The Oldest Luxury Watches in the World

The evolution of timekeeping goes hand in hand with the history of mankind. Humans have been developing a form of proto-Horlogerie since 3100 B.C. when ancient Egyptians found a way to measure time by using light and shadow cast over a round rock with a triangle on top. This artifact would later turn into the time-giving hand as we know it today. In that era, timekeeping was seen as something practical that had no other use than measuring how long a task could take to be completed or keeping a calendar to differentiate one day from another. Night and day, sun and moon, those were the main indicators of the time passing by. 

Thanks to timekeeping, our ancestors built civilizations in which they developed their customs, lives, traditions, religions, and rituals around the movement of celestial bodies and the overturn of the seasons. The first mechanical movement for a watch was invented in the early 1300s by Jacopo De’ Pondy, an Italian watchmaker who is considered the pioneer of artistic watch designs and construction, but he came way too early for his work to be considered luxury.

Before De’ Ponty’s invention, time was measured rustically by using sundials and water clocks. Something that speaks about the inherent relationship between humans and time is that each important civilization found a way to keep track of it: the Egyptians used a simple sundial, which was upgraded by the Greeks centuries later. The sundial technologies had one obvious problem: the time could only be measured during the day. Sometime later, the Romans found a solution, a water clock that could be used during the night, called the Clepsydra, which emulated the mechanism of an hourglass sand clock, but instead of sand, it contained water. 

Going forward, a little time after the mechanical movement was invented, some anonymous watchmaker constructed a minute repeater with no dial, meant to be encrusted to the front of the Salisbury Cathedral. At the time, there was no way to foreshadow it, but this was a step in the direction of making watches cultural products that function for practical purposes as well as luxurious ornaments.

By the end of the 1300s, the clock tower was a symbol of status that could be found in any city that regarded itself as important. If the clock was prettier, more precise, or with better ornaments, the city was considered to be of a higher status, the clock provided an earlier form of luxury as we know it today. We are not including tower clocks on the list of the oldest luxury watches, as they never were available to buy, let alone wear, or be used as a complement to personality, but their importance is undisputable and should be mentioned at least in the introduction. 

After the tower clock came another game-changing innovation that elevated the watch as something everyone could have, democratizing the tool, and furthering the distance between luxury and something that is just a tool. The quality of materials and craftsmanship involved in the creation of a piece turned up a notch, creating the perfect environment for the pocket watch to be invented. Its invention somewhere along the 1500s served as a foundation for the quick development of the Swiss watchmaking culture that prevails in the country until today.

With the pocket watch, materials that provided durability but also looked elegant and expensive came along, like brass, bronze, silver, and even gold. This cultural shift made jewelers interested in manufacturing pocket watches, giving birth to the first exclusive pieces commissioned by important personalities, politicians, and royals. No man would venture into a trip or an adventure without a pocket watch, even if at the moment it was only capable of giving the hour and nothing else. It wasn’t until 1656 that the minute hand was added, incorporating another layer to the sophistication and potential luxury a pocket watch could provide. 

Another important innovation that made pocket watches a more luxurious item is completely attributed to women and their customs. The sole fact that women became interested in keeping time was what changed the history of watchmaking forever. Women, more specifically aristocratic women who could afford to own pocket watches even though they didn’t need them, began wearing the watches as pendants, and sometimes, by sheer serendipity, on the wrist. Looking at these ladies appear at royalty events and galas with a pocket watch entangled around their wrists inspired watchmakers to create a watch with a focus on feminine use: the wristwatch,

When the first wristwatch was made by Breguet in 1775 by the commission of the Queen of Maples, he unknowingly kickstarted the world of luxury watches as we know it today. Some of the luxury watch manufacturers have been operating for more than 200 years after this innovation was introduced. One keyword for luxury watches is exclusivity. If a watch is not exclusive it means it was produced in large quantities, which in turn means manufacturing costs had to be reduced, compromising the artisan process and the quality of the materials being used. This became a bigger problem with the Industrial Revolution’s advent and mass production’s normalization.

The United States welcomed this technological development because they could produce their watches on a larger scale and reach corners of the world they weren’t able to before, but for European manufacturers, this method of production was a bastardization and a direct attack to everything they believed in, like the artisan process, the curated luxurious materials, etc. Most of them decided to keep making exclusive, more luxurious, beautiful, and way more expensive timepieces.

