Top 10 Wristwatches of the 21st Century

Here's our pick of the top ten wristwatches this century has given us so far.

We need to make it clear from the outset that this isn't a list of the most expensive watches. This is about the most important ones with technologies that future generations will say exemplify today's science and technology, and the ones that will tell them what kind of people we were too. And as strange as it may sound, measuring the value of something by its significance rather than its price is perfectly compatible with the principles that govern the world of luxury watches.

1 - 3: Patek Philippe Sky Moon Tourbillon (2001) / Vacheron Constantin Tour de L’Ile (2005) /Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Grande Complication à Triptyque (2006)

Why do we believe these three most complicated wristwatches deserve to share the prize as joint winners? Because it's practically impossible to determine which of them is the most complicated and the most important. The Vacheron Constantin Tour de L’Ile and the Patek Philippe Sky Moon Tourbillon were sold for the same price of 1,000,000 EUR or 1,200,000 CHF — in many respects a symbolic price.

However, Vacheron Constantin shipped six of the seven models created for the 250th anniversary to the lucky buyers in different countries, which meant that the owners had to pay all the import duties. One Russian collector had to pay 1,385,000 CHF, but the only remaining piece in Switzerland raised even more when it was put up for auction at Antiquorum on April 3, 2005, which sold for 1,876,250 CHF. So it turns out that the Tour de L’Ile was the most expensive.

However, the Patek Philippe Sky Moon Tourbillon launched on threshold of the new millennium has already resurfaced at two auctions in the 20 years since its release, where it has steadily grown in value by 12% year-on-year. This means that, in theory, each of the ten pieces is worth almost 2.5 million CHF.

Yet the Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso à Triptyque is the most complicated with 19 functions (the Tour de L’Ile has 16 complications, while the Sky Moon Tourbillon has 12).  The "Triptych" (a picture or relief carving on three panels) also happens to be considered the most complicated watch in terms of how it's constructed. You only need to look at its dial with two extra faces when the case is opened.

The perpetual calendar is inside, positioned on the case carriage and physically separated from the rest of the movement.The perpetual calendar is inside, positioned on the case carriage and physically separated from the rest of the movement. That's why the biggest collectors can debate it until they’re blue in the face, but they can't reach a general consensus on which of these three watches is the best. We won't break with tradition on this debate either.

We've also singled out this trio for their unique combination of a variety of complications, magnificently built functional mechanisms, and the highest level of design, watch-building artistry and exemplary decorative details. It's no wonder that these were and still are the world's most complicated watches.

We only need to list the functions of the Patek Philippe Sky Moon Tourbillon — a watch that has a minute repeater, tourbillon, perpetual calendar with retrograde date hand, the stars with a date aperture, moon-phase display, equation of time, plus weekday, month and leap-year apertures. And that's just on the dial side. On the reverse side of the case you can find a calibrated dial for sidereal time, a sky chart and the phases and orbit of the moon. Its case is surprisingly small, at all but 38 mm in diameter and 12.61 mm thick. 

The Vacheron Constantin Tour de l'Ile comprises a minute repeater with three calendars — a perpetual, astronomical and astrological calendar — as well as earthly sunrise and sunset time, day and night display, GMT, equation of time and the moon-related "bells and whistles". Its rose-gold case is 47 mm in diameter and 17.8 mm thick.

All of the same functions can be found inside the Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso à Triptyque — the watch with no less than three dials — plus a power reserve indicator and two 24-hour indicators. It also has a rather complicated tourbillon carriage containing the patented Ellipse Isometer Escapement. The Triptych's case dimensions are 37.7 x 55, and 17.9 mm in height. JLC limited the release of this model to 75 pieces, each of which was priced at 375,000 CHF.

4: Cartier ID One

The three greats are a hard act to follow, but we've picked a stunningly futuristic watch made with the latest specially engineered and previously unheard of nanoparticles. They may have little to do with haute horlogerie, but it's scary how advanced they are. 

5: Ulysse Nardin Freak

This watch with a name that's beyond weird truly deserves to be this high up on the list. We should mention its innovative movement, which has a Carrousel Tourbillon and a remarkable solution for storing energy with no crown, its movement pivoting on itself to indicate time. The Freak was the watch that ushered in the application of silicon technologies in watchmaking.

It also deserves to be admired for further innovations in applying photographic manufacturing in silicon technology using a manufacturing technique called “DRIE”. This involves coating parts made of silicon-based material with a layer of monocrystalline diamond (which prevents static electricity building up).

6: Seiko Spring Drive

The first mechatronic watch in watchmaking history — the world's first watch driven by the mainspring power and controlled by quartz at the same time — has combined the advantages of mechanical and electronic watches. The idea of replacing the oscillating balance wheel rotating at a frequency of 4 Hz with a laser to control its speed is simply ingenious. 

7: Jaeger-LeCoultre Duomètre

We couldn't possibly leave out the entire line of watches with Dual-Wing movements, which implement the revolutionary idea of using two essentially independent movements at the same time. All of these models are contenders for best watch in their own way. The Hybris Mechanica and Sphérotourbillon are by far the best and most advanced minute repeater and tourbillon watches in the world today.

8: Girard-Perregaux Constant Escapement

This is a model that will go down in watchmaking history. The monumental work that the masters at the historic manufacture have put into developing and implementing a revolutionary and fundamentally different form of lever escapement deserves to be acknowledged. 

9: De Bethune Maxichrono Tourbillon

Never mind the fact that this is the most advanced mechanical chronograph in the history of watchmaking; the many years of theoretical and experimental research conducted by brilliant master watchmaker Denis Flageollet deserve to be recognized with the ultimate accolade and highest praise, who searched for ways to improve the lever escapement, new materials and shapes to use in the balance, and ways to improve efficiency in self-winding movements and constant force. 

10: Greubel Forsey Double Tourbillon 30°

Friends Robert Greubel and Stephen Forsey put theory into practice based on their own unique research into positional errors, and have essentially regained trust in the tourbillon by proving it isn't just a beautiful but largely useless wristwatch gimmick, but a mechanism that really does increase accuracy in timekeeping.