Most luxurious

[sorsara]

I have a question, it might have been asked before...
what are the top brands of Luxury watches and where does Rolex stand?

[lorsban]

For me:

Tier 1: Patek, APiguet, Vacheron, A.Lange, Glashutte Original, Breguet, Jaeger Lecoultre, Blancpain, Piaget, Ulysse Nardin

Tier 2: Rolex, IWC, Panerai, Graham, Chopard, Girard Perregaux, Zenith, Cartier,

Tier 3: Omega, Breitling, Tudor, Anonimo, Baume et Mercier, Mont Blanc, Maurice Lacroix, Kobold, JeanRichard, Bulgari, Corum, Ebel,

Tier 4: Oris, Rado, Movado, Tag Heuer, Longines, Raymond Weil, Frederique Constant, Concord, Ball, Hamilton, U-Boat

I'm sure I'm missing some....

Check this out: http://www.chronocentric.com/watches/brands.shtml

[roleyrolz]

First it will vary between diffrent people and no one is right and no one is wrong.My List.
For variety of collection, technology(complications etc.)
Teir1(the Navy Seal Team Six and Delta Force)
Zenith-they make arguabley the best chrono Movement,have every thing from Minute reapters, tourbillions, Rattarpante,and every thing in between, from sporty to dress.In house Movements
jaeger le Coutore-Push's What is possible in watch making. Gyrotourbillons, Minute reapeters,and everything in between. Make all of there mens watches inhouse and everything from Dive watches to dress watches.
Glashutte Original- Same as Zenith but with a German Flare buetaiful movemnet finishes also inhouse.
Blancpain-Much like Jaeger Le coutore With gerat complicatins a vast variety a styles and the oldest of the bunch.
Girard perraguax-Underrated in House movements But has everything tourbillions Minute Reapeters and they love Gold.
In another post ill put what brands are the tier 1 watches in prestige, finish, and histroy. Im tired i need to get some sleep

[calibre1]

Originally Posted by roleyrolz

First it will vary between diffrent people and no one is right and no one is wrong.My List.
For variety of collection, technology(complications etc.)
Teir1(the Navy Seal Team Six and Delta Force)
Zenith-they make arguabley the best chrono Movement,have every thing from Minute reapters, tourbillions, Rattarpante,and every thing in between, from sporty to dress.In house Movements
jaeger le Coutore-Push's What is possible in watch making. Gyrotourbillons, Minute reapeters,and everything in between. Make all of there mens watches inhouse and everything from Dive watches to dress watches.
Glashutte Original- Same as Zenith but with a German Flare buetaiful movemnet finishes also inhouse.
Blancpain-Much like Jaeger Le coutore With gerat complicatins a vast variety a styles and the oldest of the bunch.
Girard perraguax-Underrated in House movements But has everything tourbillions Minute Reapeters and they love Gold.
In another post ill put what brands are the tier 1 watches in prestige, finish, and histroy. Im tired i need to get some sleep

I am looking forward to that post !!

[Noonan]

Originally Posted by lorsban

For me:

Tier 1: Patek, APiguet, Vacheron, A.Lange, Glashutte Original, Breguet, Jaeger Lecoultre, Blancpain, Piaget, Ulysse Nardin

Tier 2: Rolex, IWC, Panerai, Graham, Chopard, Girard Perregaux, Zenith, Cartier,

Tier 3: Omega, Breitling, Tudor, Anonimo, Baume et Mercier, Mont Blanc, Maurice Lacroix, Kobold, JeanRichard, Bulgari, Corum, Ebel,

Tier 4: Oris, Rado, Movado, Tag Heuer, Longines, Raymond Weil, Frederique Constant, Concord, Ball, Hamilton, U-Boat

I'm sure I'm missing some....

Check this out: http://www.chronocentric.com/watches/brands.shtml

I agree but would put Omega and Breitling into Tier 2 since they're now both working with in-house movements the way Panerai is transitioning.

[sorsara]

WOW Thank you lorsban and calibre1

you both have mentioned so many watches that I haven't heard of before .... I have a long way to learn

[lorsban]

Originally Posted by Noonan

I agree but would put Omega and Breitling into Tier 2 since they're now both working with in-house movements the way Panerai is transitioning.

Maybe in a while but not yet. Im also factoring in average pricepoint since both brands have watches that cost below 2k and quartz models. Im also factoring in resale. Good luck finding a new watch less than 2k in tier 2.

[lorsban]

Originally Posted by sorsara

WOW Thank you lorsban and calibre1

you both have mentioned so many watches that I haven't heard of before .... I have a long way to learn

Theres way more than these brands. Theres Parmigiani, Hublot, Richard Mille, Roger Dubuis, Urwerk, and a bunch of other new start-ups.