With time, some technological advancements brought by the Industrial Revolution were adopted by luxury watch manufacturers. Trains, factories, and new markets, all made luxury watch manufacturers become obsessed with their craft. Yes, everyone could have a regular watch, but only the wealthy and royalty could own a watch with absolute precision. Being always on time and having dates on the calendar at their fingertips became a sign of distinction and education. During this time it became fashionable to appear busy and always running to get somewhere, this aesthetic was heavily dependent on an expensive luxury watch as a complement.

Up until this point, we’ve seen luxury watches were a consequence of other advancements in technology and society, so let’s delve deeper into which ones were the pioneers of the luxurious pieces we know today. This way, you will be able to better understand how things we take for granted were at some point great innovations that paved the way for the multimillion-dollar luxury watch industry that keeps thriving in this era with no end in sight. 

Clock Watch With Alarm and Calendar

Nicolas Forfaict 

1600

Paris, France

This watch was manufactured by Nicolas Forfaict in Paris France in the year 1600. It takes the number one spot of the oldest luxury watches because it was the first watch to have additional functionalities aside from reading the time.

These innovations made the watch a piece every wealthy person wanted, hence why it is included in a luxury watch list. Having an alarm allowed noblemen to not only read the time anywhere they wanted but also gave them the capability to measure it. The watch was also able to display moon phases and monthly cycles, which was a huge help while traveling long distances at night, or even if someone was lost it would have served as an ancient form of GPS. 

The alarm functioned in an analogical way thanks to its mechanism, composed of a band encrusted in the case, which is pierced to allow the sound to be heard by the wearer every time the watch registers an hour has passed. The sound was produced by a bell attached to the bottom side of the case. For the moon phases, the piece used a small hand adjacent to a disk that would move the displaying mechanism, letting the owner view the phases of the moon. 

The Clock Watch with Alarm and Calendar was primarily made from silver, gilded brass, and steel. Take into account that at this moment in history, precious materials were still not widely used in the development of timepieces. 

The watch is currently under the custody of the Met Museum in New York City, where history and watchmaking enthusiasts can visit and admire it. 

Johann Possdorfer Watch

Johann Possdorfer

1630

Dresden, Germany 

This watch took one of the most popular styles at the time and elevated it to luxury status: the rock crystal style. It was the most accurate watch of its time, which caused important people to desire it. There is no consensus as to how many of these watches were manufactured in total, but two of them are well preserved. 

One of these pieces resides in the Grünes Gewölbe Museum in Dresden, Germany and there is another that can be admired in the Metropolitan Museum of New York, but the latter doesn’t have the iconic cross-beat escapement and the case is bigger. These kinds of inconsistencies were common at the time as the machinery needed to manufacture crystal watches was calibrated by hand instead of being part of an industrial process of production. 

J.M. Vacheron à Geneve

Vacheron Constantin

1755

Switzerland 

Vacheron Constantin is a world-renowned luxury watch brand with a rich history of innovation and refinement. From the start, 24-year-old Vacheron Constantin knew that watches were more than just tools, they had the potential to be beautiful ornaments with mechanisms that could defy what was known about timekeeping.

The J.M. Vacheron a Geneve was a pocket watch that featured hands made of gold. In an era where pocket watches were seen as something practical that was only useful to tell the time, having expensive materials on it was perceived as a nonsensical frivolity for the everyday man, but there was a sector of the population that was thirsty to show their opulence and adorn themselves with the best and trendier objects available: the royalty. 

Taking on royal clients that paid well is what allowed brands like Vacheron Constantin to earn prestige and reputation, setting them apart from manufacturers that were more preoccupied with how many watches they could put out per year rather than their quality. This feeling of exclusivity is what paved the way for luxury watchmaking to exist as a valid craft for the elites, without this dichotomy watchmaking would have never reached the heights the art of horlogerie is known for today. 

The J.M. was so perfectly crafted that Vacheron Constantin didn’t hesitate to put his name in the model, something he had never done before and never did again afterward. This comes from the manufacturer that has been the longest in the production of watches without interruption, so it is not an exaggeration to claim that the J.M. Vacheron a Geneve is not only the first named watch from the company but also the most legendary of its creations. 

Montre à Secousse

Louis-Abraham Perrelet

1777

Le Locle, Switzerland

The shock wave watch, also called montre à secousse, introduced one of the first sophisticated mechanisms for a watch: the automatic winding. Thanks to contemporary innovations in automatic winding, we take for granted that every watch will include it and no one ever stops to think about how it works.

Abraham Perrelet, considered a genius for his time, became interested in watchmaking at an early age, and knew innovation was the driving force behind his creativity. He ideated a way for the wearer to power the clock by using his steps, utilizing a pendulum to generate energy whenever it swings up and down.

