The perfect addition to a Dior suit and Berluti loafers? It's got to be an incredible watch. Here is our selection of the best high-tech watches this holiday season.
MB&F Horological Machine No. 4
Price: $160,000
Besides looking like a jet strapped to your wrist? The watch incorporates 311 parts and converts power from a horizontal dual mainspring barrel into two vertical gear trains on two separate dials. (The power reserve on this is 72 hours on a full wind). It took three years to develop and more than 200 hours to build and polish. Only about 30 of them will be made this year.
Bremont U2
Price: About $5,000 for the Limited Edition
This watch was designed for actual U2 squadron pilots, which means it was tested to 100,000 feet. The case uses shock-resisting technologies (they call it a "Trip-Tick" case) like super-hardened steel components that are also anti-magnetic. There are three separate models in the consumer U2 line; only 150 of the Limited Edition, which bears the U2 insignia, will be made.
Devon Works Tread One
Price: $15,000
The Tread One is not actually mechanical, because it's powered by a rechargeable battery. But a timepiece with four belts at just 0.002 inches thin, each operated by an individual micro-step electric motor, is a mean feat of engineering no matter how you look at it. The motors are powered by a lithium polymer rechargeable cell that will keep the watch moving for two weeks at a time. Oh, and it's bulletproof.
MCT Sequential One
Price: $92,000
The watch has as sequentially moving dial with jump-hour movement and consists of more than 550 parts (anything over 300 is worth bragging about). It looks modern because of its solo watch hand but is classical in its engineering heritage. Most editions of the line will total only 99 units.
Chanel J12 Rétrograde Mystérieuse
Price: $290,000
It works in retrograde, as the name suggests: For the first 10 minutes, the hours and minutes are read just like on any other watch. At the 10th minute of the hour, the minute hand reverses direction and moves counter-clockwise for 10 minutes. During this time, a small disc near the bottom of the face, labeled with numbers from 11 to 19, tells the exact time. At 20 minutes after, the minutes hand jumps from the top of the hour to the 20 minute mark--and for the remaining 40 minutes of the hour, it tells time normally. All this to make room for nontraditional placement of the winding knob, which juts up from the watch face where minutes 10 to 20 would normally be indicated.
"ChronAP"
Price: $266,200
It's revolutionary, in part because the escapement beats at 43,200 vibrations per hour (the equivalent of 6 hertz) and requires no lubrication, which makes for a super efficient, super light, super reliable timepiece. The case is 46 mm wide, made of .950 platinum and has a sapphire crystal back. It's water-resistant to 20 meters, has a 56-hour power reserve indicator, and fewer than 30 of them will be made this year.
Piaget Altiplano
Price: $18,900 to $19,900
It may not look like much, but that's the point: The Altiplano is the world's thinnest automatic watch. The Altiplano large-model case that comes in 18-carat white gold with a white dial has 430P mechanical movement that measures 2.1 mm thick.
