgari

Bulgari is the great Italian counterargument to Swiss conservatism. The Roman jeweler, founded in 1884, brought its eye for sculpture and color to watchmaking and produced something genuinely its own: the Serpenti, the snake-coiled icon born in the 1940s that remains one of the most recognizable watches in the world, and the architectural Octo as its modern counterpart.

Then it out-engineered the Swiss at their own game. The Octo Finissimo line has claimed a string of world records in ultra-thin watchmaking, with tourbillons, minute repeaters, chronographs, and perpetual calendars compressed into cases a few millimeters thick, all built in the brand’s own Swiss manufacture.

Few houses combine genuine design originality with record-setting movement-making. For the buyer who finds classic Swiss styling predictable, Bulgari is the most compelling alternative among the modern icons.

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Country of origin	Italy
Year founded	1884
Most popular model	the Bulgari Serpenti
Official website	www.bulgari.com

18. Piaget

Piaget is the authority on thinness. Founded in 1874 as a movement-maker that supplied other houses, it turned that engineering depth into its defining pursuit: ultra-thin calibers, including some of the thinnest hand-wound and automatic watches ever made. The Altiplano remains the reference point for the dress watch pared to its essence.

Thinness is harder than it looks. Shaving a movement to a few millimeters while keeping it reliable demands flawless micro-mechanics, and that mastery is why Piaget ranks among the genuine manufactures rather than the fashion houses. Its parallel life as a high jeweler sharpens the aesthetics, with gold bracelets, hard-stone dials, and proportions judged to the tenth of a millimeter.

For the buyer who measures luxury in restraint, a Piaget disappears under a cuff and rewards the second look. It is the connoisseur’s dress watch, and one of the quietest statements in this ranking.

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Country of origin	Switzerland
Year founded	1874
Most popular model	the Piaget Altiplano Ultimate
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19. Chopard

Chopard is two houses in one, and both are better than its mainstream reputation suggests. The visible house is the jeweler, family-owned by the Scheufeles since 1963, whose Happy Diamonds dials and red-carpet presence define its public image. The hidden house is Chopard Manufacture in Fleurier, which since 1996 has built the L.U.C line: in-house calibers whose finishing and complications stand comparison with far grander names.

The range in between is genuinely broad, from the Mille Miglia chronographs born of the brand’s long partnership with the Italian classic-car rally to the Alpine Eagle, its integrated-steel sports watch. Chopard has also led the industry on ethical gold, moving to responsibly sourced metal ahead of its peers.

If you know Chopard only for diamonds, the L.U.C watches are the revelation: quiet, beautifully finished, and undervalued by the market. For the collector hunting finishing per dollar, this is one of the sleepers on this list.

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Country of origin	Switzerland
Year founded	1860
Most popular model	the Chopard L.U.C Full Strike
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20. Ulysse Nardin

Ulysse Nardin has been the industry’s technical daredevil since 1846. Its marine chronometers were once the navigation standard for navies around the world, precision instruments that lives depended on, and the record books noticed: the Astrolabium Galileo Galilei entered the Guinness Book of Records as the most functional watch ever made, tracking the sun, moon, and stars across 21 functions.

Then came the Freak. Launched in 2001 with no hands, no dial, and no crown, its entire movement rotating to tell the time, it was the most radical wristwatch of its generation, and it pioneered silicon components years before the rest of the industry followed.

That instinct still defines Ulysse Nardin today. For the collector who wants genuine mechanical invention rather than another heritage reissue, few brands deliver it as reliably.

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Country of origin	Switzerland
Year founded	1846
Most popular model	the Freak wristwatch
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21. Hublot

Hublot is the most polarizing brand in this ranking, and that is largely the point. Born in 1980 with a gold case on a rubber strap, a scandal at the time, it turned the art of fusion into a design philosophy: gold with ceramic, carbon with colored composites, sapphire cases, even Magic Gold, the house’s own scratch-resistant gold alloy.

Beneath the flash sits real engineering. The in-house Unico chronograph caliber anchors the Big Bang, the 2005 design that made Hublot a global name, and the manufacture’s MP series has produced some genuinely extreme complications. Sports partnerships, from FIFA World Cup timekeeping to football’s biggest clubs, keep it the most visible luxury watch in the stadium.

Value retention is not the reason to buy one; presence is. For the wearer who wants a watch that announces itself, and who cares more about tomorrow’s design than yesterday’s, Hublot does what no traditional house will.

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Country of origin	Switzerland
Year founded	1980
Most popular model	the Hublot Big Bang Integral Titanium
Official website	www.hublot.com

Tier IV: Where taste beats the logo

The tier that matters most when you are spending real money rather than collector money. Genuine craft, in-house movements, and honest value, the watches that make you look like you know something.

22. Tudor

Tudor is the smartest watch on this list, and it is no accident. Founded by Rolex’s own Hans Wilsdorf in 1926 as a more accessible sister brand, it has spent the last decade becoming an enthusiast favorite in its own right. You get Rolex-adjacent build quality, cases finished to a standard well above the price, and increasingly the brand’s own in-house movements with 70-hour power reserves and five-year warranties.

The Black Bay is the hero, and rightly so. It distills decades of Tudor and Rolex dive watch heritage into a single, handsome package that costs a fraction of the Submariner it echoes. With the slogan Born to Dare, Tudor is favored by adventurers, military professionals, and celebrities alike.

