We often get asked what makes a $10,000 watch different than a $100 watch. Truthfully, it depends on how you’re looking at watches. If watches are something driven by function and they just need to tell time or at least stand up to the hazards of daily wear, then truthfully you could find a $100 watch to fill that need. But if you perceive a watch more as a means to an end for something you’re trying to express or possibly something you’re passionate about or looking to celebrate, then the odds are high that your eye will start to wander towards luxury watch brands.

Omega

Precision and cultural impact have always been the guiding compasses for Omega. In 1848 a humble watchmaker named Louis Brandt started his modest watchmaking operation called “Louis Brandt & Fils” in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland. It took over 45 years for that seed to grow and be cultivated by Louis Brandt’s sons, Louis Paul and Cesar.

An Omega would be a great brand for someone that wanted a high-end luxury timepiece with deep roots in Swiss horological history but with a legacy of pushing limits, innovating, and always trying to live the spirit of pushing forward while also being reverend towards the past.

Rolex

With humble beginnings and high aspirations, the small company that would eventually become Rolex Watches was originally founded in 1905 by Hans Wilsdorf and Alfred Davis. While the mainstream perception of Rolex has shifted from a tool watch manufacturer to that of a high-end luxury watch brand, Rolexes are still constructed with incredible attention to detail and are often still regarded as the pinnacle of consumer product reliability.

A Rolex would be an ideal purchase for someone that wanted something absolutely classic, that could work with shorts and a t-shirt or a suit.

Patek Philippe

Known for expressing their brand vision through elegance and intricate craftsmanship, Patek Philippe is often a luxury brand synonymous with highly elaborated complications like split-seconds chronographs, minute repeaters, and perpetual calendars.

A Patek Philippe would be the ideal brand for someone looking for the absolute ultimate expression of what a dress watch is supposed to be with a hard lean towards timeless but nostalgic aesthetics.

Audemars Piguet

While Audemars specialized in crafting complex watch movements, Piguet focused primarily on the regulation and accuracy-achievement of timepieces. Once fully incorporated and partnered, the brand went on to establish themselves not only as a core luxury watch brand but also an horological technology innovator.

However, their largest and most well-known contribution to the watch industry is the Royal Oak. First introduced in 1972, the Royal Oak was positioned as the world’s first luxury sports watch.

Grand Seiko

What you’ll notice with Grand Seiko is that while they strive for perfection, they may interpret that differently with their design than some other brands. Perfection in design for Grand Seiko generally tends to mean simplicity of form and/or the clearest/most aesthetically please iteration of a timepiece visual inspiration. Whether it’s a timepiece to commemorate the changing of the seasons and the celebration of Cherry Blossoms (SBGA413) or a timepiece that pays homage to the wind blowing snow off the Hokkaido Mountains (SBGA211), Grand Seiko employs a deft, measured, but thoughtful hand in everything they create.

A Grand Seiko would be a great watch purchase for someone in the market for a timepiece that was under the radar but packed with subtle meaning that would only really recognized by other enthusiasts.

Breitling

As a brand, Breitling has always had a close connection with performance sports, industrialized transportation, and exploration. The iconic Swiss watchmaker was pivotal in shaping the modern chronograph movement as we know it today. The goal for Breitling was always to innovate and allow the chronograph mechanism to be easier to use in real time. From offering the first chronograph wristwatch to aviators in the early 1900s, creating separate start/stop pushers from the crowns in the mid 1940s/50s, innovating the first automatic chronograph movement in the 1960s, and more.

A Breitling timepiece would be ideal for anyone looking to express a love of auto-powered performance sports while offering a nod to horological history.

Panerai

With deep roots in the Italian military as well as a design flair that’s undoubtedly bold, Panerai stands out among most luxury watch brands. By being able to provide water resistant and luminescent watches, Panerai proved themselves to be an invaluable partner for the Italian military. Specifically for the Italian “frogman” an elite class of amphibious solider tasked with underwater demolition. As the Italian Navy’s need to rely on their soldiers increased during the 1900s, so to did their reliance increase on Panerai’s ability to provide reliable and functional timepieces.

Jaeger-LeCoultre

With a history as a horological innovator and visionary in the world of technical watchmaking, Jaeger-LeCoultre has rightly earned its place as one of the most revered luxury watch brands in production today. With Swiss roots going all the way back to 1833, the brand was originally founded by Antoine LeCoultre. Even from those early beginnings, Jeager-LeCoultre was cultivating one of its more admirable traits: in-house, vertical watchmaking.

Tag Heuer

Tag Heuer has become inseparable from the history and the development of autosports and performance racing. Originally founded in 1860 by Edouard Heuer in Switzerland, the brand found themselves in a position to start innovating in congruence with the rise of automobiles. This was first seen in the late 1800s with Heuer’s chronograph offerings and then further into the early and mid 1900s with the inclusion of automobile dashboard timers and dashboard chronographs.

As the 1960s and 1970s ushered in the advent of higher performance automobiles, Heuer timepieces were the preferred choice thanks to the brand’s offering of chronographs. In the 1980s Heuer was acquired by TAG (a private holding company with focuses on the aviation and motorsports industries), which is where the current name Tag Heuer comes from.

Cartier

A Cartier timepiece would be an incredible choice for anyone looking for something with some strong horological roots outside of the typical Swiss brands. Additionally, the nature of their design ethos makes them ideal for anyone whose inclined towards Art Deco stylings.

Tudor

Due to the reliability and affordability of these early Tudor timepieces, they were a great fit for the military. In particular, the French Marine Nationale (French Navy) was a frequent customer and collaborator with Tudor from the mid to late 1900s. In the early 2000s Tudor began to re-imagine their product offerings by paying tribute to their models of the past but also by positioning their product lines within the luxury lifestyle market.

A Tudor would be a great watch for anyone that’s looking for something with some history but as a functional tool watch and less of a design-inspired dress watch.

Vacheron Constantin

At its core, Vacheron Constantin epitomizes what it means to be a modern Swiss luxury watch. They offer designs that are both respectful of the past but forward thinking; they strive to always push the boundaries of what technical horology is capable of (in 2015 Vacheron Constantin created the most complicated watch on earth, featuring 57 complications); and most important, they are a brand that marches to the beat of their own drum, often operating in a vacuum and carrying themselves in a way that isn’t concerned with trends of the watch world.

Zenith

The most notable contribution that Zenith has brought to the world of horology is the El Primero, the world’s first automatic chronograph movement (created in collaboration with Breitling) introduced in 1969. From that moment on, Zenith’s product line and offerings would forever be influenced by the El Primero with a core facet of the brand’s offerings being chronographs.