World's Popular And Most Expensive Watches - I

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The wristwatch, for most of the last century, has been the ultimate male accessory. One of the few accepted male adornments, the pocket watch evolved into the wristwatch and subsequently into a key indicator of social status, particularly in the upper echelons of society.

So what do the world's most powerful men wear? Wristlets, as the wrist-worn variants as were called, were reserved for women, and considered more of a passing fad than a serious timepiece. No one believed that the miniaturization necessary to make a watch so small, could be achieved without a loss of accuracy. In fact, wrist watches were held in such disdain a century ago that many a gentlemen were actually quoted to say they "would sooner wear a skirt as wear a wristwatch.." As has so often been the case with new technology, its introduction and subsequent performance under the most exacting conditions (i.e. war) was the catalyst for a change in public perception. Eventually the demand for the watches increased resulting in ongoing miniaturization, more accuracy, self-winding mechanisms and greater durability in the form of water and shock resistance. A mini-survey of very rich and important people, with Patek Philippe watches seeming to lead in terms of the number of VIPs sporting them, with a sprinkling of Audemars Piguet, Omega and Rolex. You can also find names such as Girard-Perregaux, Cartier, Jean Dunand, Piaget, Tag Heuer, Breitling, Jaeger Le Coultre, Breguet, Franck Muller and Bvlgari cropping up regularly. These account to the world's most prestigious and most expensive brand of watches.

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The most expensive watch worth US0,000 Constantin Vacheron, was worn by Italian Prime Minister and mega-wealthy industrialist Silvio Berlusconi. And just for the record, the most expensive wristwatch ever sold was a 1933 gold Patek Phillipe with 24 complications. The watch had been the final chapter in a game of elite one-upsmanship played out through the 1920s between New York financier Henry Graves Jr. and automotive innovator James Packard. Each successively commissioned more than a dozen timepieces, each better than the other's until Graves commissioned the ultimate watch feasible at that time, a watch that took three years to design and five years to produce. The watch was sold at auction by Sothebys in 1999 for US ,003,500.

For those with an eye for style and a mind that can handle only so much complication, the Excalibur EX 08 from Roger Dubuis should wear nicely. Within the watch's 45 mm, 18-karat polished and satiny gold case rests an eye-catching dial of elegant relief Roman numerals marked by handsome gold hands. Complications include flying tourbillon with its cage set jauntily at 5 o'clock, as well as minute repetition. It looks especially nice with the hand-sewn crocodile strap. This watch is limited to 28 pieces and will set you back 0,000 per tick.

IWC's Grande Complication contains a total of 659 mechanical parts, 71 of them jewels-which is pretty impressive given how slender it is. Those parts keep busy too; they are responsible for 21 function and displays, including a minute repeater, four-digit year display, moon phase display made of polished goldstone and a perpetual calendar for the next 500 years. Today it is owned by the Geneva-based luxury conglomerate Compagnie Financière Richemont, which also owns top watchmakers Vacheron Constantin, Baume & Mercier and Jaeger-LeCoultre. Production of the Grande Complication is limited to 50 per year. Omega has always seemed synonymous with "action-packed"- which is perhaps why one of its Speed masters was the first watch on the moon. The Swiss firm's Skeleton Central Tourbillon lets you see all the action of its most expensive movement ever, with more than 800 individual pieces, each of them hand-tooled and hand-etched. Omega chose the trickiest of all placements for the tourbillon--smack in the middle of the watch movement. At eight weeks to piece together and 2,500 to buy, it's quite a timepiece.

From Breitling's continuing partnership with Bentley Motors comes this handsome Bentley Mulliner Tourbillon chronograph. Turned out at a rate of only two per month over the next few years, each watch can be customized to the purchaser's particular taste, with options like a selection of wooden rings in the case back. The piece is available in Bentley trim shades, including burl walnut, madrona, birds-eye maple and others. Besides the tourbillon, the very masculine timepiece also dazzles with a nifty 30-second chronograph, thus enabling precise readings to one-sixth of a second. It is available in platinum for 5,000, in gold for 2,000 and in other precious metals.

Some big brands

There are some big brands of wristwatches that are already enlisted above. They are: Audemars Piguet, Omega, Rolex, Cartier, Jean Dunand, Piaget, Tag Heuer, Breitling, Breguet, and Bvlgari. These are some of the few that can are worth mentioning.

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