Author: Marcus Henry

If I’m being honest, Italy is not the first country that comes to mind when I think of the best watchmaking brands. Switzerland, of course, is certainly number one. 

Japan, Germany, and France all quickly follow suit, with brands like Seiko, A. Lange & Söhne, and historical French watchmakers like Abraham-Louis Breguet. Even England has a storied history in watchmaking, with old makers like Thomas Mudge, John Harrison, and even the famous George Daniels.

Italy has some superb watchmakers, don’t get me wrong. Panerai has been killing it with some unique and stylish watches for a long time.

Unimatic and U-BOAT are lesser-known but enjoy serious cult followings. Even BVLGARI, which makes Swiss watches but is of Italian origin. But there are relatively few well-known brands.

It should come as no surprise, then, that when I started to research this article, I was absolutely blown away by what I found. There are dozens of superb Italian watch brands out there, all of which deserve far more attention than they now receive. 

As such, I’m certain that this article will surprise and thrill you, just as researching it did me. So let’s not wait any longer—here are the 15 best Italian brands on the market today!

Officine Panerai

Could we start anywhere with anyone other than the definitive Italian luxury watch brand? Panerai was founded all the way back in 1860, making it significantly older than many old Swiss brands today. 

Their most iconic watch, the Radiomir, was created in 1935—its name references the radium used to create its glowing dial, which made this dive watch highly legible and, as such, perfect for use by the Italian Royal Navy. 

It’s a testament to the power of Panerai’s designs and watchmaking skill that they’ve been making pieces that look basically like how they did in the 1930s for almost a century now and they continue to be popular—if you think about it, that’s an accomplishment only really enjoyed by the highest of watchmaking brands, like Rolex.

But another characteristic of another advanced watch brand is that they continue to push the bounds of mechanical watchmaking forward, and Panerai has done just that with exceptional watches like the eLux LAB-ID, which uses a mechanical generator to power LED lights to illuminate the watch. 

Panerai is making exceptional watches in a unique style—large, rounded cases, with sandwich dials and prominent numerals—just as they have been for decades, and all at shockingly acceptable prices considering the history of watchmaking prowess of this maison.

Gagà Laboratorio and Gagà Milano

Gagà Laboratorio is a new and smaller brand, but it’s one that I’ve had my eyes on for quite some time now. Their design, the Labormatic, is fresh and unique, with a remarkable fluidity and harmony in its dial and case. It comes in just two colorways, the Cinquania (a lovely jade green) and Bauhaus (monochromatic grayscale). 

However, I do have to admit that I haven’t been following as well with the elder sister brand of Laboratorio, Gagà Milano. Milano was founded by Ruben Tomella as an independent brand all the way back in 2004, so by now, Tomella has some serious experience in the market. 

You’d think, based on the names, that Laboratorio is more of a chance for Tomella to unleash his full creativity with concept pieces, but in actuality Gagà Milano has been making exceptionally eye-catching and stand-out watches for years now that continue to go wildly underappreciated, though they do hold slightly more to a classic styling.

Gagà, Tomella tells us, is an Italian word for a dandy. For me, that’s the exact right word to use to describe Tomella’s creations across both Gagà Milano and Gagà Laboratorio. Their watches are big, bold, bright, and beautiful. 

And to be honest, they could very easily have fallen into the unfortunate trap of trying to do too much and ending up looking like a novelty watch.

Yet such is the genius of Tomella’s design that the watches manage to present a coherent, attractive whole, which pushes the boundaries of elegance and charm, just like any dandy.

Unimatic

Unimatic should be a familiar name to patrons of this blog and Exquisite Timepieces, as they’ve been making exceptional, minimalistic tool watches that are far from unnoticed by the watch experts here. And for good reason! 

Their watches are affordable but stylish and with solid watchmaking chops, making for excellent entry-level pieces for the collector just getting started in the watch world as well as superb lightweight additions for the more experienced collector.

Many microbrands, I’ve found, struggle intensely with establishing a clear and unique design language. Most of their initial watches clearly reference some of the bigger players in the space—be it the Rolex Submariner for dive watches or the Omega Speedmaster for chronographs, there are usually clear cues you can find at a glance. 

With Unimatic, you really get a taste of clear, fresh, and original design that exudes power and durability. Sure, it’s not always the most useful—the rotating “dive bezel” on their U1 Classic has almost no markings at all—but it is becoming an icon in its own right. Definitely a brand to keep your eye on, and worth snapping up one of their pieces if it speaks to you!

Giuliano Mazzuoli

Watchmaking runs deep in the Mazzuoli family—his ancestors, all the way back in 1833 (that beats out Panerai, but who’s counting?), were making tower clocks, and Giuliano Mazzuoli started his own journey 20 years ago in 2005 with the creation of his Manometro. 

Like Unimatic, Signore Mazzuoli has established a clear and unique design language faintly reminiscent of vintage Disco Volante watches. In this case, it was an old air pressure gauge that inspired him to this act of creation.

Among his collections, many of Mazzuoli’s pieces exude Italian charm, such as his Trasmissione Meccanica, which has a case that references Italian racing, and even more so his Carrara, crafted from the Carrara marble used to such acclaim by the finest of Italian sculptors. 

In particular, I’m quite in love with his Carrara Chronograph, which couples the smoothly polished marble with an elegant vintage-style chronograph. Let me be the first to assure you that these are unique and startling watches that deserve far more acclaim than that which they have received so far.

