The following post is excerpted from "The World's Most Expensive Watches" by Ariel Adams with permission from Antique Collectors' Club Ltd.

Concord – C1 Quantum Gravity Tourbillon

$480,000

When Concord released the C1 Quantum Gravity Tourbillon in 2008, many people believed it signalled what the future of high-end watchmaking would look like. It was a time of rapid modernisation in the watch industry, in both talent, and perceptions of what high-end collectors wanted to buy. There was less focus on traditionally conservative design, and a great deal of experimentation with what were, in the context of the often staid high-end watch industry, quite radical designs. In many ways the C1 Quantum Gravity Tourbillon helped define an era.

While the “Quantum-inspired” super-watch era never replaced a preference for traditional designs, projects like the C1 Quantum Gravity Tourbillon have had a lasting effect on what modern luxury timepieces strive to be.

Under the Movado group, Concord was “re-launched” only shortly before they released the C1 Quantum Gravity Tourbillon. The brand eschewed much of its traditional DNA, instead opting for a futuristic industrial look, which reached its zenith in this particular timepiece. The movement of the Quantum Gravity is a feat unto itself, in addition to the overall case design. Concord worked with the hottest movement maker of the era, a firm known as BNB Concept, to develop the mechanism inside the watch. Heavy on conceptualisation, the movement features a bi-axial tourbillon (spins on two axis points at once), connected to the rest of the movement with tiny suspension-bridge-style wires. A small cylinder of green liquid is located on the dial, which empties and fills as a means of indicating the power reserve left in the mechanical movement.

The easiest way of understanding the point of the C1 Quantum Gravity Tourbillon is to realise that it helped fully legitimise modern conceptual futuristic design as having a place in the high-end watch industry. Whatever it lacked in elegance, it made up for in inventiveness.

Concord fully acknowledges that the movement was designed separately from the case, something common at the time, when both elements of the watch had distinct appeal to collectors. In mostly titanium and 18k white gold, the C1 Quantum Gravity Tourbillon watch even relied on vulcanised black rubber as a case material and design element. Only 10 pieces were ever produced.

Harry Winston – Histoire de Tourbillon 3

$622,000

Little known and amazingly creative, the small collection of exclusively limited edition

Histoire de Tourbillon watches from Harry Winston are some of the most unique timepieces on the planet. In 2009 Harry Winston surprised the watch world (once again), by releasing the Histoire de Tourbillon1 timepiece. It was a self-proclaimed re-interpretation of the tourbillon and, through what would be five eventual models, the Histoire de Tourbillon family has offered something truly original to the ultra-luxury watch world. As of 2013, the fifth Histoire de Tourbillon has yet to be released.

In 2012 Harry Winston released the third instalment of the Histoire de Tourbillon with the 3. It should be noted that none of the Histoire de Tourbillon watches appear anything like one another. Other than each of the models sharing yellow and blue colour accents, and offering the same original take on how to display a tourbillon, the pieces are entirely distinct.

Why a focus on tourbillon-style escapements and then a deconstruction thereof? Tourbillons are traditionally escapements that revolve around their own axis, originally designed for pocket watches in the late 18th century. Meant to enhance accuracy, they serve mostly as decorative features in modern wristwatches. They also serve as status symbols. Having a timepiece with a tourbillon means wealth. Harry Winston – in a pure luxury vein – attempts to play with this concept, not only imagining different forms of tourbillons, but also of timepieces themselves.

The Histoire de Tourbillon 3 begins with a rather large 65mm wide case that is made from 18k white gold as well as Harry Winston’s own alloy, known as Zalium. Shaped like a box, time is told via two discs that independently tell the hour and minute. A large open window offers a view of the movement, and a display that is a triple tourbillon.

For this version of the Histoire de Tourbillon, Harry Winston wanted three tourbillons in each timepiece. The largest tourbillon is a bi-axial double tourbillon with an internal 40-second tourbillon and an external 120-second tourbillon. To the right is a third tourbillon that rotates once every 36 seconds. The mastery is in the display, watching the two balance wheel spins on each of the three axis points, in unison.

While not a mainstay of each Histoire de Tourbillon model, the 3 slyly incorporates what Harry Winston is mostly known for: precious stones. A power reserve indicator on the lower right of the case, used to let you know when to wind the mechanical movement, is lined with 11 sapphires and 3 citrines; when the latter pass by the arrow, it is time to wind the piece up. Harry Winston produced just 20 pieces of the Histoire de Tourbillon 3.

