Watch Buyers Guide – Budget

The greatest factor affecting what is available for you to buy, is your budget. A watch crafted from solid gold and imbedded with diamonds from a prestigious brand, will cost significantly more than a watch designed as an entry to the luxury watch world.

Entry to Luxury – Up to £2000

In this price range,

watches can be found from renowned watch makers such as Longines, whose heritage includes being the official timekeeper of the first modern Olympic games. The watches in the luxury watch world differ from the mass market by the higher quality materials used and a greater attention to detail. For example, in a cheap watch the bracelet may use hollow links to cut down on cost and the crystal (face of the watch) will be made with mineral glass – none of our luxury watches have hollow links or mineral glass crystals on the dial.

(Coming Soon)

Here is our guide to buying an ‘Entry to Luxury’ Watch up to £2000 with all our tips, tricks, advice and things to look out for. They include movement types, dial luminescent, crystal types and PVD coatings.

Established Luxury – Between £2000-£8000

When starting to think about spending some serious money on a watch, your options open up significantly. You can choose from brands and collections with incredibly rich histories and stories behind them. These collectors particularly like and will pay for. In this price range you can find an Omega Speedmaster Professional which was the first watch worn by astronauts to walk on the moon. Or, Tag Heuer Carrera who’s heritage is deeply intertwined with formula 1 racing and the likes of Steve McQueen. This budget also includes the most sought after and replicated watch of all time; the Rolex Oyster Perpetual Submariner.

The extra money spent here, goes towards refining the components making up the watch. The dials are more elaborately decorated with increasingly valuable materials such as gold and diamonds. Luminescent compounds glow brighter and for longer, bracelet links are more robust and movements are independently verified to ensure the best accuracy.

(Coming Soon)

Here is our guide to buying a watch in the ‘Established Luxury price range from £2000-£8000. Some of the things cover are what COSC certified means, the different luminescent compounds, split pins versus screwed pins, observable dial and movement decorations and what type of watch will maintain it’s value.

High End Luxury – From £8000+

When money is no limit watch makers focus their efforts less on telling the time and more on celebrating the art of horology. These watches are crafted with an especially high attention to detail, and as such they are truly heirloom pieces to be treasured most carefully and passed on to posterity.

When buying a high end luxury watch, they will frequently be crafted from precious metals to highlight the wealth and prestige of the wearer. Many collections are made in small batches to add to the exclusivity of owning a limited edition watch. Gems are more numerous and of a higher weight and clarity than in less expensive categories. Watch makers are more experimental with there choice of materials, making cases entirely from forged carbon fibre or synthetic sapphire crystals.

Complications are added less for the practical use they give, but instead as an expressive art form. A complication rarely found on watches at anything less than £30,000 are Tourbillons. Their function is to compensate for the inaccuracies incurred by the effects of gravity on the balance wheel and escapement pieces in a movement. By mounting them inside a rotating cage they average out all the errors produced by the differences of rate in different positions. Brands justify the high asking price with the expertise and technical ability required to make these delicate mechanics.

(Coming Soon)

In our high end luxury watch buyers guide £8000+ we explain, amongst other things, what the Seal Of Geneva means for a luxury watch movement, which complications are worth the most, why limited edition watches cost so much and which watches are considered a good investment.