For most people reading this, Tudor is the sweet spot: the point where quality, heritage, and price meet without compromise. If you want the single best gateway into serious mechanical watches, start here.

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Country of origin	Switzerland
Year founded	1926
Most popular model	the Black Bay
Official website	www.tudorwatch.com

23. NOMOS Glashütte

NOMOS is the design purist’s value pick. Founded in Glashütte in 1990, just months after the Berlin Wall fell, it makes clean, Bauhaus-influenced watches that look like nothing else and cost far less than their substance suggests. The aesthetic is all restraint: slim cases, perfectly balanced dials, and a typography so considered it has become a signature.

The real surprise is under the dial. NOMOS builds its own movements, including its in-house swing system, the escapement that is the technical heart of a mechanical watch and one only a handful of manufacturers make themselves. It took the company almost seven years to develop, and very few brands at any price can match it, almost none at NOMOS money.

The Tangente, with its minimalist dial and long heritage, is a modern classic. For the buyer who cares more about design integrity and honest engineering than a famous logo, NOMOS is one of the most satisfying watches you can own.

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Country of origin	Germany
Year founded	1990
Most popular model	the NOMOS Tangente
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24. TAG Heuer

TAG Heuer carries motorsport in its DNA more credibly than any brand at its price. The Carrera, launched in 1963 and named for a brutal Mexican road race, was designed to be legible at speed and remains one of the great chronograph designs. The Monaco, worn by Steve McQueen in Le Mans, was the first square-cased water-resistant chronograph and is instantly recognizable half a century on.

Beyond the icons, TAG makes genuinely capable everyday watches, from the robust Aquaracer dive watch to modern in-house chronograph movements that show real ambition. It is the entry point to Swiss watchmaking for a younger, style-led buyer, and it earns that role.

The value proposition is straightforward: real racing heritage and solid build at a price well below the luxury tier. For the buyer who wants a sporty Swiss watch with a story worth telling, TAG Heuer delivers.

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Country of origin	Switzerland
Year founded	1860
Most popular model	the TAG Heuer Aquaracer
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25. Longines

Longines makes the most elegant watch you can buy for the money. Founded in Saint-Imier in 1832, Longines holds one of the oldest registered watch trademarks in the world, the winged hourglass, and nearly two centuries of chronograph and aviation heritage sit behind its modern collections. This is a brand with a genuine claim to greatness, priced for ordinary people.

The Master Collection covers the classical bases with real polish, while the brand’s equestrian and heritage lines reissue mid-century designs with a restraint most reissues miss. The pieces feel considered rather than cost-cut, with clean dials, slim cases, and a sense of proportion that belies the price.

For the buyer who wants a dress watch with soul, or a first serious watch that will still look right in twenty years, Longines is a benchmark. It is proof that taste and budget are not opposites.

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Country of origin	Switzerland
Year founded	1832
Most popular model	the Master Collection Moon Phase
Official website	www.longines.com

26. Hamilton

Hamilton is the best entry point in all of watchmaking. Founded in Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 1892, it built its name supplying accurate pocket watches to the American railroads and later timing the U.S. airmail service. Now Swiss-made under the Swatch Group, it keeps that rugged, all-American character while delivering genuine Swiss automatic movements.

The Khaki Field is the one to know: a clean, legible, tough field watch with a proper mechanical movement, comfortably under $1,000, that outperforms almost anything at the price. The brand also has genuine star power, with cameos in more than 450 films, from the Ventura worn by Elvis to the watches in Interstellar and The Martian.

Few watches offer this much real horological substance for so little. For anyone taking a first step into mechanical watches, or buying a gift that will actually be worn, Hamilton is the smartest money on this list.

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Country of origin	United States
Year founded	1892
Most popular model	the Hamilton Khaki
Official website	www.hamiltonwatch.com

Tier V: The wider field

Beyond the top twenty-six, the ranking broadens into a survey of the other great names worth knowing, from haute horlogerie independents to accessible everyday icons. Every one is still worth wearing.

27. Montblanc

German luxury goods brand Montblanc is best known for its high-quality writing pens. However, the brand has also dabbled in watch-making, and has done so with considerable success.

The first Montblanc watch was launched in 1997. That’s quite recent by the standards of most luxury watch-makers. However, what it lacks in maturity, Montblanc makes up for in vision and quality.

Montblanc’s master craftsmen work diligently to create an exceptional range of timepieces in diverse styles, from the cutting-edge cool of the Timewalker collection to the ultra-luxurious Summit.

Montblanc watches combine traditional Swiss Horlogerie skills with cutting-edge engineering. With watches available for both men and women, Montblanc is now considered one of the most sophisticated watch brands out there.

Whether it’s a pulsograph chronograph or classic automatic, a Montblanc luxury watch is a true study in immaculate design and superb craftsmanship.

Learn more about Montblanc.

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Country of origin	Germany
Year founded	1906
Most popular model	the Montblanc Heritage
Where to buy	Shop now

28. LIV Watches

For the curious mind ready to embrace a new generation of luxury watches, LIV Watches lives up to the expectations with high-quality tough watches across its entire collection. The American watch brand works with bold designs and ambitious color schemes to deliver watches that will stand the test of time.

Every watch in the LIV Watches collection delivers superb quality and bright designs, centered around the brand’s iconic orange. The aviator watch shown above is part of the P-51 series that we’ve already covered in our round-up of the best pilot watches of the year. The brand also has a range of diver watches on offer, including the LIV GX-DIVER that we included in our selection of the best diver watches on the market.

