16 timepieces cooler than the Apple Watch
Apple says it has ordered 5 million units of its upcoming watch ... but without the health-tracking features it had touted several months ago.
No matter: Here are some timepieces that are worth watching in the meantime, starting with the IWC Portofino. The retro details, like the push-buttons, are inspired by the cockpits of 1960s Italian sports cars. Versions of the model sell for up to $15,600.
Art Piece 1
From the outside, it looks like really nice Greubel Forsey watch. And it is. But within the timepiece is its real appeal: a Willard Wigan sculpture so tiny you can only see it through a microscope.
Timewalker Urban Speed
Montblanc’s timepiece combines luxury-watch looks with smart phone functionality via an optional ‘e-Strap.’ The strap has Bluetooth connectivity that allows it to pair with a smart phone while keeping that spendy-watch look.
Yohan Blake
This Richard Mille watch is so cool it has its own nickname: Mark of the Beast. It’s a reference to Olympic runner Yohan “The Beast” Blake, who inspired this watch with his habit of running with his fists open.
Jazz age watch
Sometimes a watch is extraordinary just for the excitement it creates. This rare 1922 Patek Philippe timepiece was purchased in 1999 by a Middle Eastern collector for a swoon-worthy $1.9 million, making it, at the time, the most expensive wristwatch in history.
Tourbillon RM 56-02 Sapphire
Richard Mille broke the $2 million barrier with this timepiece. The three-part case and several parts are made of transparent sapphire milled from solid blocks of the mineral. It’s virtually scratch-resistant to any material short of diamonds.
Moon Orbiter
Romain Jerome’s space-crazy watch includes actual pieces of the Apollo 11 shuttle as well as moon dust.
Fit-for-a-king watch
This timepiece is a rare example of a chronometer literally made for royalty: Emperor Menelik II of Ethiopia. It contains 18-carat gold, rubies and diamonds and sold for $52,000 at a 2009 auction.
Fit-for-a-queen watch
This priceless, gold-and-rock-crystal timepiece, created for Marie Antoinette, was heisted from a museum 25 years ago. It has since been recovered.
Tread 1
The crystal: bulletproof class. The case: surgical-grade steel, the hardest available. Accuracy: Within one half-second per day. Maker Devon's inspiration: Modern airliner cockpits.
Hallucination
British jeweler Graff came up with this $55 million beauty, which has more than 110 carats of diamonds. Graf claims the Hallucination is the “most valuable watch ever created."
Excalibur Quatuor
This $1.1 million whopper requires 2,400 hours to build. Its major selling point: a set of four, super-gravity-sensitive balances that are so precise they can even account for the wearer’s movement.
1939 Cadenas
A century ago, it was considered gauche for a woman to look at the time in public, or even wear a watch. Watchmakers came up with this elegant solution.
Grand Complication
When it went up for auction in 2004, this very rare Patek Philippe piece was said to be one of the most complex ever made.
UR-110
Besides just looking cool, this Urwerk watch comes with an oil change indicator. But back to how cool it looks: In 2011, the UR-110 took the best-design prize at the Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève — the Oscars of watches.
Haute Joaillerie "$1 Million"
Watchmaker Hublot released on eight of these, each worth – of course – $1 million. See if you can count all 1,185 of the baguette diamonds covering every surface of the timepiece. Each piece takes a 15-person team 1,800 hours of work.