[roleyrolz]

Teir1-For Prestige,finish,histroy
Patek Phillipe-No surprise here. The ultimate dress watch alsis no slouch in movement design with Perpetaul of time movements,Minute reapeters,tourbillions , and equation of time watches.there finish is stunning use gold in all of the dress watches and there sports watches the aquanot and natulius are no slouch.
Audemares Piguet- known simpley as AP one of the few with Patek that is family owned andpossibley the oldest family owned watch ( the descendants of the original creators of the watch company still own it. Have some of the best finished watches out there and make every complications under the roof.Also unique to AP the have a stake in a independent watch maker Ranould and Papi.
Vacheron Constantien-One of the oldest watch brands in the world Bueatiful designs and one of those brand s that if ur in the know then u know about this brand.
A Lange and Sohm- A Old watch maker thats new. Makes some of the best finished Watches in the world some of the most uniques tourbillions and Watches out there they also only use Precious metals in ther watches.
Breguet- A originator of some of the best known complications. Unique designs great finishes the watch of the royals. Also great Womens watches and was the late great Nick hayeks watch pet watch project,enough said.
Sorry about the spelling In later posts ill do teir 2 and then three

[Mockingbird]

Tier X: Most independents, there are too many to name but they're on a complete different level than the standard company. This is due to low production numbers and hand manufacturing. Designs are usually unique and the complications, well, complicated. Standard companies can't come near these.
Tier 1: Lange, Patek, Jaeger, Breguet, AP, RM, (part of AP I guess), VC, IWC's higher end stuff. There are many more of course, but I'm tired and can't list them all.
Tier 2: IWC's lower end stuff, Rolex, Panerai, Zenith
Tier 3: Cartier, Breitling, etc etc etc
Tier 4: At this point who even cares about tiers? They're only in place to glorify those at the top...

[sorsara]

thank you roleyrolz and mockingbird... I have noticed that both of you mentioned the word "complications" what does it mean in the world of watches?

[sorsara]

I just visited the Breguet website and wow I almost cried from the beauty I saw....

[roleyrolz]

Complication

Are exactly that complicated.

To me any complication is something that tells u something other then the hours and minutes.
A complication can be a seconds hand, it can be the date or the day or both are all that together. It can be a chronograph and measure time intervals in seconds, hours, minutes. It can be something that can tell u the time without u even looking at it (a minute repeater).it can be a moonphase that tells u the phases of the moon. It can be a tourbillion insf not a complication be if it measures time it can be be. It can be a perpetual calendar that tells u the leap years and is theortic accurate for 122 years. It can be an alarm . It can be a power reserve indicator telling u how much time is left before the watch needs to be rewound it can be for 50 hours to 31 days. It can be a equation of time (one sick complication I must say) it tells u the difference between mean time and real time(ya it's crazy there are two times and there both correct). It can also be an automation(a sick,sick watch design that moves characters on a dial a perquisite time. Also u have watches that can tell u were ceratin stars are I the sky at a creation time in relation to other stars.

I'm probably missing a few. But the more complications the better and more expensive a watch. Unless u need a watch that rugged and accurate then a complicated watch may not be the best bet

[roleyrolz]

Almost forgot gmt watchs that can tell u the time at different locations or in diffremt cities, that's a big one.

[sorsara]

Amazing!!! Thank you

Never knew watches could be so complicated, that is very interesting. I guess that is why some men like watches alot....

Originally Posted by roleyrolz

Complication

Are exactly that complicated.

To me any complication is something that tells u something other then the hours and minutes.
A complication can be a seconds hand, it can be the date or the day or both are all that together. It can be a chronograph and measure time intervals in seconds, hours, minutes. It can be something that can tell u the time without u even looking at it (a minute repeater).it can be a moonphase that tells u the phases of the moon. It can be a tourbillion insf not a complication be if it measures time it can be be. It can be a perpetual calendar that tells u the leap years and is theortic accurate for 122 years. It can be an alarm . It can be a power reserve indicator telling u how much time is left before the watch needs to be rewound it can be for 50 hours to 31 days. It can be a equation of time (one sick complication I must say) it tells u the difference between mean time and real time(ya it's crazy there are two times and there both correct). It can also be an automation(a sick,sick watch design that moves characters on a dial a perquisite time. Also u have watches that can tell u were ceratin stars are I the sky at a creation time in relation to other stars.

I'm probably missing a few. But the more complications the better and more expensive a watch. Unless u need a watch that rugged and accurate then a complicated watch may not be the best bet

[chatgolf]

Forget

[lorsban]

How about this for a complication? Ball Engineer Master II Diver TMT LE. Ball's the first company to put a thermometer in watches. It needs to be off your wrist for about 15mins to get an accurate temperature reading, but it's still a pretty cool feature if you ask me.