The LIV Watches team describes itself as a tightly-knit group of passionate watch freaks with a singular mission to deliver unique, handcrafted Limited Edition Swiss wristwatches that stand the test of time. Every watch in their collection is numbered and the brand’s fans love it. Raving reviews often allied to the potential for the watches to become investment pieces over time.

Read our in-depth LIV Swiss Watches review to learn more about the brand.

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Country of origin	USA
Year founded	2012
Most popular model	the LIV Watches P-51
Official website	www.livwatches.com

29. Bremont

Flying the flag for British watches everywhere, Bremont is a watchmaking company based in England that draws inspiration from aviation for its range of timepieces. Founded by two brothers in 2002, Bremont is quite young by watch-making standards. But the brand’s designs are imbued with a sense of heritage and tradition befitting a much more established company.

Bremont stands for high quality and impeccable precision. It’s one of the few watchmakers out there to offer a 3-year warranty on every watch.

The company has long been associated with aviation, with a range of pilot watches forming the core of the Bremont collection. The brand is also closely tied to the military, with its timepieces worn by combat personnel across the world. The brand has also created special editions and bespoke watches exclusively for members of the armed forces.

For an exclusive timepiece that also serves as a tribute to age-old traditions and aviation history, you need a Bremont on your wrist.

Learn more about Bremont.

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Country of origin	England
Year founded	2002
Most popular model	the Bremont Alt1-P Pilot
Where to buy	Shop now

30. Baume & Mercier

Baume & Mercier is a brand that takes delight in mechanical mastery and has an absolute passion for perfection. In fact, on every dial of a Baume & Mercier watch, you’ll find the Greek letter *Phi, *which represents the Golden Ratio: the concept of divine proportion and harmony.

Baume & Mercier is known for the inventive and innovative designs of many of its timepieces. Take the Galaxie or the Stardust, for example, which are rectangular and pear-drop shaped respectively, and both of which are studded with glittering stones.

Originally launched by two brothers under the name Baume Brothers, in 1918, they joined forces with Paul Mercier and founded the company we know today. The company quickly established itself as a force to be reckoned with among other horological giants.

The brand’s line of women’s watches is of particular renown. One of its most successful models is the Marquise, a small and elegant watch that was soon imitated by many other popular men’s watch brands.

Baume & Mercier had understood something fundamental: women’s watches could be far more than simplified versions of male timepieces. They could be exquisite time-keeping devices and subtle displays of taste in their own right.

Learn more about Baume & Mercier.

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Country of origin	Switzerland
Year founded	1830
Most popular model	The Hampton
Where to buy	Shop now

31. Rado

Swiss luxury watchmaking company Rado is known for its collections of ceramic watches. As the majority of Swiss watch brands use metal, the brand’s innovative use of other materials has earned it the nickname ‘Master of Materials.’

The use of high-tech ceramic is central to the Rado approach. Smooth and stylish, available in both metallic or matte finishes and in a range of colors, these watches are lightweight, hypoallergenic, highly durable, and incredibly wearable.

Rado also pioneered the use of plasma high-tech ceramic, whereby the material is forged in an oven at exceptionally high temperatures, lending the surface a metallic shine akin to metal. This accords the watch with an unrivaled lightness and extreme resilience.

Aesthetically, Rado watches are distinct thanks to their clean-lined, pared-back, and minimalist silhouettes. But what really distinguishes them is their use of the most modern and high-tech materials available.

Learn more about Rado watches.

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Country of origin	Switzerland
Year founded	1917
Most popular model	the Rado Centrix
Where to buy	Shop now

32. Maurice Lacroix

One of the most highly-applauded and highly-coveted top brand watches for men in the world is Maurice Lacroix. The brand has firmly established itself among the ranks of the best high-end watch businesses today, and the stylized M that the company has taken as its motif has become instantly recognizable.

While quite young by horological standards, only 40 years old, thanks to the company’s spirit of perfectionism and passion for innovation, Maurice Lacroix has raced ahead of other wannabe horological stars to secure its status as one of the world’s top luxury watch brands.

In 2008, the company was awarded the prestigious Goldene Unruh of Germany for its ML128 caliber. Wearers of this watch are able to switch between the ‘time’ and the ‘chrono’ function seamlessly.

But mechanical mastery is just one side of the coin. With a Maurice Lacroix watch, you also have a beguiling mix of classic and contemporary aesthetic choices and the fact that a Maurice Lacroix watch is quite an affordable option.

Learn more about Maurice Lacroix.

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Country of origin	Switzerland
Year founded	1975
Most popular model	the Masterpiece Le Chronographe
Where to buy	Shop now

33. Roger Dubuis

With its creativity, glamour, and desire to disrupt, Roger Dubuis is a refreshing and exciting presence within the watch-making world.

Since it was founded back in 1995, the Roger Dubuis Maison has consistently broken conventions and challenged norms in watchmaking. It has trod new paths in the use and combination of materials and turned many heads in the process.

Take the Excalibur Diabolus in Machina, for example. Aesthetically, the watch is audacious and extravagant. It also has a minute repeater that can chime the time at the press of a button. It was a ground-breaking and game-changing creation when it was first launched. And it’s Roger Dubuis in a nutshell.

A Robert Dubuis watch truly is a cut above the rest. These luxury watches are exhilarating to behold: bright and beautiful, and suitable for men and women alike.

Learn more about Roger Dubuis.

