Greatest Watches of All Time

Rolex Submariner

Born in 1953 as a tool for professional divers, the Submariner became the template every dive watch since has copied. James Bond wore it, Steve McQueen wore it, and it survived decades of trend cycles without ever needing a redesign. It is the single most recognizable watch silho

Year Introduced: 1953Approx. Price: $9,150Prestige: 9.5/10Movement: Automatic

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Omega Speedmaster Moonwatch

NASA tested chronographs to destruction and the Speedmaster was the only one that survived, riding Buzz Aldrin's wrist on the lunar surface in 1969. It later saved the crew of Apollo 13 by timing a critical engine burn with nothing but a hand-wound movement. No watch has a bigger

Year Introduced: 1957Approx. Price: $6,900Prestige: 9.3/10Movement: Manual-wind chronograph

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Rolex Daytona

Once a slow-selling racing watch Rolex practically had to give away in the 1960s, the Daytona became the most coveted watch on the planet after Paul Newman was photographed wearing one on set. That exact reference later sold at auction for $17.8 million, the most expensive wristw

Year Introduced: 1963Approx. Price: $15,100Prestige: 9.6/10Movement: Automatic chronograph

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Patek Philippe Nautilus

Gerald Genta sketched the porthole-inspired case on a napkin in 1976, and it flopped for years as an oddly-shaped steel sports watch from a dress-watch brand. Then hype culture caught up, and by the 2020s a discontinued Nautilus 5711 was trading for triple its list price on the g

Year Introduced: 1976Approx. Price: $35,000Prestige: 9.4/10Movement: Automatic

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Audemars Piguet Royal Oak

Also a Genta design, the 1972 Royal Oak dared to sell a steel watch for the price of a gold one, built around an octagonal bezel with exposed screws that scandalized traditionalists. It flipped luxury watchmaking on its head and invented the entire 'luxury sports watch' category

Year Introduced: 1972Approx. Price: $25,000Prestige: 9.5/10Movement: Automatic

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Rolex GMT-Master II

Designed in 1955 with Pan Am pilots in mind, the GMT-Master gave crews a second time zone at a glance and the two-tone 'Pepsi' bezel a permanent nickname. It has since become a streetwear-adjacent status symbol, with the ceramic 'Batman' and 'Root Beer' versions among the hardest

Year Introduced: 1955Approx. Price: $10,900Prestige: 9/10Movement: Automatic

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Cartier Tank

Louis Cartier designed the Tank in 1917, inspired by the top-down silhouette of WWI armored tanks, and gave the first one to General Pershing. It became the defining rectangular dress watch, worn by everyone from Andy Warhol to Princess Diana to Jackie Kennedy. It proved a watch

Year Introduced: 1917Approx. Price: $3,700Prestige: 8.7/10Movement: Quartz/Automatic

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Patek Philippe Calatrava

Launched in 1932 with a clean Bauhaus-influenced dial and a hobnail-crown bezel, the Calatrava became the codifier of what a 'proper' round dress watch should look like. Nearly a century on, its DNA is still visible in dress watches from every major maker. It is the quiet aristoc

Year Introduced: 1932Approx. Price: $32,000Prestige: 8.9/10Movement: Manual-wind

added by IJRPatek Philippe Calatrava

Rolex Datejust

Introduced in 1945 for Rolex's 40th anniversary, the Datejust was the first self-winding waterproof chronometer wristwatch to show the date in a window, complete with the now-iconic Cyclops magnifier added a few years later. It became the default 'a Rolex' in the public imaginati

Year Introduced: 1945Approx. Price: $7,300Prestige: 8.5/10Movement: Automatic

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Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso

Built in 1931 with a case that flips on its own hinge, the Reverso was designed so British polo players in India could protect the crystal from mallet strikes mid-match. Nearly a century later that swivel case remains one of watchmaking's cleverest and most Art Deco-perfect mecha