Hublot – MP-05 LaFerrari

$318,000

In 2012 Hublot partnered with the Italian automobile maker Ferrari, as their official luxury watchmaker and event sponsor. In the watch industry, Ferrari is known for being the source of several failed high-profile partnerships, that never quite resulted in highly-demanded timepieces, despite the great value and world-wide appreciation of the brand. Hublot was intent on making the relationship work, and they did.

According to Hublot Chairman, Jean-Claude Biver, the key to producing a successful Ferrari watch was in making a totally unique creation, that combined Hublot and Ferrari DNA. Others, before Hublot, simply tried to adapt existing designs and then include the Ferrari logo on them. Hublot would not make this same mistake, which ended up being the correct decision. Hublot released the Big Bang Ferrari collection, and it became an instant hit with watch lovers. As a showpiece to embody the spirit of the relationship, as well the technical might of both brands, a high complication piece needed to be produced.

Existing as part of Hublot’s Masterpiece (MP) collection, the MP-05 LaFerrari coincided with the release of the automobile of the same name. To car lovers it would be a timepiece inspired by a Ferrari engine bay, and to watch lovers it would be important for containing a movement with the world’s longest power reserve.

Most mechanical watches have enough power for about two days of operation. Mechanical watches are powered by a tightly wound spring that slowly unwinds over time. Watches with power reserves between three to 10 days are available, and beyond that there are perhaps three or so watches with a power reserve of around one month. Hublot’s goal was to do even better. After a great deal of development, the movement for the LaFerrari watch was capable of storing enough power for a total of 50 days worth of power reserve.

That much power required Hublot to stack 11 mainspring barrels on top of one another. The tricky part was in designing a system that allowed them to unwind slowly and consistently, so that the watch would remain accurate. Time is indicated on moving drums on the right of the dial, and to the left is a power reserve indicator that allows the wearer to know when to wind the movement. Hublot could not resist placing a tourbillon in the watch – which is horizontally displayed through the lower part of the case at the bottom of the stack of springs.

Winding the watch is no doubt a chore and the LaFerrari contains no crown. Instead, Hublot includes a special drill with the piece, that is used to wind it up when necessary. The MP-05 LaFerrari will be produced as a limited edition of only 50 pieces.

Hysek – Colosso

$550,000

During the mid-2000s there was a field of thought in the ultra-high-end world of luxury watches that the more over-engineered something was the better. This was a novel idea, because you had a situation where watchmakers produced products that answered questions no-one asked. The goal during this time was to impress and inspire awe, and to display, to an increasingly finicky group of collectors, that you had produced something no-one else could have imagined. It appealed to the very core of why some people buy high-end watches; to stimulate their need for novelty while showing them a machine that might have previously been thought impossible.

This mentality was quite different to that which motivates most makers of watches, be they large companies or independent workshops. Watches are typically born from a perceived market demand, or often the production of something that a watchmaker or designer personally wants to wear on their own wrist.

Things that stray from the norm are no doubt going to be interesting, especially when they fit in your palm and are priced at over half a million dollars. Toward the end of the last golden age of “shock and awe” watches, came the Colosso by Hysek. The brand was started by the famed watch designer Jorg Hysek, but by the time the Colosso was released, in 2008, he was no longer associated with the brand. His legacy of unique, and highly avant garde yet functional design, carried into what the brand would continue to produce, as one of the industry’s rarer watchmakers.

A large three-dimensional representation of the earth, in full colour, is perhaps the first thing most people notice about the Colosso. Sitting under a dome of sapphire crystal, the globe turns fully each 24-hour period, coinciding with the time. It makes a bold first impression. In short, the Colosso is a multiple time-zone watch, with a minute repeater, housed in a distinct case, made from sapphire crystal and gold, that offers a view of the movement’s inner workings.

Minute repeater travel watches are rare – mostly because of their limited utility. The point of a GMT or multiple time-zone watch, is to be used while travelling, so that the wearer can be aware of their home time as well as local time. In the Colosso the second time zone is represented via two linear displays at the bottom of the case. Pushers move a disc in a reference city window, so that the user knows the relative location of where else in the world they are reading the time from.

Time is indicated on a larger, more traditional display, that has a big date indicator (using two discs to indicate the date). Under everything, is a vivid view into the complex mechanical movement contained within the bulky mass. Inside the watch is a minute repeater mechanism that, when activated, uses a series of chimes to sound out the time musically. These are often fragile complications, so their inclusion, in a watch meant to be worn while travelling, is less than common. A rare creation, the Colosso arrives in a presentation box made from a form of fossilised wood.