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Country of origin	Switzerland
Year founded	1995
Most popular model	the Roger Dubuis Excalibur
Where to buy	Shop now

34. F.P.Journe

F.P. Journe is the only three-time winner of the *Aiguille d’Or *grand prize from the Fondation du Grand Prix D’Horlogerie de Genève. This gives you some idea of the level of prestige and success that is associated with this Swiss watch-maker.

Founder François-Paul Journe previously worked as an expert restorer and maker of one-off watches. This gives him an intimate knowledge of timekeeping devices.

The company has now forged a place for itself as one of the most technically skilled watch manufacturers in the world, creating innovative timepieces that are totally distinct. These luxury watches are even more exclusive for being produced in limited quantities: less than a thousand each year.

The Astronomic Blue is one example of how each F.P. Journe watch is an expression of unwavering expertise. With its tantalum case, minute repeater, hours and minutes sidereal, two time zones, moon phase dial, and combined day/night, sunrise/sunset complication, it really is quite a thing to behold.

Learn more about F.P. Journe.

Visit the official site

Country of origin	Switzerland
Year founded	1999
Most popular model	the Chronometre Bleu
Official website	fpjourne.com

35. Tiffany & Co.

Simply put, Tiffany & Co. represents the best in understated glamour and iconic luxury. The name is known in households across the world and the brand is one of the most famous jewelers in the world.

Thanks to Audrey Hepburn, many people think only of diamonds when they hear Tiffany & Co. But what about this luxury giant’s line of watches?

In fact, Tiffany & Co. is behind a few notable firsts in the watch industry. Until 1903, it held the patent for using luminous paint for watch numerals and hands, for example.

As for the watches themselves, they are everything you’d expect from a brand with the allure and timeless appeal of Tiffany.

For men, the brand presents its collection of watches that combine traditional craftsmanship with the best materials available, offering flawless timepieces that you’ll wear forever. For women, Tiffany & Co. has a range of sleek and slim designs that are unobtrusive and eye-catching at once. Of course, many of their watches can be worn by men or women alike.

Each of Tiffany’s high-end timepieces comes in that legendary blue box that we all know and love, now a global symbol for luxury and sophistication.

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Country of origin	United States
Year founded	1837
Most popular model	the Tiffany T
Official website	www.tiffany.com

36. Louis Vuitton

Even if you’re not an avid follower of high fashion, you could probably draw the famous monogram of luxury label Louis Vuitton from memory.

Those instantly recognizable LV bags can be found across the globe. But iconic luggage isn’t the end of the story for Louis Vuitton. One of the world’s most famous luxury brands, it’s no small surprise that the company is behind some of the world’s best luxury watches too.

The brand positions itself as an unrivaled expert in questions of taste and style. And so it’s to be expected that Louis Vuitton watches are perfect examples of how craftsmanship and artistry can come together to create a luxury accessory that also happens to tell the time.

The first collection was unveiled in 2002 and was an immediate success. In 2017, the label also launched its own smartwatch: the Tambour Horizon, created in partnership with Google and Qualcomm.

Exploring Louis Vuitton’s dazzling display of luxury men’s and women’s watches, you’ll quickly understand why the brand has a global reputation for quality and innovation.

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Country of origin	France
Year founded	1854
Most popular model	the Tambour Brown
Official website	www.louisvuitton.com

37. Bamford

In today’s world of mass markets and production, it’s not easy to find a watch that feels unique. But a watch should be personal to you, designed to suit your specific style and needs.

This is what Bamford seeks to do. The Bamford Watch Department has been blazing a trail in bespoke timepieces since it was founded in 2004 and is the first-ever watch company to offer clients the chance to customize their own luxury watch.

At Bamford, you have the opportunity to personalize some of the world’s most iconic watches. You can choose everything from the watch face and hands to the hour and minute numerals. All modifications are of the highest quality, using only the best materials and techniques.

And each one is finished with the brand’s signature black titanium using a military-grade Physical Vapour Deposition coating.

The Bamford range includes limited edited series in collaboration with the likes of Rolex and Patek Phillippe. They’ve purportedly even matched a watch dial to a customer’s favorite shade of lipstick.

And so, if you’re looking for something unique, you can’t beat a Bamford.

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Country of origin	United Kingdom
Year founded	2016
Most popular model	the Mayfair
Where to buy	Shop now

38. Zenith

Zenith means the highest point. And we agree. The brand really has reached the peak of horological excellence.

Zenith is most famous for the Zenith Chronomaster, which, in turn, is arguably one of the most famous calibers in all of horological history.

The iconic El Primero movement, capable of beating at 36,000 vibrations per hour, allowed the watch to reach a level of accuracy never seen before. It was the world’s first integrated and most accurate automatic chronograph.

While in the 70s, mechanical watches went out of fashion and trends turned towards quartz, since then mechanical mastery has once again become a priority in the eyes of watch enthusiasts. As a result, Zenith has returned to the spotlight as one of the most reliable brands creating luxury watches today.

Indeed, the brand has won 2,333 chronometry prizes and 8 medals. So if it’s accuracy you’re looking for, you’d be hard pushed to find a brand that’s quite so particular about precision.

Learn more about Zenith.

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Country of origin	Switzerland
Year founded	1865
Most popular model	the Zenith El Primo chronograph
Where to buy	Shop now

39. Bell & Ross

One of the younger luxury men’s watch brands on the market, Franco-Swiss watch manufacturer Bell & Ross was founded in 1992. But they made up for lost time quickly, having now established themselves as one of the best in the business, particularly with their rugged tactical watch collection.