Venezianico

I’m gonna be honest with you guys. I think out of all the brands on this list that I’ve discovered while researching this article, I’m most excited about Venezianico. It’s hard not to be, honestly. Something about their design—I can’t put it into words, I’m afraid—is just… chef’s kiss.

You’ll have to excuse the slight fanboy moment I just had, but it’s been a while since I’ve had a watch inspire that level of excitement and admiration in me.

Pieces like their Nereide Aureo, Arsenale Ultrablack, and Nereide Acquaforte are just absolutely stunning. Now, to be fair, it’s clear that Venezianico is a design-first brand. 

Their watches are exceptional, but most run on a simple Miyota 9-series movement. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, as it’s a solid movement that is used by a lot of microbrands.

That said, they do have something quite exceptional in the works: the caliber V5000, the first Italian-made caliber. This is the kind of brand that’s aiming for nothing short of bringing Italian watchmaking into the limelight, and I’m here for it.

echo/neutra

echo/neutra is another one of those design-first brands that absolutely crushes it at making unique, eye-catching watches with their own strong and admirable style.

Like BVLGARI (more on them later!), they put Swiss Made on their dials, but that shouldn’t be seen as taking away from their Italian heart. Rather, echo/neutra couples Swiss watchmaking prowess with Italian design, and the result is nothing short of spectacular. 

Take, for example, their Rivanera Gray, a watch so good even Hodinkee said it was one of the best microbrand watches.

It riffs on a very clear and iconic watch style, the Cartier Tank, in a way that’s completely new and really only conjures up associations with Cartier under prolonged examination. It’s architectural in its facets, but astonishingly simple and clear in every other way. 

It’s ultra-light and ultra-thin. What does that mean for the watch? It creates a clear, coherently designed whole where every single part of it remains unobtrusive and yet beautifully crafted upon examination.

A quick search through their catalog, I guarantee, will produce nothing but many more pieces in this same style.

Breil

Breil is not like many of the other brands on this list. They’re not the most design-forward or the most serious watchmakers. What they are is perhaps the most fully-formed, top-of-the-line maison out of everything else here, barring only BVLGARI (they don’t count, they’re Swiss-made). 

Breil has everything, and does it all quite well to boot: men’s and women’s watches (most other brands here focus on men’s or unisex creations), jewelry, and even smartwatches. As they’re sure to tell you straight off in their History page, Breil is an avant-garde brand that’s not afraid to push the limits. 

In this case, there’s no need to question their claims: everything they offer is crafted exclusively from steel when it would be an easy and tempting matter for a jewelry house to make precious-metal watches to increase their appeal.

Their watches aren’t boundary-breaking or genre-defining, but they are darn good-looking, and it’s just about impossible to argue with the appeal of that.

D1 Milano

Say it with me this time, folks: here we’ve got yet another design-focused brand! I’m a huge fan of what D1 Milano brings to the table. I’ve had my eye on their iconic Polycarbon Sketch for a looooong time, and any day now I’ll pull the trigger. 

In any case, D1 Milano has a huge variety of designs, both entirely different models and a wide selection of colorways for each one. Thus, like Breil, they have one of the most comprehensive catalogs on this list, making it very easy to find something that appeals to you.

D1 Milano will also be the first to tell you they are not a watch retailer in the traditional sense of the term. Rather, they focus on materials and designs, and especially the interplay of colors. They’re here to break the rules, and I have nothing but respect for the way that they do it. 

Some brands, like Hublot, aim to push the boundaries with extremely expensive, ultra-high-end watches. Others, like D1 Milano, make that avant-garde watchmaking available to anyone at affordable prices. What’s not to love?

BVLGARI

The only Italian brand that could possibly compete with Panerai has to be, without a doubt, BVLGARI. In terms of their offerings, they even far surpass Panerai, showing expertise in jewelry and even in hospitality. 

BVLGARI was founded way back in 1884 in Rome as a jewelry house, and their first watches came as highly-jeweled dainty ladies’ watches.

One of BVLGARI’s most famous watch collections today, the Tubogas and its derivative the Serpenti, first appeared in the 1940s. It wasn’t until 1980, however, that they would establish a watchmaking department in its own right.

Masterpieces of watchmaking craft and design flesh out the modern BVLGARI catalog. The Octo Finissimo and Octo Roma, Bvlgari Bvlgari, and more are recognizable at a glance by anyone even mildly introduced to the world of watchmaking. 

Their work in jewelry and other métiers d’art is without doubt a tremendous fuel for their watchmaking, and the final product is truly a work of art, no matter the model or style of the piece.

Orologi Calamai

There are not a few brands out there that do one thing, and do it exceptionally well. Breitling does adventuring and pilot’s watches. A. Lange & Söhne does classy, “old-money” pieces. Calamai does plane turbine watches.

You heard that right. Every one of their watches is forged from the turbine of an F104 fighter jet that once flew in the Italian Air Force, just like the owner’s father, Giosuè Calamai. 

The founder and owner, Francesco, was inspired by his father’s life and sought to build something that will last. He’s done exactly that here, by imparting a history to each of the watches he crafts that goes beyond what most other normal watches have. 

And it’s not as if the appeal of these watches ends there. Calami offers a wide variety of options, with different complications and each with a striking sporty look.

