Round-UpThe Top 15 Luxury Watch Brands In India 2023

Arnold & Son

This Swiss watch brand with English roots founded in 1764, was named after English watchmaker John Arnold (1736-99), renowned for inventing many firsts; from the world’s first marine chronometer to solve longitude problems at sea to producing the smallest repeating watch to King George III. The brand has continued Arnold’s legacy by producing highly complicated calibres, such as the True Beat seconds hand, Double escapement and Double tourbillon from their base in La Chaux-de-Fonds. Worth mentioning are timepieces such as the Nebula with complete skeletonised movement, HM Perpetual Moon with competitive designs for moon phases and Globetrotter for its three-dimensional worldtimer.

Key collections: Métiers D’arts, Ultrathin Tourbillon, Time Pyramid, Perpetual Moon, Nebula, and Globetrotter

Bovet

Watchmaker Edouard Bovet’s Bovet was founded in London in 1822 to manufacture watches for the Chinese market. Pascal Raffy acquired the company in 2001, unveiled an in-house movement manufacturing facility. Inspired by Edouard Bovet’s historical creations, the contemporary Bovet collections have editions named after Raffy’s children. including the Miss Audrey line Bovet’s patented Amadeo convertible system. Not only are most top-rung Bovet watches grand-complication pieces; they also unravel elaborate artisanal techniques such as hand-engraving, miniature painting, enamel work and 3D modelling that support their high-tech complications such as jumping hours, retrograde minutes, perpetual calendar and flying tourbillion. The Fleurier collection is reputed for intricate detailing of their original pocket watches, singular lugs, and crown with protective bow at 12 o’clock. The Dimier collection features the ‘inclined writing slope’, a distinctive convex glass with a thick head at 12 o’clock and slim base towards six o’clock.

Key collections: The 19Thirty, The Orbis Mundi, Virtuoso, And Récital

The Bovet Orbis Mundi won under the ‘Mechanical Exception’ category at the GPHG 2020 edition, featuring 'New Delhi' as one of the global cities on the 24-hour world time display

₹56,70,000

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The Bovet Fleurier Virtuoso V Salmon smoothly shapeshifts from a wristwatch to a pocket watch and even a table clock

₹85,70,000

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The Bovet Dimier Récital 27 features multiple time zones within this ‘writing slope’ case that can be set to winter or summer hours for each chosen location

₹96,60,000

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Breitling

Breitling was founded in 1884 by Léon Breitling, whose sole mission was to manufacture high-precision chronographs. The brand is widely acknowledged in the world of sports and automobiles for creating high accuracy wristwatches. But what marked the boom of Breitling was the brand’s invention of the flyback chronograph watches, which instantly clicked with aviators, and Breitling was branded as the ’official supplier to world aviation’. Breitling has won over the skies and the ground, thanks to its sturdy and high-precision instruments that define luxury, but with a rugged and bold appeal.

Key collections: Navitimer, Chronomat, Superocean and Avenger

The all-gold, steel-and-gold, or all-steel Breitling Navitimer 36 and 32 watches present lab-grown diamonds certified with an ‘SCS-007 Sustainability Rated Diamonds Standard’

₹4,46,400

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The Super Chronomat Automatic 38 Origins features lab grown diamonds and is in line with the brand's #SquadOnAMission to do better to deliver beautiful products and experiences using better materials, better manufacturing, and better packaging

₹9,30,000

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Bulgari

Wrapped in Italian excellence, Bulgari exudes luxury like no other brand. Known for its fine jewellery, accessories and watches, Bulgari was established by Sotirios Voulgaris in 1884. Bulgari reveals 2,700 years of Roman antiquity in all their portfolios. Under the LVMH group, Bulgari always manufacture products that are immediately recognisable, be it their watches or fine jewellery. Their watch collection reflects grandeur with its precious gems, and radiance through its rich palette of colours.