Originally a team of watch designers and aeronautical control panel specialists, the company set out to build watches for aviation professionals. One iconic example is the BR01, whose large dials resemble those in aircraft cockpits.

The brand also specializes in diving watches with models designed with exceptionally high water resistance. In fact, the world record for the watch with the highest water resistance, at 11,000 meters, is held by Bell & Ross.

By combining high-tech and highly resilient fabrics with luxury design, Bell & Ross created a winning range of watches that can withstand all sorts of extreme conditions, including Arctic temperatures and high altitudes. In doing so, they’ve acquired a loyal global following of fans.

Learn more about Bell & Ross.

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Country of origin	France
Year founded	1992
Most popular model	the BR 01
Where to buy	Shop now

40. Arnold & Son

British watchmaker John Arnold began making marine chronometers for ship captains during the time of the British Empire.

The horological mastermind was responsible for breaking a lot of new ground within the watch-making world and is credited with numerous inventions including the overcoil balance spring - found in most watches today, and the smallest minute repeater ever, fitted into a ring for King George III.

Today, the company makes its own in-house movements and has developed an impressive collection of calibers and a variety of startlingly sophisticated complications. Thanks to CNC machinery, they are able to deliver microscopic precision and a level of accuracy for which they have become famous.

At least two new movements are launched each year by the brand. The company, therefore, plays a major role in propelling watchmaking into the future.

Marrying high-performance timepieces with an inventive approach to design, Arnold & Son has demonstrated that it understands exactly what people want in a luxury watch.

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Country of origin	United Kingdom
Year founded	1764
Most popular model	the Globetrotter
Official website	www.arnoldandson.com

41. Alpina

The red Alpina logo was inspired by the Matterhorn mountain in Switzerland. The Matterhorn is one of the most iconic mountains in Europe, making it a perfect choice for a brand fast on its way to becoming an icon itself within the world of high-quality sports watches.

Alpina supplied chronometers to the German Navy in 1913, and in 1921, became known for supplying timepieces to military pilots too. Their pilot’s legs watch was ideal for aviation professionals because it could be worn over the top of uniforms.

The brand was also the first ever to introduce an international guarantee: testimony to the faith and confidence the company had in the durability and technical perfection of its creations.

Today, the company is known for producing some of the finest sports watches around. Thanks to their investment in state-of-the-art technology, Alpina is able to deliver robust sports watches that can perform in the most physically challenging of situations, whether you’re climbing, flying, diving, or sailing around the world.

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Country of origin	Switzerland
Year founded	1883
Most popular model	the Alpina Startimer
Official website	www.alpinawatches.com

42. Seiko

A Seiko watch offers wearers that rare thing: a superbly high-quality luxury watch at an accessible price. Delivering exceptional watches with a price point that doesn’t alienate the majority of shoppers, Seiko is a welcome presence on the horological scene.

Seiko is also the first Japanese brand on our list. Established in 1881 in Tokyo, the company creates watches for both men and women but is best known as a producer of dive watches, delivering some of the best diving timepieces available today.

Seiko was also at the forefront of the development of the quartz watch, launching the Seiko Quartz Astron in 1969. They’re also behind the Seiko Astron, the world’s first GPS solar watch.

When it comes to diversity of choice, a promise of durability, and an embrace of cutting-edge design, Seiko is the luxury watch brand you should be talking about.

Learn more about Seiko.

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Country of origin	Japan
Year founded	1881
Most popular model	the Seiko 5
Where to buy	Shop now

43. Jaquet Droz

For a watch not quite like any other, no brand does it better than Jaquet Droz. Its French founder, Pierre Jaquet Droz, began creating intricate grandfather clocks in 1738 before moving into the development of avant-garde watches.

His creations soon became known across the world, in royal courts from Europe to China. He also developed animated dolls, known as automata, and mechanical songbirds to help him promote his wares.

Today, Droz is considered an Enlightenment-age genius and somewhat of a legend within the watchmaking world. The brand’s watches are just as mischievous and unique as you would expect from a visionary of this sort. Imagine automaton dials with tiny moving parts, bringing miniature scenes to life.

We can also thank the company for reviving centuries-old crafts with its use of spangled dials and black Grand Feu enamel.

For the ultimate in ostentatious glamour with a whimsical touch, you need a Jaquet Droz watch.

Learn more about Jaquet Droz.

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Country of origin	Switzerland
Year founded	1738
Most popular model	La Grande Seconde
Official website	www.jaquet-droz.com

44. Laurent Ferrier

Laurent Ferrier began his career at Patek Philippe where he spent 37 years climbing up the ladder until he reached the position of creative director. But as the son and grandson of watchmakers, he felt the urge to strike out alone. In 2010, he launched his own watchmaking operation.

On the side, Ferrier was also playing around with racing cars. In fact, he took part in the Le Mans 24 Hours race seven times. It was while racing that he met François Servanin, who would provide the financial backing for Ferrier to start his own company.

Laurent Ferrier makes only a few hundred watches a year. The designs are precise, simple, and unfussy. They are immune to changing trends. In the words of Ferrier himself, they are an expression of ‘uncluttered beauty.’

From the exterior, you’d have no idea about the complexity and intricacy of the mechanics going on within the case. These are timeless creations that will look as good tomorrow as they do today.

