Top 15 Mind-Blowing Watches With the Highest Price Tags

Watchmaking is a craft, and some distinguished and expensive watches are masterpieces the world will remember for a long time.

Some are created by centuries-old watchmakers, and others are designed by new talents. Some were limited editions, designed by centuries-old household watchmaking names and auctioned at millions of dollars. Many consider these watches with their unique specs to be worth the high price tag.

The top 15 most expensive watches are state-of-the-art pieces that won’t fail to make you daydream about possessing one of them. Read on to discover their stories!

15.) Loving Butterfly Automaton

• Price: $126,000
• Brand: Jaquet Droz

The Loving Butterfly Automaton watch is a piece of art. It is a poetic homage to the beauty of nature.

A mechanical automation engine moves the butterfly’s wings and chariot’s wings. Its meteorite dial is made of 18 karats of red gold and the whole watch is made of 57 jewels.

If you think that $126,000 is too much for one piece, wait until you the multi-million expensive watches next!

14.) Van Cleef & Arpels Midnight Planetarium

• Price: $245,000
• Brand: Van Cleef & Arpels

Just in case you were wondering, the tiny planets on this mini-solar system do move around.

This is more than an intricate, elegant and accurate piece of jewelry. It is also a wonder of mechanics. The case of this wristwatch is 44mm in diameter, the planets are made of gemstones and a domed sapphire crystal covers the dial.

13.) Knights of the Round Table

• Price: $268,000
• Brand: Roger Dubuis

No one can forget this 28-piece limited-edition watch.

The legend of Arthur inspired the making of this outstanding piece. As you can see in the picture, there are 12 sculpted miniature knights, each branding their sword towards the center of the crystal. The dial is made of black jade, and the round table is cast in 18K pink gold.

12.) Lady Arpels Poetic Wish Watch

• Price: €350,000
• Brand: Van Cleef & Arpels

Van & Cleef never disappoint when it comes to watches. Just look at how this Lady Arpels Poetic Wish wristwatch is engineered.

The watch is 39 mm in diameter with a white gold case, diamonds and a romantic Paris scene. Notice the Eiffel Tower and Notre-Dame Cathedral? The watchmaker engraved these timepiece decorations with mother-of-pearl colors, gold foil, white gold and translucent enamel.

11.) Bird Repeater Fall of the Rhine

• Price: £410,000
• Brand: Jacquet Droz

Refined jewelry goes a long way.

This piece captures the beauty of the Rhine Falls, the largest waterfall in Europe. A pair of gorgeous 18k gold hand-painted black redstarts that spread their wings catch the attention of anyone looking at this watch.

An egg hatches in the mother-of-pearl background to complete this picturesque scene.

10.) Parrot Repeater Pocket Watch

• Price: $1.05 million – $1.67 million.
• Brand: Jacquet Droz

Can you resist the exotism of this one-of-a-kind pocket watch? We know we can’t!

Intricate watches like these push the technical and artistic boundaries of watchmaking. The animated naturalist scene features macaws in colorful plumage, a lush jungle of vines and hibiscus in 69 jewels and an animated waterfall and eggs.

This piece celebrated the 280th anniversary of Jaquet Droz, so many people don’t mind that is one of the expensive watches out there.

9.) Patek Philippe Perpetual Calendar Chronograph

• Price: $2.28 million
• Brand: Patek Philippe

This unique and seemingly simple piece is, in fact, a technical beauty designed by Patek Philippe in 1957.

Distinguishing features include rectangular chronograph buttons and pink gold body parts. It also has a tachometer scale, leaf-shaped hands and applied Arabic hours.

This is the second most complicated watch style made by this brand.

8.) Louis Moinet Meteoris

• Price: $4.6 million
• Brand: Louis Moinet

How about carrying a fragment of the outer space around your wrist?

This hand-crafted multi-million wristwatch comes in four stunning tourbillon timepieces: Tourbillon Mars, Tourbillon Rosetta Stone, Tourbillon Asteroid and Tourbillon Moon.

Each one of them showcases a rare (and expensive) meteorite.

7.) Patek Philippe Calibre 89

• Price: $5 million
• Brand: Patek Philippe

Created to celebrate Patek Philippe’s 150th birthday, this pocket watch will amaze anyone who set their eyes on it.

Over 700 separate pieces make this limited-edition commemorative watch. It also features a star chart and a moon phase display. It’s also one of the most expensive watches ever.

6.) Rolex Cosmograph Daytona

• Price: $17.8 million (sold at auction)
• Brand: Rolex

Introduced in 1963, the Cosmograph Daytona was designed with the demands of racing drivers in mind.

It is an iconic chronograph watch that got even more hype when Paul Newman reported wearing it on a daily basis between 1969 and 1984. His wife, Joanne Woodward, gave it to him. Later on, Newman gifted this same watch to his daughter’s former boyfriend, James Cox.

The new owner sold it at an auction for the astronomical price of $17.8 million. It is one of the most expensive watches ever auctioned.

5.) Chopard 201 Carat

• Price: $25 million
• Brand: Chopard

Chopard is a household name in the watchmaking industry. The Swiss company unveiled the Chopard 201 Carat to the public in 2001, much to the surprise and delight of everybody.

The $25 million dollar watch is made of 800 diamonds in different shapes, colors and sizes. As if it weren’t enough, this outstanding masterpiece also has a mechanism that one can press to reveal three heart-shaped diamonds in blue, pink and gray.

4.) Jaeger-LeCoultre Joaillerie 101 Manchette

• Price: $26 million
• Brand: Jaeger-LeCoultre

What can seem like a regular manchette bracelet hides in its parts the smallest mechanical movement ever designed: the Jaeger-LeCoultre Calibre 101.

In addition to holding a world record, this watch also features 576 diamonds and white gold tiles arranged in a pavé fashion.

Even Queen Elizabeth received one, so we can understand why it made the most expensive watches list.

3.) Breguet Grande Complication Marie-Antoinette

• Price: $30 million
• Brand: Breguet

This pocket watch is so unique that it could have its own spot in a French museum.

The Queen Marie-Antoinette had been fond of Breguet’s watches and acquired many of his pieces. In 1783, a mysterious admirer decided to gift her the most spectacular timepiece from the watchmaker.

Marie-Antoinette never got to see her unique present though. The watchmaker finished creating it in 1827, 34 years after her death.

2.) Graff Diamonds The Fascination

• Price: $40 million
• Brand: Graff Diamonds

The Fascination will do exactly what its name says, it won’t fail to fascinate you.

This 152.96-carat watch with white diamonds has a unique design. At its top sits an exquisitely rare 38-carat pear-shaped diamond, that the lucky owner of the watch can detach and wear as a ring.

With the diamond on, the watch transforms into an ultra-luxurious bracelet. Brilliant!

1.) Graff Diamonds Hallucination

• Price: $55 million
• Brand: Graff Diamonds

Imagine these specs: 110 carats of rare and massive colored diamonds and a bracelet of platinum. Excited yet?

The Graff Diamonds Hallucination is worth $55 million, making it the most expensive watch on our list. For extra bling, pink diamonds frame its quartz dial. Laurence Graff’s, the chairman of Graff Diamonds and the maker of this beauty said: “The Graff Hallucination is a sculptural masterpiece, a celebration of the miracle of colored diamonds.”

What do you think of these expensive watches? What’s the model that caught your attention and wish you could have someday? For more luxurious pieces of jewelry, head to our next article to discover the most unique tiaras in the world!