Key collections: Serpenti, Octo, Lvcea, and Bulgari Bulgari

The Bulgari Serpenti collection that has graced the wrists of Hollywood's finest and even on the cast of Prime Video's Made in Heaven, showcases both the Tubogas and Seduttori styles

Favre Leuba

As the world’s second-oldest Swiss watch brand, from Switzerland’s third-smallest city, Le Locle, Favre Leuba have produced many firsts with their sturdy tool watches, movements, and horological innovations. The brand produced the world’s first mechanical altimeter on the wrist Raider Bivouac 9000; and the first mechanical dive watch with depth gauge, Bathy. The ultra-thin in-house mechanical movement FL251 calibre has earned many accolades. All Favre Leuba iterations have had multiple rebirths—for instance, the initial date-and-time model of Harpoon, which evolved into a dive watch, the Raider Harpoon. Over the years, friends of the Favre Leuba brand have been Swiss athletes Ralph Weber, Nicolas Hojac, and Ricardo Feller; and Japanese sportspersons Sayuri Kinoshita, free-ride skiier Taisuke Kusunoki, among others.

Key collections: Chief Date, Chief Chronograph, Raider Bivouac 9000, Raider Bathy 120 Memodepth, Raider Sea Sky, Raider Deep Blue, and Sandow

The barrel-shaped Raider Deep Blue stands out in the horological world for its unique disc-shaped running seconds pointer

₹2,28,000

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With its array of chronograph registers, the 44mm Raider Sea Sky automatic watch is suitable for both land and sky

₹3,38,000

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Instead of reading the hour and then the minute, the Raider Harpoon dive watch makes you check the minute and then the hour

₹4,82,000

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The Raider Bathy 120 MemoDepth can function at up to 120m below sea level without a glitch

₹8,45,000

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Girard-Perregaux

The marriage between Constant Girard and Marie Perregaux in 1854 united two Swiss watchmaking families in La Chaux-de-Fonds, lending the union’s name to the watchmaking company with roots in 1791. Their seminal Tourbillon with three gold bridges won the gold medal at the 1889 International Exposition in Paris. Girard-Perregaux were also among the firsts in the 1970s to launch a sporty-chic watch, which is the Laureato, with  an octagonal bezel and integrated bracelet. Apart from quartz movements, their mechanical watches are inbuilt with calibres GP2700, GP3200, GP3300, and GP4500. Quentin Tarantino, Kobe Bryant, Pierce Brosnan, Bruce Blakeman, Hugh Jackman, Nicolas Sarkozy, and Queen Victoria have sported Girard-Perregaux watches.

Key collections: Laureato, Bridges, 1966, Vintage 1945, and Cat’s Eye

Girard-Perregaux and Aston Martin teamed up to create Laureato Green Ceramic Aston Martin Edition watches that feature all-green ceramic components and details inspired by Aston Martin’s legacy

₹26,50,000

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The Girard-Perregaux Absolute Laureato Light and Shade is a far cry from the original versions for its skeletonised case that takes 170 hours to make

₹1,00,20,000

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In the latest avatar of the Laureato series, the Absolute Chronograph 8tech, the watch is composed of ‘unidirectional’, non-braided, and pre-impregnated carbon fibre, combined with lightweight titanium powder to form extremely thin layers

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Grand Seiko

Originally manufactured by the Japanese watchmaker Seiko in 1960, and even made defunct in 1976 losing the games to the ‘quartz crisis’, only to be resurrected one decade later, Grand Seiko became an standalone brand of luxury watches in 2017. Presenting precision and fine watchmaking crafts, the brand have something for everyone, given their range of diver’s watches, chronographs, GMT iterations, elegant dress watches, and more. Their biggest milestone has been the invention of Spring Drive movement, which is about as precise as a quartz movement and is resistant to shock, magnetism and changing temperature, but powered by a mainspring.

Key collections: Masterpiece, Evolution 9, Heritage, Sport, and Elegance

H. Moser & Cie.

This Swiss name has had the rare privilege of being featured in the works of Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky. H. Moser & Cie. was founded in St Petersburg in 1828 by Heinrich Moser, who hailed from a family of watchmakers in Schaffhausen, Switzerland. The brand’s USP is the fact that they manufacture every component of their hand-made timepieces, including the in-house mechanical movements to ‘the intricate reshaping and hardening of each individual hairspring‘. In 2022, the Pioneer Cylindrical Tourbillon Skeleton reference 3811-1200 won the tourbillion of the year at the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève. As of 2023, H. Moser & Cie. produce around 3,000 timepieces across their collections per year.