Visit the official site

Country of origin	Switzerland
Year founded	2009
Most popular model	the Galet Square
Official website	laurentferrier.ch

45. Maurice de Mauriac

Maurice de Mauriac stands out from the other brands on this list of popular men’s watch brands for several reasons.

Firstly, the founder, Daniel Dreifuss, used to work as a banker in New York before the financial crash convinced him to move back home to Zurich and start something different.

The brand is known for its minimalist designs. The emphasis is on sleek and streamlined functionality. Not that they aren’t also luxurious, with eye-catching straps in materials such as cowskin, Nappa, and crocodile leather.

Another unique aspect of Maurice de Mauriac is the brand’s collaboration with Fabian Schwaerzler, one of Switzerland’s top furniture designers, whose visionary approach to chairs and sofas translates surprisingly well to the creation of watches.

At Maurice de Mauriac, it’s possible for members of the public to learn about watchmaking at one of the brand’s workshops held for private parties, where experts are on hand to show you how it’s done.

Most importantly, at Maurice de Mauriac, they hand-make each individual watch. This gives you some idea of the attention to detail that has gone into your timepiece.

view Maurice de Mauriac collection

Country of origin	Switzerland
Year founded	1997
Most popular model	the Chrono Modern ‘Zuerich’
Official website	www.mauricedemauriac.com

46. Parmigiani Fleurier

Parmigiani Fleurier is a brand dedicated to producing beautiful and technologically exceptional timepieces and is one of the most well-respected watch-makers in the industry.

Michel Parmigiani is well known as a restorer of antique timepieces, and this profound knowledge of the inner mechanisms of historic watches has helped inform his designs.

The brand is perhaps best known for the Bugatti 370, which was inspired by Bugatti racing cars. Assembled along a horizontal axis and in a tubular formation, similar to a car’s engine, it was a ground-breaking design and is still considered a sensational bit of watch-making today.

Also popular are the Parmigiani Fleurier Toric watches, whose design is based on the Golden Ratio. And then there’s the Kalpa collection with their iconic tonneau case: a four-cornered barrel shape.

With its respect for and understanding of traditional craft, the brand has played no small part in re-establishing Swiss watch-making as a heritage art.

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Country of origin	Switzerland
Year founded	1996
Most popular model	the Bugatti 370
Official website	www.parmigiani.com

47. Gucci

It’s hard to think of a brand that better encapsulates the glamour of high-end fashion than Gucci. The label is known for its imaginative and innovative approach to luxury apparel and its maximalist aesthetic, as well as its peerless Italian craftsmanship.

Impossible as it is to imagine, Guccio Gucci started his career as a lift attendant in the London Savoy Hotel. Today, the fashion house is one of the most beloved luxury brands in the world.

Gucci started creating watches in 1997. Combining a Swiss passion for precision and perfection with Italian panache and playfulness, it comes as no surprise that Gucci watches are just as vibrant, high quality, and eye-catching as everything else produced by the label.

There are three Gucci watch categories: classic, sport, and fashion. Each timepiece incorporates the brand’s immediately recognizable motifs and offers the perfect high-end accessory.

Gucci watches are striking to behold and are sure to catch the eye of anyone next to you in the office, coffee shop, or cocktail bar.

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Country of origin	Italy
Year founded	1921
Most popular model	the Gucci G Timeless Quartz
Where to buy	Shop now

48. Weiss

Weiss Watches was founded in 2013 by Cameron Weiss, whose mission was to create small batches of premium watches using traditional Swiss techniques and methods. The company has remained in family hands since it began, with Weiss’ wife handling all marketing operations.

These are fuss-free watches that look just as good with casual wear as with a suit. They also evoke a uniquely American brand of relaxed luxury. Even the workshop itself, located in Torrance, California, is a far cry from the airs and graces of the traditional Swiss ateliers.

Weiss’s designs have a sharp yet vintage feel, with retro-style gauges and an aviation bent. The leather straps come from Horween tannery, one of the oldest tanneries in the US. Each watch is finished by hand in-house, and the entire process takes over 35 hours per watch.

The premium watch brand proclaims that its aim is to restore prestige to American watchmaking. By all estimations, Weiss is doing a very good job, especially with their timeless field watches collection.

view collection online

Country of origin	United States
Year founded	2013
Most popular model	the American Issue Field Watch
Official website	www.weisswatchcompany.com

49. Tissot

Tissot’s motto is ‘Innovators by tradition.’ This really says it all, really.

While apparently a paradox, the slogan conveys how the brand embraces the heritage and tradition of watch-making but also cutting-edge modern horology. While respecting and incorporating age-old watch-making practices, Tissot also works to push boundaries and encourage progress.

Accuracy is also a principal concern at Tissot, which was named Official Timekeeper for the NBA, Tour de France, and European Rugby Champions. Each mechanical movement contains an average of 100 precisely manufactured parts.

Its innovative projects extend beyond the world of watch-making too. On Glacier 3000, Tissot put its name to the world’s first suspension bridge linking two different summits.

The brand’s mission statement is: to make excellence accessible. As a result, these watches offer flawless mechanics and high-end design at prices that are far more accessible than many other top watch brands for men.

A Tissot creation is classic and contemporary at once.

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Country of origin	Switzerland
Year founded	1853
Most popular model	the Tissot Dress Watch
Where to buy	Shop now

50. Van Cleef & Arpels

Founded in 1896 in Paris by Alfred Van Cleef and Estelle Arpels, just one year after they got married, romance is at the heart of the Van Cleef & Arpels aesthetic.