But front and center for each one is its gorgeously finished case, crafted from the fine steel of an F104 Starfighter jet. Each watch is offered at a quite affordable mid-range price to boot. For history and military provenance, this is your go-to.

U-Boat

You can spot a U-Boat from a mile away. They feel about as big as the eponymous submarine on the wrist, and every part of the design serves only to accentuate that, thanks to the oversized dial relative to the rest of the body of the watch. 

Like Ressence, many of their watches are filled with oil to further emphasize the dial and make it legible from any angle. Interestingly, U-Boat takes this innovation a step further by also bathing the movement in oil, which supposedly helps with its lubrication as well. 

Say what you will about the enormous cases and pronounced dials of U-Boat’s creations, they are striking and recognizable at a glance, and not a few celebrities swear by them.

If you’re craving something countercultural to swim against the tide of modern watchmaking trends, look no further than U-Boat.

Gucci

Like many other fashion brands, Gucci has recently made such a concerted effort to improve its watchmaking division that it would be hard for me not to include it on this list.

They’ve got a huge catalog of well-designed watches for men and for women, all of which are clean and trendy without slipping into the domain of “Walmart watch” infamy. 

Perhaps most of note, however, is Gucci’s High Watchmaking collection, which cleanly surpasses all but Panerai and BVLGARI on the rest of this list.

This specialty department has constructed some absolutely spectacular timepieces, several of which have received a GPHG nomination—equivalent to an Oscar nomination in watchmaking. 

Their Gucci 25H Minute Repeater and G-Timeless Planetarium dazzle and amaze with superb clean design and watchmaking prowess that simply cannot be overlooked.

And even if you’re not in the market for a several-hundred-thousand-dollar timepiece, look no further than Gucci’s G-Flat collection, which is exquisitely designed and a well-respected watch in any collector’s eyes.

Officina del Tempo

Few other brands walk so perfectly the line between maximalism and minimalism. Indeed, many brands will structure their entire identity on one side or the other of the line: Jacob & Co is (in)famous for its maximalism, and NOMOS Glashütte excels at Bauhausian minimalism. Officina del Tempo does both, and does it spectacularly well. 

Almost every other collection they offer is one and then the other, seesawing from unobtrusive dress watches to spectacularly overengineered racing behemoths. 

This is completely Made-in-Italy watchmaking at perhaps its apogee, where almost every concept in horology finds expression in one of many watches that have been offered by the brand celebrating its 25th birthday this year.

Here, heritage is married to limitless contemporary design, and the product is nothing short of exceptional.

Anonimo

As I was exploring Anonimo a little more to prepare for this article, one thought kept coming back to my mind: this is the Italian Jacques Bianchi! Rest assured, I mean that in every way as a compliment, because I’m a huge fan of the French diving-focused microbrand and what they do. 

Anonimo has a very similar origin story and makes watches that are similar in concept, but certainly quite distinct in style, which lets these two brands marvelously coexist in the market today.

While Jacques Bianchi makes more classical watches, Anonimo loves to play with design in typical Italian fashion, making striking professional divers that are also just as comfortable out of the water as in it. 

You’ll want to take a particular look at their bronze pieces, which especially when diving will take on a lovely patina and age to a unique and tasteful sea green. Anonimo’s lovely and striking watches are anything but anonymous: their style and design will be recognized at a glance by those in the know.

Zannetti

For large watchmaking brands, a certain amount of the quality and price associated with their pieces comes from the name on the dial.

If we’re being honest, a Patek Philippe would be significantly cheaper under many other names—part of it is the heritage, doubtless, but the name carries a significant weight to it. Others make their way through sheer craftsmanship. 

Zannetti is a member of the latter camp, a name that carries little weight with most enthusiasts but whose craftsmanship can be easily appreciated by expert collectors at a glance.

Each piece, Zannetti proudly declares, is unique, and a dizzying array of métiers d’art are brought to bear across all their offerings for such a small independent brand. 

Zannetti is nothing short of one of the most exceptional producers of watches in the world and deserves infinitely more attention than it now receives.

Conclusion

Italy may not be the best-known country for horological advancement, but it’s clear that its true skill has gone completely unrecognized. 

From independent craftsmen like Zannetti to watchmaking powerhouses like BVLGARI, Italy provides something for even the most discerning collector, or beautiful watches that serve well as entry pieces for those just getting into the watch world. 

Each of these brands deserves your attention and appreciation—what are you waiting for?

It’s not for nothing that the tourbillon is considered the pinnacle of watchmaking craftsmanship. Every brand has to have one to be considered true haute horlogerie. Some will even make them an integral part of their identity—think Jaeger-LeCoultre’s spectacular gyrotourbillon or Breguet’s superb dual tourbillon watches. 

There’s something viscerally fascinating about watching the stately rotation of a tourbillon. It’s almost unimaginably complex and nearly impossible to craft and hand-finish. It should come as no surprise, then, that these watches are usually accompanied by high 5-figure price tags—or even upwards of $100,000!

And yet what IS surprising is that just a handful of these beautiful tourbillons go for much less. No, you won’t be picking up a true tourbillon for $100-200. As a matter of fact, if you see something advertised as such with that cheap of a price tag, it’s almost certainly a fake tourbillon. 

So what if you’re looking for a beautiful watch featuring this stunning complication but without the financial means to get your hands on one of the 5-figure stunners out there? Look no further than this list.