Key collections: Streamliner, Pioneer, Endeavour, and Heritage

In the minimalistic H Moser & Cie Streamliner Perpetual Calendar series, the months are displayed with the 12-hour indexes, whereas the date window is fixed at four o’clock where the crown is adjacently placed.

Hublot

The motto and mission of luxury watch brand Hublot is the ‘Art of fusion’. Unconventional, non-conformist, and all the adjectives that define ‘different’ aptly reflect the brand image of Hublot. The brand was launched by Carlo Crocco in 1980 and eventually, the reins were passed on to Jean-Claude Biver, who even served as CEO. Hublot are credited with creating the first gold watch with a rubber strap. The brand under the LVMH group have progressed leaps and bounds, and today manufacture few of the most recognised watches in the world.

Key collections: Big Bang, Classic Fusion, and Spirit of Big Bang

Hublot collaborated with Nespresso to create the first ever luxe watch from recycled aluminum capsules and coffee grounds

₹22,90,000

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Contemporary artist Takashi Murakami is a longtime Hublot collaborative who has graced four timepieces and their corresponding NFTs with his trademark 'smiling flower' icon

Hublot unveils specific watches ahead of international sports tournaments, like this Classic Fusion Chronograph UEFA Europa League Ceramic

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IWC

American watchmaker Florentine Ariosto Jones started the brand IWC Schaffhausen in 1868 next to the unsullied River Rhine. Since then, the process of making impeccable watches has spanned over four generations. Jones’s vision—the beautiful marriage of advanced American technology with Swiss watch traditions and skilled craftsmanship—are still visible in IWC’s creations. IWC has built a solid history of aviation watches, with their first-ever wristwatch for pilots in 1936. With Aquatimer in 1967, they entered the gambit of dive watches. The Da Vinci collections is most noted for the inbuilt Perpetual Calendar complication. Portugieser floored the horological world with its seven-day power reserve, railway track chapter ring, applied Arabic numerals, and leaf-shaped hands. That the brand have such a vast portfolio is the icing on the cake.

Key collections: Portugieser, Portofino, Pilot’s Watch, Inenieur, Da Vinci, and Aquatimer

IWC Schaffhausen’s Ingenieur line is the new raw, steely, braceleted version of the original Gérald Genta’s 1970s creation, with the five exposed bezel screws and new grid-dial pattern

Jacob & Co

Founder and CEO, Jacob Arabo, developed an interest in watches after receiving a dual time zone Wakmann timepiece from his watchmaker father Nison Arabov at age 13. This year, 45 years later, the brand unveiled the new Jacob & Co The World Is Yours Dual Time Zone. Overall, this American-born luxe jewellery and watch brand are legendary for their phantasmagorical dials hosting miniature planetary systems, roulette tables, car engines, music boxes, oil refineries, reimagined myths such as the rising phoenix and film scenes from the likes of Hollywood superhit Scarface (1983), among others. International personalities, in particular artistes Busta Rhymes, Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, Pharrell Williams, Bono, and others would buy a Jacob & Co watch, especially the Five Time Zone model as a status symbol to mark their careers taking off. The brand most noted endorsement comes from football star Cristiano Ronaldo—a 20-year-old association that has led to a range of skeleton watches titled Epic X CR7, with ‘CR7’ combining the Portuguese footballer’s initials and his lucky number ‘7’ jersey.

