We all like to admire high-end watches, even if they’re well out of our price range. But if we really want to focus in on the most stunningly exquisite timepieces ever made, we’ll need to raise the bar even higher than normal – for example, by focusing solely on watches that cost more than a Bugatti! Considering that a brand new Bugatti Veyron costs somewhere in the ballpark of $2.5 million, finding 5 watches that cost even more than that was no easy task – but we think the stunning results speak for themselves!
5. A. Lange & Söhne Grand Complication – $2.6 million
The Grand Complication from A. Lange & Söhne is a timepiece so stunningly complex and intricate that only one of them can be produced per year. The impressive multitude of functions this watch can perform includes a rattrapante chronograph, a perpetual calendar, a grand sonnerie, and even a pleasant-looking moon phase display. The monopusher chronograph, possessing both split-seconds and jumping sections capabilities, is thus able to time two events at once, to within the ultra-high accuracy of 1/5th of a second. The perpetual calendar complication, for its part, will not require correction until the year 2100, taking into account both the precise number of days in each month, as well as the appearance of February 29th on leap years. Through the sapphire-crystal caseback, one can watch the Grand Complication’s many gears move with hypnotizing precision, all led by the in-house L1902 calibre.
4. Franck Muller Aeternitas Mega 4 – $2.7 million
Comprised of 1483 individual components, enhanced with 99 jewels, and boasting an incredible 36 complications, it’s little wonder that Franck Muller has proclaimed its Aeternitas Mega 4 “the most complicated wrist watch ever made in the world”. This extraordinary timepiece’s primary movement takes on a cintrée curvex shape and includes both a Breguet spiral and a Franck Muller conception escapement. When one moves on to the grand sonnerie, however, is when this watch truly begins to stand out; for that particular complication, the very same notes which are chimed by Westminster cathedral’s clock tower are struck. Such is the unparalleled attention to detail which appears throughout this timepiece, and which includes an eternal perpetual calendar, multiple time zone dials, and a highly precise moon phase dial whose margin of error is a mere 1 day per millennium.
3. Vacheron Constantin Tour de L’Ile – $2.8 million
Swiss watchmaker Vacheron Constantin makes its own impressive mark on this list with the Tour de L’Ile, a $2.8 million wristwatch which was first released in 2005, and which was limited to only 7 pieces in total. Built from 834 parts and featuring 16 complications, it reportedly took the brilliant minds at Vacheron Constantin 10,000 hours of work to research, plan, and construct this beautiful watch. The intricately-designed face includes a tourbillon, a colorful moon phase/orbit complication, a 24-hour 2nd time zone dial, a power reserve retrograde, and more. At the rear of the watch (which is no less impressive than the face), one can see a plethora of horological and celestial complications at work, including a Northern Hemisphere sky chart, sunrise/sunset time, a leap year indicator, and much much more. Wrapped up in a vintage-style rose gold case, this watch is every bit as timelessly stylish as it is mechanically practicable.
2. Louis Moinet Meteoris Tourbillons – $4.9 million (Set)
We’re cheating a bit here because this price reflects an entire set rather than individual watches, but since only 1 set was ever produced and they were all sold as a cohesive package, Louis Moinet’s Meteoris Tourbillon watches do indeed cost almost twice as much as a Bugatti, at an out-of-this-world $4.9 million. Such a stratospheric price is, however, quite appropriate for luxury watches which are not only designed to evoke the wonder of celestial bodies in the sky, but which are actually built from celestial bodies as well! Based on the design of the Louis Moinet Vertalis Tourbillon and possessing many of the same spectacular complications as that esteemed watch, each one of the 4 Meteoris Tourbillons is partially made from its respective namesake. For instance, the Meteoris Tourbillon Mars has a dial made from Jiddat al Haraiss 479 (a meteorite which originated from Mars), while the Meteoris Tourbillon Moon’s dial is made from Dhofar 459 (a meteorite from – you guessed it – the Moon). The set also includes a large 220-pound mechanical planetarium which doubles as a storage device for the watches.
1. Chopard 201-carat Watch – $25 million
A watch that costs more than a Bugatti Veyron is impressive enough – but a watch that costs ten times as much as a Bugatti Veyron? Now we’re talking! This 201-carat watch by Chopard sold for a staggering $25 million when it was first released back in 2000, and has likely appreciated even more in value since then. Unlike the other entries on this list, this particular watch didn’t earn its eye-popping price with a series of astonishingly intricate complications, but rather thanks to the 874 diamonds which grace its sturdy gold case from front to back. Three heart-shaped diamonds encircle the watch face: a 15.37-carat natural Fancy Pink diamond, a 12.79-carat natural Fancy Blue diamond, and an 11.36-carat D color diamond. When one activates a spring-loaded mechanism in the watch, these three exquisite diamonds “open up” in much the same fashion that a flower blooms,which is just one part of a floral theme which permeates the entire design of this magnificent jewelry piece, including numerous sections in which white and yellow diamonds are arranged to imitate blooming flowers. In the annals of luxury jewelry, Chopard’s 201-carat watch glitters brightly as one of the most lavish pieces ever created.
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