History of the Tourbillon

The tourbillon is one of the oldest and most exceptional complications in watchmaking, so it should come as no surprise that it was invented by the greatest watchmaker to ever live, Abraham-Louis Breguet, in 1801.

Indeed, it actually predates the wristwatch by over 100 years, as it was first featured in pocket watches. As you may be aware, the tourbillon’s central purpose is to cancel out the effects of gravity on a watch’s accuracy. 

It contains the entire escapement in a cage that typically rotates once every 60 seconds, thus completely neutralizing gravity’s pull by canceling it out over the arc of its positions. You can easily imagine why this makes a lot of sense for a pocket watch, which spends most of its life nestled in the same position relative to the ground in your pocket. 

Shockingly, the tourbillon actually serves little to no purpose in a wristwatch, since it’s in constant motion and so gravity won’t have quite the same effect on it. In this context, it’s mostly just for show, a display of true craftsmanship and elegance. But after all, isn’t that the purpose of a mechanical watch today anyway?

Today, tourbillons have been carried to an extreme in terms of development and accuracy. I mentioned the superb Jaeger-LeCoultre gyrotourbillon earlier: this little contraption takes up not much more space than a normal tourbillon and yet is able to rotate in 360 degrees over all three axes in 3D space.

Jacob & Co is also notorious for its use of gyrotourbillons, and their Astronomia movement is practically one massive tourbillon itself as it rotates everything around in the case.

But what about the tourbillons we’ll be seeing on this list? As it turns out, many of the best tourbillons for the price today were crafted by Olivier Mory, an independent watchmaker who owns BCP Tourbillons and makes these movements himself in his La Chaux-de-Fonds workshop. 

He’s one of the most brilliant minds in the industry to be able to make these movements for so much cheaper than anyone else. It’s also definitely worth checking out his own watch label, Skill Watches, which he runs with his brother Thomas. The other tourbillons on the list are supplied by the Chinese brand Seagull, a bit lower quality than the BCP Tourbillons movements but quite advanced and beautiful nonetheless.

Let me wrap up with a final note about some of the tourbillons we’ll be seeing on this list, which aren’t pure tourbillons per se but rather what is known as a “karrusel.”

The karrusel is a type of tourbillon that’s simpler to make and, to put it simply, involves a few extra gears to help rotate the tourbillon cage.

A lot of brands will call these “co-axial tourbillons” to try to cover up that they’re actually karruseles. That said, these are still exceptional watches and functionally tourbillons, so they should not be disdained for not being “pure” tourbillons.

The 10 Best Cheap Tourbillon Watches

As I said before, you won’t be able to get your hands on a tourbillon for super cheap (though we do have one item on the list for sub-$1,000… stay tuned!), due to their advanced craftsmanship. That said, on this list you can find 10 truly exquisite tourbillons, all at a significantly reduced price compared to the average tourbillon. Let’s get right into it!

Frédérique Constant Manufacture Classic Tourbillon FC-980S3H6 – $15,695

Frédérique Constant is known for offering high-quality watches at prices that are significantly more affordable than those of other Swiss brands.

In this case, their Classic Tourbillon is more expensive than most of the other options on this list, but it’s absolutely worth every penny and much cheaper than it has any right to be. Unlike the other watches here, the tourbillon movement is developed in-house by FC, not purchased from another supplier. 

And for that matter, it’s absolutely gorgeous: just take a look at the blued screws and bright blue escape wheel visible through the tourbillon window at 6:00!

The rest of the watch is incredibly restrained and elegant, with beautifully shaped and finished applied indices and exquisite alpha hands—my favorite type. With a 39mm case and just 11mm thick, it’s super wearable. 

Flip it over and take a look through the exhibition caseback while you’re at it—could you ask for anything more than the perlage, Côtes de Genève, blued screws, and engraved skeletonized rotor at this price? 

Xeric Halograph Tourbillon Collector’s Edition Emerald – $2,000

Xeric is known for their characteristic display style, which features the hours and minutes printed on the dial so that the time is indicated by the halo hands that encircle it. Even more impressively, the numbers are also printed with lume, so you’ll be able to read the time just fine in the dark, too. 

The rich emerald color is absolutely stunning, especially thanks to the variety of finishes over different sections of the dial. As for the tourbillon itself, it’s left ample room to be appreciated thanks to the hemicircular time indicator, and it certainly merits such appreciation. 

Xeric doesn’t specify what movement they use, but it looks to my eyes to be a Seagull-made tourbillon, which is certainly supported by the price. At just $2,000, it’s a shockingly affordable piece for such unique, eye-catching style and class.

Peacock Climber Tourbillon Green Dial – $2,788

The Climber Tourbillon is much sportier than the other two we’ve looked at here, which allows it to play to a totally different niche in terms of collector interest. The design is clearly inspired by Hublot, with the rubber strap and “porthole”-esque screws, but it’s not an overt homage since the screws aren’t in Hublot’s characteristic H shape. 

The dial is quite eye-catching in its rich alpine green shade with a Clous de Paris guilloché-style finish. And the power reserve at 12:00 is a unique style that’s quite sporty and legible.

However, I must admit that I’m not a fan of all the extra screws that are present on the dial, some seemingly randomly dotted throughout and others supposedly holding down all the subdials. They feel distracting and take away from the elegance of the guilloché pattern.