The brand became an international success soon after launching, with fans fawning over its intricate and unique designs that conveyed an artistic sensibility and playful creativity. The company was even given the task of creating a crown for Empress Farah Pahlavi in 1967.

The brand is known for its designs inspired by nature and fantasy, with creations featuring flowers, fairies, and other poetic scenes.

Check out the Van Cleef & Arpels Pont des Amoureux, for example. In this watch, two minutely sculpted gold lovers unite for a kiss at midnight on a bridge in Paris. It’s a true piece of artistry that demonstrates not only VCA’s superb technical skill but also its imaginative and inventive designs.

With its visually arresting and unforgettable creations, the brand has long been a favorite of stars and royalty, including those famous arbiters of taste, Elizabeth Taylor, Jackie Kennedy, and Grace Kelly.

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Country of origin	France
Year founded	1906
Most popular model	the Cadenas
Official website	www.vancleefarpels.com

51. Junghans

For the discerning watch-wearer, a Junghans watch offers precision, durability, and a statement of taste. These are modern watches for the modern man, or, indeed, lady.

The brand began life as a factory creating components for clocks in the Black Forest of Germany. In fact, by 1903, it was the world’s largest clock factory.

In 1927, the company started making wristwatches, and today they still make their watches in the original Schramberg factory, where they combine traditional techniques with state-of-the-art technology.

The brand makes no secret of its love for racing and automotive have inspired a number of designs, including the Meister Driver Automatic, with its racing green or brown leather strap.

Then there’s the Max Bill Collection, designed in collaboration with the famous Bauhaus architect, whose timepieces convey a minimalist and clean-lined aesthetic.

Junghans is not a showy or ostentatious brand. The designs are discreet and understated. This enduring elegance makes a Junghans watch a solid investment. Junghans is also one of the more affordable luxury watch brands.

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Country of origin	Germany
Year founded	1861
Most popular model	the Meister Driver Automatic
Where to buy	Shop now

52. Bulova

Bulova immediately stands out as one of the few luxury watch brands that are based not in Switzerland but in Manhattan, New York City. It’s only fitting that a company known for its exciting and innovative approach to watch-making would hail from a city famous for its boldness and dynamism.

Bulova’s history is certainly one of many firsts in the world of watches, with the spirit of invention at the heart of the brand. Bulova is celebrated for pioneering a standardized process for the production of watches as well as developing the first fully electronic watch with proprietary tuning-fork-based technology.

With a Bulova watch, you are wearing the very best of modern horological technology and progressive design on your wrist. Oh, and these watches are also incredibly accurate. It’s no coincidence that two of Bulova’s most popular watches are called the Accutron and the Precisionist. Saying it like it is.

Check our hands-on Bulova Wilton GMT review to learn more about the brand. We also have a dedicated Bulova brand story to dive deeper into the history behind the watchmaker.

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Country of origin	United States
Year founded	1875
Most popular model	the Precisionist Champlain Chronograph
Official website	www.bulova.com

53. Bovet Fleurier

If you’re looking for a luxury watch that doubles as artwork, then look no further than a Bovet Fleurier timepiece. These watches combine high-tech craftsmanship with decorative arts to create timekeepers that are also minor masterpieces.

Bovet began life in the 19th century, making pocket watches for the Chinese market, and its early clientele included the Emperor of China. Today. Bovet isn’t the world’s most famous watch company, but it remains highly distinguished, with unique creations that have won the brand its fair share of admirers.

What makes Bovet special is its intricate dials, miniature paintings, and seven-day tourbillon. Bovet was one of the first watch *maisons *to create highly decorative movements - and to offer skeletonized timepieces to show them off.

One of its most stand-out accomplishments was the creation of the Amadeo convertible system, which allows wearers to transform their timepiece into a table clock, necklace watch, pocket watch, and reversible wristwatch, all without the use of a tool.

Another admirable feature of Bovet Fleurier is the company’s efforts to employ female artisans.

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Country of origin	United Kingdom
Year founded	1822
Most popular model	the Bovet 1822 Amadeo Fleurier
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54. Oris

Oris produces only mechanical watches, all powered by springs. You will never find a battery-powered Oris. The Oris red rotor, visible through the crystal case back, symbolizes the natural power that fuels all Oris timepieces.

This commitment to preserving the traditional mechanics that make watches such a unique demonstration of human ingenuity is what makes Oris distinct. The company makes its own calibers in-house, and its designs are celebrated for their simple appearance, superb functionality, and great value for money.

Oris watches fall into four categories: Aviation, Diving, Motorsport, and Culture. While the first three of these ‘watch families’ are focused on high-performance durability, the latter is geared more towards classic aesthetics with cultural inspiration.

If you’re looking for a watch that will last for years into the future and for a timepiece that can accompany you on your adventures around the world, then Oris has a watch for you.

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Country of origin	Switzerland
Year founded	1904
Most popular model	the Oris Diver Sixty-Five
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55. Ressence

Ressence is a Belgian watchmaking company that has been changing the game of watchmaking since 2010. In an industry where tradition and heritage are often considered everything, this desire to launch watchmaking into the 21st century has been widely celebrated.

The brand name is a combination of *renaissance *and *essence, *and this attitude of rebirth and revitalization, and taking watchmaking back to its essential elements, is at the heart of the company’s ethos.