Key collections: Epic X, Astronomia, Brilliant, Palatial, Caligula, and The World is Yours

The surfaces of the continents, and Roman and Arabic timekeeping elements on the dial of the Jacob & Co ‘The World Is Yours’ Dual Time Zone are stamped with 18-karat rose gold finish

₹59,00,000

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The 44mm Jacob & Co Epic X combine bright hues with slivers of metal such as stainless steel and titanium, protective anti-reflective sapphire crystal on both sides, and an impressive water resistance of 100m

₹23,00,000

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The Palatial Classic Automatic and Palatial Classic Manual Big Date iterations are the only Jacob & Co dress watches, and stand out for their minimalistic dials with rose gold timekeeping elements

₹28,50,000

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Jaeger-LeCoultre

A Jaeger-LeCoultre wristwatch stirs opulence bound by 185 years of prodigious craftsmanship. Antoine LeCoultre founded the brand in a small workshop in 1833, and with consistent progress, the brand has become a pioneering luxury watch brand. Recognised as the ‘Grande maison of the Vallée de Joux’, Switzerland, the brand craft 1,000 different calibres in one space. Jaeger-LeCoultre are about the intricate skill that goes into creating each of their watches. Their implication of Art Deco into the making of the first three-dimensional tourbillon wristwatch has to be among the brand’s most significant accomplishments.

Key collections: Reverso, Rendez-Vous, Polaris, Master, and Master Control

Jaeger-LeCoultre Polaris Chronograph is a modern icon of elegance that meets adventure, and establishes the brand's rare mastery of artistic crafts like lacquering

Omega

This Swiss icon is named after the last Greek alphabet, omega, which means perfection and performance and defines Omega’s legacy of 160 years. The third-largest Swiss watch brand, Omega was founded by Louis Brandt in 1848. As one of the most influential watch brands, Omega landed in the luxury watch segment after setting a number of records for accuracy and gaining laurels by officially earning the timekeeping rights for the Olympic Games a whopping 21 times. Omega, in 1969, proved why they are deemed as a very technically-sound watch brand, when the Omega Speedmaster accompanied the astronauts of NASA’s Apollo 11 mission to the moon for the ‘giant leap for mankind’. The Omega Seamaster, on the other hand, has been the official James Bond watch since 1995. Omega are sought for its quality of movements and on-point precision, highlighted by the one-of-a-kind co-axial and Master Chronometer movements.

Key collections: Constellation, Seamaster, Speedmaster, and De Ville

Iterations from the Omega Seamaster Collection like the 300M version (as pictured) is instantly recognisable for its signature wave pattern on the dial and round index markers

TAG Heuer

TAG Heuer was originally named Heuer by Edouard Heuer, who was just 20 years old when he founded the Swiss brand in 1860. The current name was implemented after TAG Group acquired the majority stake in 1985, and stuck on even after LVMH bought out the brand in 1999. Even their oldest lines of automatic chronographs, such as Autavia, Carrera, and Monaco, are still thriving. One of the popular brand slogans is ‘Don’t crack under pressure’, indicative of the brand’s affinity for sports, particularly motor racing, given that the brand are the title sponsors of the Porsche Formula E Team, and have been associated with a lot of other sporting events over the years. The brand’s ambassadors over the years have included Brad Pitt, Leonardo Di Caprio, Priyanka Chopra-Jonas, and Ryan Gosling. Gosling is presently still with TAG Heuer.

Key collections: Carrera, Formula 1, Monaco, Aquaracer, Autavia, and Link

Zenith

Zenith have been the epitome of horological métiers since 1865. The brand’s timepieces spell luxury, and as one of the most decorated Swiss watch brands, Zenith are known for their fine watchmaking. Under the LVMH group, Zenith have evolved its technique and has over 600 movement variations. One of the few luxury watch brands to successfully celebrate a sesquicentennial anniversary, Zenith’s greatest claim to fame was their creation of the first high-frequency, integrated, automatic chronograph calibre—the El Primero of 1969, which has continued to evolve since then, with exemplary versions of the movement, such as the El Primero 21, which can measure up to 1/100th of a second. Zenith’s movement making mastery even led them to manufacture calibres for Rolex at one point.

Key collections: Pilot, Defy, Chronomaster, and Elite

The trademark attribute of the Zenith El Primero Chronomaster Sport since the 1960s is the tricolour sub-dials, date, open heart, small seconds, tachymeter, and 1/10th seconds chronograph