This innovation caused wealthy people to want to buy the watch as it put them ahead of other enthusiasts. It marked the start of innovation as a way to achieve expensiveness and a feeling of luxury when acquiring a timepiece, something Switzerland is well known for to this day. Swiss watches are not expensive only because they are made from quality, hard-to-find materials, but because since Louis-Abraham Perrelet, they have emphasized mechanical feats that have blown the minds of generation after generation of enthusiasts. 

Louis XVI “Blancpain et Fils”

Jehan-Jacques Blancpain

Somewhere before 1800

Villeret, Switzerland

Blancpain is a brand that had something clear from its foundation in 1735: elevating the pocket watch into a luxury item for exclusive and important personalities to wear. To achieve this Jacques Blancpain gave jobs to the residents of Villeret, Switzerland, and a few extra staff from the surrounding communities. This employment practice set the feeling that many other luxury watch manufacturers later adopted: a small team dedicated to the research and development of luxury timepieces, emphasizing hand-made details and a slow development process. 

At the time, it wasn’t customary to name the model of the watches, as they were hardly distinct from one another. Blancpain was faithful to this practice and didn’t even put a logo, mark, or signature in his pieces. This changed for good reason when the company received a commission from King Louis XVI himself.  Blancpain decided this watch was iconic and luxurious enough to engrave “Blancpain et fils” on it, which translates to Blancpain and Sons. This watch, aside from being luxurious, is the only testament of a Blancpain timepiece that survives to this day. 

Breguet No. 2639

Abraham-Louis Breguet

1810

Paris, France

Let’s put things into perspective, the first wristwatch is older than some actual countries. The ability to read time just by looking at our wrists has been with us for so long that it is hard to imagine a world where this wasn’t possible, and we are not talking about ancient times when time had to be kept using the sun, but a time where civilization was already well established, in which people had to use pocket watches or clocks on the walls or top of a tower to tell the time.

The wristwatch is for timekeeping what a smartphone is for the internet, a way of having a practical, life-changing innovation at our fingertips. Just as happened with the wristwatch, in the future no one will remember the time we didn’t have smartphones and had to connect to the internet via a telephonic modem. 

The man who made this cultural revolution possible was Abraham-Louis Breguet, founder of the homologous, world-renowned luxury watch brand Breguet. At the time, women started becoming preoccupied with the measure of time, and watches were deviating from the hyper-functional pieces men used to wear, so watchmakers incorporated ornaments and shiny materials in an attempt to cater to them.

High society and aristocratic women took a liking to pocket watches but men shamed them for wanting something only because it looked pretty instead of the practical advantage the device could offer while having adventures or being in the forest, both activities women didn’t take part in. This part of history is ironic in retrospect because, today, most wristwatch enthusiasts and collectors are men. 

Thanks to this shaming from men to women who wanted to wear a pocket watch, talented watchmakers like Breguet started wondering how to figure out a way for women to have a feminine way to own a watch that was completely different from what men were wearing. One of the problems with manufacturing watches specially meant for women was that the garments and dresses in feminine fashion did not contain pockets or any place where a watch could be stored.

The first women-only watches were pendants and other forms of hanging jewelry. Something clicked on Breguet’s head when the Queen of Naples, sister of Napoleon Bonaparte who was another high-profile Breguet’s client, commissioned the master watchmaker with a watch that could be worn in the wrist. 

The wristwatch wasn’t Breguet’s first challenge, by that time he had already invented the tourbillion, the hairspring, and the keyless winding for pocket watches. So when the Queen commissioned the wristwatch, Breguet came up with an oval-shaped case encrusted on a silver dial with Arabic numerals. The bracelet was made of golden threads that elevated the piece to a status of luxury that was unmatched at the time. 

Sadly, the Breguet No. 2639 is lost to time, there is no graphic record of the watch, but its influence is pretty much alive, nowadays the vast majority of watches produced all over the world are wristwatches. Technology advances, we have watches that can survive more than 1km underwater, e-ink watches, and smartwatches with internet functionalities, and all of them are wristwatches. More than a trend, a wristwatch is a perfect, highly functional standard that won’t change in the foreseeable future. 

Tiffany Timer

Tiffany & Co.

1866

New York City

Charles Lewis Tiffany founded Tiffany & Co., in 1837 to become the first luxury jewelry brand in the United States. Almost 200 years later, its legacy is palpable in the culture of luxury events and expensive lifestyles. But everything has to start somewhere, and for Charles Lewis, this is true on two fronts: he kickstarted his dream with a store that sold fancy jewelry to families that were just becoming rich in a New York City that was just starting to thrive, and second, he started manufacturing watches until years later, more precisely in 1866. 