As for the tourbillon movement, it’s the caliber SL5215D, which has automatic winding and is a karrusel-type tourbillon. The tourbillon itself looks lovely through its 6:00 aperture with some pretty decent finishing to give it a luxurious shine. It checks all the boxes for me!

BA111OD Chapter 4.7 Onyx Tourbillon – $8,670

I love onyx dials. They’re so rich and dark in a way that even black enamel can’t quite capture. Now pair the classy black onyx with a superb tourbillon from Olivier Mory, and you’ve got a recipe for a stunning watch for the finest of black-tie occasions.

It’s 40mm in diameter and 11mm thick, so it’s pretty wearable for a stone-dial tourbillon and should slip under a shirt cuff with relative ease. 

The back of the dial also features what BA111OD calls a “mirror film” and says it will reflect the upper face of the movement, but I’ve struggled to observe this in any pictures—perhaps it’s just one of those things you need to see hands-on with the watch.

Interestingly, as our friends at Fratello have pointed out, the movement itself is rotated in the case so that the crown is positioned at 4:00 instead of 3:00 and the tourbillon at 7:00 instead of 6:00.

I’m not a huge fan of this choice, as this feels like a watch that should have been kept a little more traditional due to its class and charm, but it is certainly interesting and shows more intentional design than merely slapping a stone dial over a tourbillon dial and calling it a day. 

The movement itself is a caliber BA.01, based on a tourbillon by Olivier Mory, which is manual-winding and has a whopping 100-hour power reserve. Its striking black finishing can be admired through the exhibition caseback, and certainly should be!

Horage Autark Tourbillon Salmon – $15,300

Horage is a little-known independent brand that’s been shaking up the industry much more than most people know with their new MicroReg system.

While this watch doesn’t feature that (unfortunately, because MicroReg with a tourbillon would be insane), it’s still a superb sporty tourbillon, definitely worth your attention. It’s practically perfect in size at 39.5mm by 9mm thick, and as an integrated sports watch, it’s sure to find some love for its sporty design. 

The dial is in a gorgeous salmon color with an unusually-placed power reserve indicator at 11:00, which introduces a few pops of color. The bezel is brightly mirror-polished and stands out beautifully atop the brushed case.

The movement is Horage’s caliber K-TMR, a superb tourbillon with micro-rotor winding. This watch isn’t cheap, but for a micro-rotor tourbillon, it’s incredibly affordable.

Thanks to its micro-rotor, it’s just 3.6mm thick, which helps keep the rest of the watch thin and wearable. The 60-second flying tourbillon is made from titanium and weighs just 0.29 grams. And just look at the blacked-out bridges, with hand finishing! Truly an exceptional watch for its price.

CIGA Design Central Tourbillon Mount Everest Homage Edition – $3,999

CIGA Design is a little-known Chinese designer watch brand with a strong multinational team of designers that produces shockingly affordable watches. In this case, their homage to Mount Everest is incredibly striking and beautiful.

Let me get this out of the way first—a tourbillon is one thing, but a central tourbillon is another altogether, and is usually reserved for the upper limits of haute horlogerie.

The hands, of course, are shaped like mountaineers’ picks, which makes reading the time very difficult and probably makes scaling Mount Everest much easier. 

The watch was released to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the summit of Everest by Sir Edmund Hillary, so the first four flags atop the mountain are hung from the minutes hand: Britain, Nepal, India, and the United Nations.

The base of the dial, believe it or not, is actually crafted from stones taken from the base of Everest, and the strap is textured in a similar style. Overall, it’s a watch that is full of little winks and careful design inclusions, making for a playful and well-made timepiece.

Agelocer Tourbillon Men’s New Hollow Gold Mechanical Watch Ceramic Bezel Blue Gold – $999

Sure, this watch might not have the best name. It also might not be quite your style. But for $999, with that lovely combination of white on rose gold on blue, I can’t help but let it tug on my heartstrings a little.

And after all, its design was crafted by Étienne Ruffieux, who has worked for brands like Zenith and Parmigiani Fleurier. It also received awards at the Europe Design Awards and French Design Awards. 

Still not convinced? Just look at the superb level of skeletonization Agelocer has achieved here, even with a movement featuring two barrels and a flying tourbillon.

A lot of brands cite architecture as the inspiration for their case, but in this case, it’s actually believable if you examine the faceting of the case and the contrast of brushed and mirrored surfaces.

Inside, the watch runs on the caliber 9001, which uses two barrels to create an 80-hour power reserve. The flying tourbillon is elegant, but I do wish they had treated the balance wheel with a rose gold finish so that it doesn’t stick out quite so much in yellow gold. That said, it sure does make for an eye-catching appearance.

Sugess Tourbillon Master SU8230SW – $659

This is it. Does it really get any cheaper than this for a real, functioning tourbillon? I personally believe it’s the cheapest decently-made tourbillon out there. It’s classy, clean, and simple. Mirror-finished case, white enamel dial, and printed Breguet numerals. 

The Breguet hands aren’t the best, but they’re still elegant and simple even if they’re not totally faithful to the original style. The crown is a little large and a little too fluted for my taste, but it is helpful for the manual-wind movement.

And then we get to the movement. Just look at that 6:00 tourbillon. To be fair, this is a karrusel, supplied by the Seagull ST8230.