URWERK – UR-CC1 King Cobra

$328,000

The genius of boutique Swiss watchmakers such as URWERK is in how insane they are. The genesis of the UR-CC1 watch comes neither logically as an evolution of timekeeping instruments, nor as a predictable work of art combing traditional artisanal decorative practices within fine watchmaking. No, the “King Cobra” watch, as it is nicknamed, is inspired by relatively mundane old automobiles, obscure horological experimentation that was never commercialised, and a watchmaker’s penchant for simply being different.

The UR-CC1 watch has the alternative name “King Cobra” for no other reason than URWERK enjoys adding the name of a fearsome natural predator (often a reptile or arachnid) to each of their new creations. A better way of thinking about this wild watch is to understand that the goal was to display the hours, minutes, and seconds, each on a linear – versus circular – display.

URWERK, as a brand, is interested in reimagining not only how watch movements are typically built, but also how time is displayed. It is a provocative concept given that the majority of analogue watch or clock dials on the planet are round. URWERK wanted to make them linear, and in so doing, comment on how time goes continuously in one direction, rather than round and round in repetitive circles.

Pointing to the speedometers of certain mid-20th century automobiles, such as Dodge and Volvo, URWERK imagined how to incorporate such a display on a timepiece. Despite being wearable on a wrist, the UR-CC1 case and dial barely resemble most other timepieces. Neon green displays contrast with an 18k white gold case. One version of the King Cobra watch even places a black coating over the white gold entirely hiding it from view, and allowing only the wearer to know the true case material.

From the bottom of the case to the top, three distinct dials offer the hours, minutes, and seconds – the latter display being both linear and digital. Flip the watch over and the time is displayed even more elegantly on the back of the watch.

Inside the UR-CC1 is a mechanical movement completely developed from the ground up for this application, and the watch is designed to offer glimpses of it through a series of sapphire crystal windows all over the case. Originally released in 2009, URWERK produced just 50 pieces of the UR-CC1 King Cobra.

Van Cleef & Arpels – Poetic Wish Set

$530,000*

Paris-based high-end watch and jewellery maker Van Cleef & Arpels know how to create an emotionally charged luxury item. In fact, in their own words, many of their timepiece creations contain “poetic complications”. Even their engineers are working on making you feel something.

In 2012, Van Cleef & Arpels upped their own ante with a duo of timepieces (for him and her) that embodied the brand’s focus on romance, art and precious materials. These Poetic Wish watches take you to Paris for a simple romance between a couple located at two famous landmarks. Each is a watch with an impressively complicated movement and gorgeous hand-made dial.

What is striking about the Poetic Wish watches is that they do not indicate the time at a glance. In fact, to see the time you must activate the minute repeater mechanism contained inside the watch. Once activated, it triggers the movement of two animated elements on the dial, which move into position along the hour and minute scale to indicate the time. This is in addition to the minute repeater chimes that indicate the time to the closest five minute mark.

The ladies’ Poetic Wish watch uses a traditional Van Cleef & Arpels case, lined with diamonds, depicting a scene from none other than the Eiffel tower. The female character in the couple stands atop the tower gazing across the river to Notre Dame cathedral. The dial is hand-made, using a combination of techniques including engraved gold, engraved mother-of-pearl, and careful enamel painting. Most of the work is done under a microscope requiring copious amounts of time to complete.

Set in a Van Cleef & Arpels Midnight-style case, the men’s version logically takes place with our male character situated atop the Notre Dame. His view, as he longingly gazes at his love, is of the Eiffel Tower. Similar decorative techniques are used to produce a very different design for this dial, which includes a pleasant night sky, again with mother-of-pearl engraved clouds.

The reverses of the watches allow open views of the mechanical movements, which include innovative features designed to improve the sound of the minute repeater. Often, the chimes from such functions are muffled by the case. In order to reduce this effect, the Poetic Wish watches have minute repeater gongs that are attached not to the case, but to the sapphire crystal itself.

* ‘Midnight Poetic Wish with diamond bezel’ for Men, $530,000

‘Lady Arpels Poetic Wish with diamond bezel’ for Women, $470,000

The author and publisher are grateful to the individual brands for supplying the images used in this book. All images remain the copyright of the individual brand.