[Paracentesis]

Five complications (anything that isn't hours minutes and seconds): day, date, month, power reserve, and moonphase.

[forgeahead]

I find it interesting that Ulysse Nardin is placed higher than Rolex. I like the style of UN but I thought they were a bit looked down upon by the watch meisters.

[waboCobo]

yea i was told buy a bunch of jewelers, that if i buy a un and want to sell or trade... i will take a nice nice loss ( even if im buying new on a ray market)

[waboCobo]

~gray~

[roleyrolz]

I think uyliss Marduk in there basic watch rand is way overpriced Eta movements . But, but there higher end watches the freak, there automation watches like the Gengis Khan, Alexander the Great and there astronomical watches are wowzers podwzers!!!!!!!!! They even dable in porn like there Erotica watch.

[roleyrolz]

I ment nardain not Marduk. Dam I phone trying to spell for me.

[lorsban]

Originally Posted by roleyrolz

I ment nardain not Marduk. Dam I phone trying to spell for me.

haha can't you switch off autocorrect?

[roleyrolz]

Ya but why not be lazy.

[Sarajevo]

Originally Posted by lorsban

How about this for a complication? Ball Engineer Master II Diver TMT LE. Ball's the first company to put a thermometer in watches. It needs to be off your wrist for about 15mins to get an accurate temperature reading, but it's still a pretty cool feature if you ask me.

A watch with a complication that only works when you don't wear it for some time? Stupid.

[asadtiger]

in watchmaking terms I rank Omega higher than Rolex because their current line includes amazing complications like a central tourbillon, annual calendars, split seconds and rattrapantes etc...and their new inhouse movt is doing very well by all counts, especially in accuracy.and they are constantly working on it, adding an anuual calendar to the platform and then a whole chrono movt based on it...but what Rolex makes is ONE movt, with or without date, add a day or add a GMT hand and you cover the entire Rolex line...their only one complication is the YMII, but thats just ONE complicated offering!

so given the OPs question of luxury, an Omega Central tourbillon is far far luxurious, while being a good accomplishment too, than anything 'blinged' or 'precious metal added' that Rolex offers, in my very humble opinion.

In watchmaking as well as luxury terms, 'I', humbly, rank Omega far ahead.

[dieseldragon]

Originally Posted by asadtiger

in watchmaking terms I rank Omega higher than Rolex because their current line includes amazing complications like a central tourbillon, annual calendars, split seconds and rattrapantes etc...and their new inhouse movt is doing very well by all counts, especially in accuracy.and they are constantly working on it, adding an anuual calendar to the platform and then a whole chrono movt based on it...but what Rolex makes is ONE movt, with or without date, add a day or add a GMT hand and you cover the entire Rolex line...their only one complication is the YMII, but thats just ONE complicated offering!

so given the OPs question of luxury, an Omega Central tourbillon is far far luxurious, while being a good accomplishment too, than anything 'blinged' or 'precious metal added' that Rolex offers, in my very humble opinion.

In watchmaking as well as luxury terms, 'I', humbly, rank Omega far ahead.

The first proper watch I got was an Omega Speedmaster MK2, I got it from a family friend and collector of watches and watch maker when I lived in ZA. I always remember my dad asking if he had any Rolex, he showed my dad a few and told him they were over rated and inferior to an Omega, but they had the name and great resale value, in the end my dad bought an Oyster from the late 40's or early 50's.

I have both and think they are both fantastic, but seems like Omega will one day equal the prestige of Rolex.

[lorsban]

Originally Posted by dieseldragon

The first proper watch I got was an Omega Speedmaster MK2, I got it from a family friend and collector of watches and watch maker when I lived in ZA. I always remember my dad asking if he had any Rolex, he showed my dad a few and told him they were over rated and inferior to an Omega, but they had the name and great resale value, in the end my dad bought an Oyster from the late 40's or early 50's.

I have both and think they are both fantastic, but seems like Omega will one day equal the prestige of Rolex.

I wouldnt be surprised if they do equal or even better Rolex. In the 50s and 60s, Omega was considered more prestigious. Theyre getting there though.

[lorsban]

Originally Posted by waboCobo

yea i was told buy a bunch of jewelers, that if i buy a un and want to sell or trade... i will take a nice nice loss ( even if im buying new on a ray market)

Resale value is only an indication of popularity and not much else. Ulysee Nardin have been in top 10 and top 5 lists of watchmakers for years based on their quality and innovations.

The only reason why theyre not popular is because they dont market themselves at all. Like it or not, product placement in films and publications drives up popularity- this is something rolex and now omega are masters at, hence their popularity.