But that is a real, honest-to-goodness tourbillon for under $700. You’ve even got a decent effort at finishing with blued screws and some sort of radial Côtes de Genève-esque finishing on the bridges. That is a whole lot of watch for not a lot of cash.

BA111OD Chapter 4.1 T.V.D. – $9,200

The T.V.D. is much like the Onyx Tourbillon I covered earlier in this list, but a little more expensive and with a totally different style. It’s sporty, fresh, and modern.

The entire case has received a DLC treatment to make it a lovely tantalum gray finish, which works beautifully with the blue accents on the dial.

The skeletonized dial puts Olivier Mory’s fine craftsmanship on full display. All the stats are the same as the Onyx Tourbillon, except for one thing, which I want to linger on for a moment, as I’ve never seen it before in watches. 

The T.V.D. features a sapphire crystal with special NFC technology that is only in the crystal, so the entire rest of the watch is perfectly mechanical and traditional.

This is supplied by the Swiss brand STISS, which I’d never even heard of until I stumbled across this watch while researching this article.

They specialize in specialized sapphire glasses with different technological advancements, including their Augmented Glass (which has contactless payment technology) and in-development Key Glass, which will provide your authentication for crypto and NFT services. 

The T.V.D. features its simpler ID glass, which creates a totally unique digital signature for the watch. The crystal can be scanned with your phone just by holding it in close proximity, and immediately, information about the watch is available at your fingertips, making it almost impossible to counterfeit.

In my opinion, that’s a major advancement in the true spirit of the tourbillon: making the watch truly unique and exceptional.

TAG Heuer Carrera Heuer-02T CAR5A90 – ~$10,000

All the other watches on this list are from small brands or Chinese manufacturers. A watch like this, from a big-name Swiss brand, with a chronograph and tourbillon, for significantly less than other brands.

Now the prices for many of these models have been raised on TAG Heuer’s website to around $30,000 (those darn tariffs).

But here’s the real kicker—you can pick up a TAG Heuer CAR5A90 for a market price of a hair over $10,000 on the secondhand market, and can even find some as low as $7,000. For context, the Omega Speedmaster, a perfectly standard chronograph with no tourbillon, runs for over $7,000. That is insane value.

But wait, there’s more! The chronograph in this watch uses a column wheel, which is the most complex and luxurious way of doing it.

And allow me to remind you that none of the other watches on this list could do anything beyond the tourbillon and an occasional power reserve. It also has 65 hours of power reserve and automatic winding. 

Now for the mic drop moment: the Heuer-02T is COSC-certified, so it’s accurate to an insane -4/+6 seconds per day. That is the true spirit of a tourbillon: focusing on precision above all. This just might be the ultimate everyday wear tourbillon for its price.

Conclusion

A good tourbillon watch will never be cheap, but price doesn’t need to be a barrier to adding one of these horological marvels to your collection. Yes, they won’t all run perfectly forever or keep perfect time like a tourbillon from one of the finest Swiss brands. 

But if you’re just fascinated by that little spinning cage, never fear—there are options for you, my fellow watch nerd.

Designer watches have always had a bit of a stigma around them in the watchmaking world. For a while, admittedly, it was rather well-deserved.

Any good watch must be constructed with both an eye for its design and an eye for its mechanics. That’s what makes watchmaking totally unique: it’s a synthesis of art and engineering, of creativity in both forms. 

Old designer watches completely neglected mechanical advancement, for the most part. They looked beautiful or eye-catching from the outside, but on the inside was a throwaway quartz movement. Little wonder they were so rejected by the watch community!

However, times are changing (wink), and designer fashion brands have increasingly looked to beef up their watchmaking department with some serious mechanical chops.

Suddenly, those elegant watches that previously ticked on an ugly old quartz movement are running on gorgeous mechanical ébauches and even feature advanced complications. 

Brands like Louis Vuitton and their watchmaking manufacture La Fabrique du Temps are leading the charge, and it’s time to take notice. Allow me to introduce you to the 12 best designer watches of today.

History of Designer Watches

I touched on the rather dubious past of designer watches in my introduction, and I want to more fully flesh out how this section of the industry has drastically changed before we get into the best designer watches you can get your hands on today.

A quick Google or eBay search for “vintage designer watches” will get you a full list of rather inexpensive picks from brand names that we usually associate with the very heights of luxury: Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, and Chanel, among others. 

Unfortunately, it’s not without reason that these watches are changing hands for so cheap. Many of them were practically cash-cow products for some of these brands, where simply slapping a logo on the dial was enough to make fashion obsessives buy them and wear them proudly.

Around the turn of the millennium, however, things started to change quickly. Louis Vuitton introduced their Tambour collection in 2002 and Chanel the Chiffre Rouge in 2004, among others. 

Perhaps most notable of all was Louis Vuitton’s 2011 acquisition of La Fabrique du Temps, a watchmaking manufacture started by Michel Navas and Enrico Barbasini, after working with them on several projects since their founding in 2007.

Now, you can find haute horlogerie offerings from almost any fashion brand, alongside beautiful mechanical watches with well-finished movements and elegant design. 

Suddenly, all their design expertise is married to mechanical prowess, and it makes for a killer combo that you really can’t miss.

The 12 Best Designer Watches

Without further ado, let’s get right into the very finest of these designer watches available today. We’re looking at all the best brands and all the best watchmaking offerings, so there’s something for everyone here, whether you’re looking for the next watch to add to your collection or just reading for interest. Enjoy!

