The meteoric and continuing rise of sports watches has spurred unabashedly elitist brands to produce more casual timepieces, aimed at clients who want watches they can (hypothetically) knock around without remorse despite five- or six-figure price tags.
This year has seen more accessible brands raising the bar on their own sports watches, unveiling increasingly pricey versions no doubt meant to capture some of the still-fevered market. TAG Heuer released a six-figure chronograph accented with lab-grown diamonds, for example, while Grand Seiko debuted its first constant-force tourbillon—and both brands took pains to say that these models were, rather than one-off events, instead a hint of things to come. In other words, expect a whole new team of watch brands to get in on this high-stakes game.
TAG Heuer Carrera Plasma
TAG Heuer‘s Carrera lineup is a collection that traditionally sells US$5,000 to US$7,000 sports watches to college graduates or first-time watch purchasers—a far cry from its newest model, the high-tech, six-figure Plasma tourbillon chronograph. The 44 mm watch comes decked out in blocks of lab-grown diamonds that slot along edges of the sandblasted anodized aluminum case—an eye-catching trick that can’t be replicated with natural diamonds. The man-made carbon material was also used to outfit the dial, made from crystals grown into a single block, while the chronograph counters are executed from a black polycrystalline diamond plate.
At US$375,000 (or about RM1.6 million), it’s the most expensive creation the company has offered—for now. According to CEO Frédéric Arnault, it won’t remain an anomaly. “It’s the first piece we launched with such exceptional technology,” he says, adding that the Plasma represents “the beginning of a new story for TAG Heuer.”
Grand Seiko “Kodo” Constant-Force Tourbillon
Ten years ago, Grand Seiko began plotting its foray into high horology when it started work on its T0 concept movement, which boasted the world’s first constant-force mechanism integrated with a tourbillon on a single axis.
The “Kodo” (it means “heartbeat” in Japanese) was unveiled in March and houses a revised version of the concept movement in the 9ST1 calibre, which delivers a level of stable accuracy of +5 to -3 seconds per day with 50 hours of constant-force energy, previously unprecedented at the company. Limited to 20 pieces, the 43.8 mm model, in 950 platinum and brilliant hard titanium and priced at US$350,000 (about RM1.6 million), features an openworked design and comes on a calfskin strap treated with urushi made from the sap of Japanese trees. It also heralds the first mechanical complication watch in the company’s 62-year-long history.
Oris Aquis Sun Wukong Artist Edition
Framing its 41.5 mm Aquis diver in an entirely new light, Oris took its first plunge into the world of rare handicrafts by executing the dial in cloisonné enamel. And it was a deep dive, indeed: The Aquis normally ranges in price from US$2,000 to US$4,600, but the métier d’arts execution is painstaking—each dial requires three days of work from a single artisan—resulting in a US$27,500 (about RM122,300) price tag for the Sun Wukong Artist Edition, limited to 72 pieces. The process to create the dial, which depicts the dragon’s palace from a scene in the 1961 Chinese animated film The Monkey King: Uproar in Heaven, begins with an outline of the design shaped in silver wire on a white-gold plate. Each section is then filled with coloured glass powder in various hues, fired in a kiln at approximately 1,472 degrees Fahrenheit (or 800 °C) and polished to a shiny finish.
Panerai Luminor Goldtech Calendario Perpetuo
Panerai was born as a tool-watch brand creating utilitarian timepieces for the Italian Royal Navy, though since the 90s it has largely been known for sporty commercial watches made famous by action hero Sylvester Stallone in the movie Daylight. In recent years, however, the company has been dabbling in high horology under its Laboratorio di Idee department, with the R&D hub serving as an incubator for the creation of exceptional timepieces ranging from minute repeaters to astronomical moon phases. Beneath that umbrella, the debut of the caliber P.4100 movement in 2021, seen in both Goldtech and Platinumtech models, marked the brand’s first in-house perpetual calendar.
The new 44 mm Goldtech ups the ante in both design and added perks. Its smoked-sapphire-crystal glass offers a full view of the day and date discs—a stylized window into the architecture of the inner components—while the month, leap-year and power-reserve indicators are visible through the caseback. A purchase of the US$83,700 (just over RM372,000) watch, limited to 33 pieces, also comes with a trip to Florence and the surrounding Tuscan countryside, as well as an exclusive NFT. Which means the Calendario Perpetuo is less about deep-sea exploration and more about kicking back in the Med with a Negroni in hand and a mechanical marvel on the wrist.
Previously published on Robb Report.