Year Introduced: 1931Approx. Price: $8,900Prestige: 8.6/10Movement: Manual-wind

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IWC Portugieser

Commissioned in 1939 by two Portuguese businessmen who wanted marine-chronometer accuracy in a wristwatch, the Portugieser's oversized case and railway-track dial became the template for the entire modern 'big dress watch' trend decades later. It quietly waited fifty years before

Year Introduced: 1939Approx. Price: $12,600Prestige: 8.4/10Movement: Automatic

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Omega Seamaster

Launched in 1948 as Omega's answer to postwar demand for rugged, water-resistant watches, the Seamaster later became inseparable from James Bond after Pierce Brosnan strapped one on in GoldenEye in 1995. It's since out-Bonded even the Rolex Submariner in screen time. Military ped

Year Introduced: 1948Approx. Price: $5,900Prestige: 8.3/10Movement: Automatic

added by IJROmega Seamaster

Breitling Navitimer

Released in 1952 with a circular slide-rule bezel built for pilots to calculate fuel burn and airspeed in the cockpit, the Navitimer became the official watch of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. It's one of the few tool watches whose complicated bezel actually got used

Year Introduced: 1952Approx. Price: $9,300Prestige: 8.2/10Movement: Automatic chronograph

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Rolex Day-Date

Debuting in 1956 as the first wristwatch to display both day and date spelled out in full, the Day-Date was immediately reserved for solid gold and platinum cases only, earning it the nickname 'the President.' Every U.S. president since Eisenhower has reportedly worn one at some

Year Introduced: 1956Approx. Price: $38,000Prestige: 8.8/10Movement: Automatic

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Vacheron Constantin Overseas

Vacheron Constantin's answer to the Nautilus and Royal Oak arrived comparatively late in 1996, an integrated-bracelet steel sports watch from the oldest continuously operating watchmaker in the world. It never chased hype the way its rivals did, quietly building a reputation amon

Year Introduced: 1996Approx. Price: $22,000Prestige: 8.1/10Movement: Automatic

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Grand Seiko Snowflake (SBGA211)

Released in 2010, the Snowflake's textured dial replicates freshly fallen snow in the Shinshu region where it's made, powered by Seiko's hybrid Spring Drive movement that glides rather than ticks. It became the watch that convinced Western collectors Japanese haute horlogerie cou

Year Introduced: 2010Approx. Price: $5,800Prestige: 8/10Movement: Spring Drive

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Casio G-Shock DW-5000C

Engineer Kikuo Ibe built the first G-Shock in 1983 after dropping and destroying a favorite watch, obsessing over a design tough enough to survive a bounce down five flights of stairs. It became a hip-hop and skate-culture icon precisely because it was cheap, nearly indestructibl

Year Introduced: 1983Approx. Price: $300Prestige: 7.8/10Movement: Quartz

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TAG Heuer Monaco

Launched in 1969 with the first automatic chronograph movement and an unheard-of square case, the Monaco found immortality on Steve McQueen's wrist in the 1971 film Le Mans. It bombed commercially for years before McQueen's cool retroactively made it a design icon. Racing heritag

Year Introduced: 1969Approx. Price: $6,900Prestige: 7.9/10Movement: Automatic chronograph

added by IJRTAG Heuer Monaco

Panerai Luminor

Descended from watches Panerai built for Italian Navy frogmen in WWII, the Luminor's oversized cushion case and distinctive crown-locking lever went civilian in 1993 and found an unlikely champion in Sylvester Stallone, who introduced it to Arnold Schwarzenegger and half of Holly

Year Introduced: 1993Approx. Price: $8,300Prestige: 7.7/10Movement: Automatic

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Patek Philippe Grandmaster Chime

Unveiled in 2014 for Patek's 175th anniversary, the Grandmaster Chime packs 20 complications into a reversible double-face case and remains one of the most mechanically complex wristwatches ever series-produced. A unique pink-gold version sold at a charity auction in 2019 for ove

Year Introduced: 2014Approx. Price: $2,600,000Prestige: 9/10Movement: Manual-wind, 20 complications

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