Gucci G-Flat 36mm in Steel with Black Dial

Not to be confused with its identical twin, the F-sharp (sorry, bad music pun), the G-Flat 36mm is a truly refreshing and new design from perhaps the most well-known name in fashion.

At $2,650, it’s a lovely, affordable sports watch with a customized automatic movement and case structure that clearly takes cues from its notable predecessors like the Cartier Santos and Audemars Piguet Royal Oak.

The black opaline dial at its heart is minimalistic and clean, and the color-matched date window is a great modern touch to build on the watch’s clean elegance.

The G-Flat collection was first introduced in the 1970s, making it a long-lasting style that has only grown in popularity and in watchmaking prowess since its inception. 

My only gripe is the rather limited 50m of water resistance: any true sports watch should be able to go anywhere and do anything (or, as watch nerds fondly term it, a GADA watch), and with such limited water resistance you’ll really need to be hesitant about taking it for a swim. Such is the price of fashion, I suppose.

Louis Vuitton Tambour Automatic 40mm Steel

At $18,900, the LV Tambour is a much higher-end sports watch than the G-Flat, but it sure does show in the quality of its movement and construction. Its iconic eponymous drum-shaped case is elegantly brushed to create a soft shine. 

The bezel bears another familiar Louis Vuitton signature—the brand name itself, in raised engraved letters that manage to not feel too in-your-face.

The dial has a lovely monochromatic blue-on-blue palette that accentuates the watch’s restrained style while providing a rich and legible surface on which to read the time. 

It also has a much richer depth than most other dials you’ll see: the applied numerals are rather tall, and really stand out proudly from the multi-leveled sector construction of the dial below.

Finally, the bracelet feels strongly neo-vintage, with a bold style made up of practically just single links seamlessly integrated into the case. It’s not for nothing that this watch is Louis Vuitton’s best-known.

Dior Chiffre Rouge Black Ultramatte Steel

The Chiffre Rouge is a totally different look from both of the other watches we’ve looked at already here, but no less eye-catching and horologically advanced.

Its 38mm blacked-out case is wearable and a serious attention-grabber, and the rest of the watch doesn’t let go of your eyes for a moment as you examine it. The 4:00 crown is drastically oversized, with bright red accents—it’s clearly unmissable. 

The dial has a fascinating cannage motif, which is so complex visually as to nearly defy any resolution into a consistent pattern. And imposed over this engraving is a soft gradient from that same bright red to a deep black.

All the while, the date window—bearing the eponymous red number, 8, on the eighth of every month—is proudly double-framed by eye-catching red lines. It’s not a watch for the faint of heart, to say the least, but its price is at least bearable at $10,500.

Louis Vuitton Tambour Convergence Pink Gold

The vintage-inspired Tambour Convergence was one of the most eye-catching watches to be unveiled at Watches & Wonders in 2025, and it sure is a stunner. It’s inspired by vintage montres à guichet, watches that had a sort of digital-style display through just a few small windows in the watch.

Cartier notably just reintroduced their Tank à Guichets in the same style. The Tambour Convergence, however, manages to recreate this design in a manner that feels refreshingly modern. 

The hours and minutes are indicated by a small diamond shape between the two rotating discs that bear the printed time tracks. The lugs are gorgeous, sharply architectural and faceted.

The broad surface of the dial, where the windows aren’t, is radiantly mirror-polished, complementing the brushed caseband.

Lastly, I can’t help but comment on the gorgeous blue tone of the printed numerals, which pop subtly but beautifully against the slight rose tone of the case. At $33,500, elegance sure doesn’t come cheap, but you’ll have it in spades with this one.

Chanel J12 Bleu Caliber 12.1 38mm

Chanel’s J12 collection got a serious update with their new Bleu model, so-named for its gorgeous blue ceramic case. It’s got a lovely wearable 38mm diameter case crafted from such a unique shade of blue that almost looks black in some lighting.

On the dial, this dark blue melts easily into the full black of the Arabic numerals—or alternatively, you can get an extra monochromatic pop with blue sapphires as the indices. 

The bright white text proudly indicating the make and model of the watch stands out brilliantly against the muted tones in the rest of the case. For $10,500, it’s a great ceramic sports watch that can’t be missed.

Gucci G-Timeless Planetarium

And now for something totally different! The G-Timeless Planetarium is part of Gucci’s High Watchmaking collection, meaning it’s the crème de la crème of designer watches. This spectacular automaton runs on the GGC.1976.DS movement, which is named after the Orion Nebula 1976. 

It’s manual-winding with a central flying tourbillon, which is already enough to make your jaw drop, but Gucci’s watchmakers have tossed in there an exceptional automaton function to go with it, actuated through the crown.

The name is a bit of a misnomer—it’s not a true planetarium in the way that the Van Cleef & Arpels Midnight Planetarium is, but it is a representation of one with twelve exceptional gemstones that both rotate on themselves and around the dial. 

You can get this hunk of horology for a whopping 350,000 Swiss francs in white or rose gold with different gemstone options.

Louis Vuitton Escale Pink Gold

When I first read about the Escale—and some of the initially gushing reviews about it—I was dubious, to say the least. It’s just another time-only dress watch, I told myself.