The wristwatch was just invented and its popularity was confined to Europe, as Americans still saw it as something feminine that no man would ever wear. Knowing his market, and wanting to delve into the world of watchmaking and watch retailing, Charles Lewis knew he had to come up with something that would blend luxury with functionality, a new invention that would revolutionize the field but at the same time appeal to the masculine aesthetics of his era. That is how he came up with the Tiffany Timer, the first American-made stopwatch. 

Tiffany’s compromise with beautiful, shiny, luxurious objects can be appreciated in this piece. The stopwatch, also known as the chronograph, is one of the most difficult complications in watchmaking. Elevating this mechanism to the status of luxury was risky because Tiffany had no way of knowing if the piece was going to have any appeal. Men may have thought it was too feminine due to the ornaments and women may have thought it was too masculine because they had no use for a chronograph in their daily, domestic life.

Believing in himself and his vision paid off for Tiffany, the Tiffany Timer was a success, and by 1868 it had already been acquired by Winston Churchill and Leonard W. Jerome, the owner of the New York Times. The stopwatch was sold because of its luxurious status, yes, but that feature does not come in detriment to its mechanical capabilities. The Tiffany Timer, and the upgrades that have been done to it over the years until today, have been used to measure time in scientific fields, engineering prowess, and sporting events that require accurate timekeeping to decide a winner. 

First Patek Philippe Wristwatch

Patek Philippe

1868

Geneve, Switzerland 

Patek Philippe was already a prestigious brand recognized for their accurate pocket watches. The company was the first to make a patent out of the keyless winding system, the mechanism initially invented by Breguet but crafted to perfection by Patek Philippe. 

Given its fame, the brand received commissions from nobles who wanted to possess a luxury watch, a trend that was growing a lot during these times. So when Countess Koscewicz of Hungary personally commissioned a wristwatch to Patek Philippe, he knew it was time to change the watchmaking game and deliver an outstanding product to start a legacy, 

This first wristwatch from Patek Philippe was like nothing the world had seen before, the bracelet, dial, and case, were completely made of gold, with beautiful hand-polished finishes that elevated the piece to a sculptural appeal. It included an original movement called the Caliber 27368, constructed by Philippe himself. The dial had a rectangular shape with eight jewels encrusted onto it, making the piece more flashy and expensive. This piece of history in the form of a watch is currently kept at the Patek Philippe Museum located in Geneva where enthusiasts can admire it. 

Thanks to this commission, the brand could afford to do more research and patent more inventions to become the watchmaking giant we know today ultimately. 

The Louis Brandt Wrist-Worn Minute Repeater

Audemars Piguet, Omega

1892

Vallée de Joux, Switzerland

Since its foundation, Audemars Piguet has been a brand that characterized itself by its compromise with mechanical complications and innovations in the field of watchmaking. Its first notorious invention took place in 1892, in collaboration with Louis Brant, founding member of the watchmaking company Omega. 

The way this collaboration went down was like this: Audemars Piguet created a complication with a mechanism that allowed the watch to give the time by chiming every time an hour had passed. Yes, the chiming sound we are so used to hearing on old and not-so-old watches was invented by this visionary man. After he patented this invention and started commercializing it as a new, groundbreaking feature for pocket watches, it gathered great success with women who would wear the piece as a pendant.

That revolutionary innovation caught the attention of another watchmaker, Louis Brant, who had an amazing idea about the chiming and didn’t hesitate to communicate it to Audemars Piguet: seeing how the chiming sound was already popular among the ladies, why not embed it in a wristwatch? 

To get this done, Audemars Pigue had to adjust the movement a little, and thus the 13-line Lépine movement was born. It is worth noting that the chiming wristwatch came before electricity was widely adopted by society, at the time even the rich were still adapting to this new lifestyle, so the sound the watch made was particularly appealing to enthusiasts, making it a luxury item that only the elite could possess. Thanks to this hyper-successful product Audemars Piguet got the funds to become one of the most innovative, luxurious, and high-end watchmaking brands in history.

With the turn of the century, a lot more innovations took place, from the standardization of the wristwatch to what we know today as a smartwatch. Any of those technological advancements would not have been possible without the existence of the watches we just revisited and the master watchmakers who dedicated their lives to their craft.

The history of luxury watchmaking is fascinating, as it is tightly related to the history of humankind. Every cultural shift like the Industrial Revolution, the advent of electricity as a light and power source, and even the First World War influenced how luxury watches were made. These nine legendary pieces are a testament to something greater than us: the inevitable passing of time contained in tiny tools we call watches that have and will accompany us as far as we end up going as a civilization.