Founder Benoît Mintiens wanted to bring some of his own unique Belgian ideals to the Swiss-dominated world of watchmaking. He was inspired by the Belgian legend of Antigoon: a giant whose hand was cut off.

Drawing on this mythical story, Mintiens designed a watch that was also missing hands. The Type 1001 was born: a watch with no hands. Instead, you read the time by means of rotating disks.

Ressence combines top-quality Swiss calibers with innovative and progressive engineering to re-envision what a mechanical watch can be today. If you’re looking for a ground-breaking piece of mechanical mastery, you want a Ressence watch.

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Country of origin	Belgium
Year founded	2010
Most popular model	Ressence Type 1
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Luxury watch buying guide: what to look for when shopping for a luxury watch

When shopping for a luxury watch, there are a few key things to look out for. To ensure you invest in the right model for your particular needs, there are a couple of things to consider.

Firstly, a few terms from the world of Haute Horlogerie to wrap your head around before you start browsing:

• Balance wheel: a weighted wheel that rotates back and forth, allowing the hands of the watch to move
• Balance spring: also known as a hairspring, this is a delicate spring that controls the speed at which the balance wheel oscillates
• Bezel: the metal or ceramic ring that surrounds the crystal
• Caliber: another word for a watch movement
• Chronograph: a watch with a stopwatch function
• Complication: any function of a watch that goes beyond just telling the time
• Escapement: releases the gear train, allowing the clock’s hands to move forward
• GMT: a GMT watch can track two time zones simultaneously
• Tourbillon: a type of escapement in a rotating cage designed to counter the effects of gravity and increase accuracy

The following features might also be something to pay attention to:

• Chronometer rating: this means their timekeeping abilities have been tested.
• Water resistance rating: you need a rating of at least 100 meters if you want to wear your watch in a swimming pool. For diving, you’ll need a rating of more than 200 meters.
• Synthetic Sapphire Crystal front window: a scratch-resistant material. The thicker the window, the better. Mineral glass is a cheaper option.
• Strap: this could be metal, rubber (if it’s a diving watch), or leather. If it’s metal, make sure it’s joined together with screws instead of pins.

Next, consider your lifestyle. Are you the adventurous sort looking for a watch that is durable, reliable, and, most importantly, water-resistant?

Or are you more likely to wear your luxury watch to an exclusive social gathering or gala night? In this case, you might simply want a status symbol: something that conveys exclusivity and prestige.

What is your budget? Some luxury watches cost more than a car. But bear in mind that the best luxury watches will last you a lifetime and can be passed down to your children. A luxury watch is a real investment. And if you don’t have limitless cash to blow, don’t worry. There are more budget-friendly options too, such as those by Oris or Junghans.

Finally, think about the kind of watch you require or want: a quartz watch or a mechanical watch? What’s the difference?

• A mechanical watch doesn’t use batteries. Most luxury watches use automatic movements, which means they don’t need winding either, unlike manual mechanical watches.
• Quartz watches are a cheaper option and use batteries for power. However, it’s possible to find a luxury quartz watch, such as those by Seiko.

Are luxury watches a good investment?

Mechanical luxury watches are a good investment because they don’t generally depreciate in value. Models by luxury brands like Rolex and Patek Philippe can hold their value for a long time, and some can even increase in value due to limited supply.

While a normal watch might last three or four years, a luxury watch can last a lifetime, even several lifetimes if cared for and maintained properly. This makes it a great investment.

Additionally, the high price tag is arguably merited. These are minute works of art. The complexity of the engineering is just one reason for the high cost of these luxury watches.

Furthermore, you can always sell your luxury watch later if you want to. Check out marketplaces for pre-owned watches like Fashionphile, Farfetch, or Jomashop.

How to care for and maintain a mechanical watch?

Taking care of and maintaining your mechanical watch is important if you want it to last a long time. Indeed, many watches are passed down the generations, becoming valuable family heirlooms. It’s vital to look after your luxury watch in the right way to keep it running.

Firstly, remember to wind up your mechanical watch once a day. If you don’t keep it wound, the coiled mainspring inside that provides power will only keep going for a day or two.

Take your watch off to wind it in order to avoid putting strain on the stem. And don’t overwind. Of course, automatic watches don’t require winding as long as you’re wearing them daily.

Clean your mechanical watch as often as you can with a soft cloth. Gently wipe down the band and case, removing any built-up grime. Another option is to use an old toothbrush. In the case of stubborn dirt and dust, it’s best to have an intensive cleaning done professionally.

Every few years, it’s wise to get your watch serviced to get problems resolved before they develop into anything more serious.

The inside of your mechanical watch is an engineering miracle. The functioning of all those gears and springs is the work of master craftsmen and is exceptionally precise. That means the smallest bash or shock can knock everything off-kilter. Bear this in mind as you go about your daily life.

A few other tips for ensuring your mechanical watch lasts a lifetime:

• Avoid magnets, although more modern watch springs are made from silicon, which is resistant to magnetism.
• Be cautious around water. Is your watch water-resistant? Does this include the shower? And up to what depth can your watch be worn? Extreme pressure changes can break a watch. And leather bands shouldn’t get wet at all.
• Keep hold of the original watch box. This is a great place to store your watch when not wearing it.
• Avoid extreme heat and sunlight, although most modern hairsprings are made from a metal that can withstand temperature changes.
• Perfume can damage leather bands. When applying, wait a bit before putting your watch on.