I’ll be the first to say now that I could not have been more wrong. The watch is quintessentially LV in a way that shockingly avoids being overbearing. 

As the name suggests (French for stopover or port), it’s inspired by Louis Vuitton travel trunks, and every element of the design exudes the class and luxury associated with them. It’s the perfect modern size at 39mm in diameter and its textured blue dial complements the pink gold case flawlessly.

Both the indices at 3/6/9/12 and the lugs reference the iconic riveted corners of the suitcases in a way that makes me wonder why this design hasn’t been brought to the world of watchmaking yet, because it just looks so darn good. 

Plus, it’s all powered by the gorgeous caliber LFT023, a micro-rotor movement with stunning finishing and 50 hours of power reserve. It’s not cheap at $26,300, but for a precious metal dress watch, you could do a whole lot worse for the price.

Ralph Lauren 867 Rose Gold 32mm White Dial

There are a lot of watches today that take inspiration from art deco, the exuberant design period prominent in the Roaring Twenties, primarily using this theme as a justification for timepieces that are overladen with sparkly gems and garish color combinations. 

The Ralph Lauren 867 is a totally different side of the art deco spectrum, in a beautifully refreshing way. It’s classy, dressy, and simple.

It’s primarily constructed around a series of square frames that constrict as you approach the center—the outside of the case, the bezel, and several in the dial for the different printed tracks. Thanks to this, and to its small lugs, it wears simply and purely on the wrist, continuous in all its lines in a refreshing way. 

The Breguet hands and quintessential Ralph Lauren numerals (two different types, with one for 3/6/9/12 and the other for the rest) complete the classy and restrained look.

Plus, with just a 32mm case, it’s anything but obtrusive. And the $17,000 price tag is honestly pretty solid for a rose gold dress watch, especially one bearing the Ralph Lauren name.

Gem Dior Malachite Dial

Rarely do I see a level of design innovation in watches as the Gem Dior collection, crafted by Victoire de Castellane, a top jewelry designer. It’s one of the finest ladies’ watches to be found anywhere, thanks to its subdued 27mm diameter but stunning array of facets and construction.

It uses multiple sorts of metals and gemstones to create an exterior that feels not quite like a gem but rather something altogether new and brilliant. 

It looks like the distillation of wearable luxury—a bracelet and a gemstone, and a watch all packed into one in a nearly surrealist form. The rich banded malachite dial only adds to the effect.

The movement is a touch disappointing as it’s a rather uninteresting quartz, but considering the restrained size of the watch, that can be slightly ignored. This one will set you back a considerable $18,500.

Chanel J12 Automaton Caliber 6

This is Chanel’s haute horlogerie offering, of a very different sort than the Gucci we already looked at. In fact, almost the only thing the two have in common is their use of an automaton. This time, however, Chanel employs it to create the image of Gabrielle Chanel’s couture atelier.

The 20-second animation, triggered by the press of a button, features the movement of a couture dress and of Mademoiselle’s silhouette. 

While the case isn’t quite the rich blue of the J12 Bleu, you have in its place a very rich black that creates a deeply striking look with the monochromatic dial. It’s also shockingly wearable for an automaton at 38mm in diameter.

As a final touch, you get a 3-link bracelet also crafted in ceramic. Due to its serious watchmaking chops, this watch is limited to just 100 pieces and is priced on request.

Louis Vuitton Tambour Street Diver 44mm Skyline Blue

Most dive watches today are not worn for their intended purpose, that of aiding divers in calculating how long they spend underwater.

So then why not take the idea of a dive watch and make it something much more at home on land? Introducing the vibrant Louis Vuitton Tambour Street Diver, which sports a nearly Tron-esque color palette and beautiful lume. 

It feels like the essence of big city nightlife. It’s big, broad, legible, and striking in every way. More than any other watch I’ve seen, it makes a monochromatic appearance look like an explosion of color.

Even the caseband is dark blue thanks to a PVD process. It runs on a pretty solid movement too with 50 hours of power reserve and automatic winding. 

And at $8,015, you can have it for less than many other everyday wear watches like the Omega Speedmaster.

Ralph Lauren Western Round 45mm Engraved Sterling

The Western collection from Ralph Lauren is among my favorite watches ever, not just in the category of designer watches. To be fair, I grew up on old Westerns, so these watches definitely touch something deeper in me than just the watch lover—but these are some exceptional pieces by any metric. 

The defining feature of this watch is its antiqued sterling silver case, hand-engraved in New York City. It feels like exactly the sort of thing the most fashionable Western landowner would have had on his wrist… that is, if wristwatches were around back then.

If you’ve read my other articles, you know I often have a problem with 4:00 crown placements. 3:00 is where it should be, my brain firmly reminds me. But in this case, I can’t help but feel like the 2:00 placement is perfect. 

I can’t explain why, it just feels so right to me. Finally, the dial at the heart of it all is absolutely gorgeous: slightly off-white, with text that’s clearly been printed several times to add depth and glossy shine. Breguet hands complete the look. At $24,900, this is a watch that you can’t pass up for its price and style.

Conclusion

Designer watches have clearly come a long, long way. From cheap quartz-powered pieces to true horological powerhouses, they have quite possibly seen the most development of any watchmaking genre over the past 30 years. 

From “barely worth a second glance” to “you can’t take your eyes off them,” some of the finest watches in the world today are being made by designer maisons. Maybe it is time to pay them a second look!