The coolest wrist watch in the world

A selection of unusual and stunning designs of wristwatches.

1. Zenith - Defy Xtreme Tourbillon Zero-G El Primero. The Zero-G mechanism is placed inside the gyroscope - this is such a device for aircraft that informs the pilot about the position relative to the horizon. In whatever position the owner of this watch turns the brush, the Zero-G carriage will take a strictly horizontal position. And at the same time, it is connected to the clockwork through a wheel transmission and affects the unheard of precision. Traditional for the Defy Xtreme series, water resistance of 1000 meters and a helium valve. The cost is $500,000.

2. Franck Muller Aeternitas Mega 4 This is one of the most complex wristwatches in the world.
The watch has 36 complications, 25 of which are visible on the dial. The watch consists of 1483 parts. There are 19 hands on the dial of this watch. 18 ordinary and 1 second on the tourbillon carriage. There is no watch with many hands. The cost is $2,700,000.

3. Chopard 201 Carat. The most expensive watch in the world costs 25 million dollars, and against their background, watches for half a million or even more so for 100 thousand dollars do not look so expensive. But much more beautiful than this unbridled luxury of 874 diamonds.

4. Uliss Nardin Freak Blue Phantom. In early 2001, Uliss Nardin introduced a watch codenamed FREAK. Until now, these watches represent the apotheosis of technological and artistic excellence in watchmaking. Released in very limited quantities, FREAK remains the most popular model in the world to this day. This watch is the epitome of a concept of ingenuity that brings together three of the world's most famous watchmakers. The assembly of parts was remarkable for its incredible originality - in fact, the watch did not have a case at all in its usual sense! The dial and bezel of the watch became, in fact, part of the mechanism, the Freak model had no crown and hands, and the watch mechanism, rotating, showed the time! The cost is about $100,000.

5. Konstantin Chaikin “Lunokhod”. The only Russian watchmaker admitted to the AHCI (Academie horlogere des createurs independants), Konstantin Chaikin, presented his new Lunokhod model at the current watch exhibition in Basel, named after the glorious achievements of Soviet cosmonautics in studying the earth's satellite. The main detail of the novelty is a ball with a diameter of 12 mm, symbolizing the Moon and made of Indian wutz damask steel. The ball, like the earth's shadow, is gradually covered by a silver hemisphere with black rhodium plating, rotating around it. Such an indication of the moon phases is used for the first time in watchmaking.

6. Christophe Claret 21 Blackjack. This is a real toy for big boys. The watch includes three popular casino games - blackjack, roulette and craps. The blackjack is hidden behind a sapphire crystal on the dial, which features small windows within rhodium-plated frames. The bones are hidden in the side of the case, while the tape measure can be found in the bottom of the case. The strap is made of crocodile leather, and the case is available in white or rose gold, black or gray titanium alloy. Each of the watch design options is produced in a limited edition of 21 units. Cost from $200,000.

7. Romain Jerome Cabestan Titanic DNA Tourbillon Vertical. Romain Jerome, who somehow miraculously snatched off a decent piece of metal from the sunken Titanic, produces stylized opuses, the main precious coating of which is rust. The new project is a pastiche of Jean-Francois Ruchonnet and Vianney Halter's Cabestan (manually wound vertical tourbillon with power reserve indicator). The straps for this model, which is limited to 6 pieces, are cut from leather sofas from that legendary ship.

8. Romain Jerome Day & Night. The "Day&Night" watch from Romain Jerome's DNA of Famous Legends limited edition collection sold out within 48 hours for $300,000. The clock does not tell the time, its main feature is that its case is made of steel taken from the remains of the legendary ship "Titanic". They are decorated with sapphires, have a crocodile leather strap, the steel case is covered with rust. In general, the model looks like an ordinary watch, but there are no numbers on it, and the dial is divided into two parts, the dark part of which indicates the night, and the light one indicates the day. “Not displaying hours, minutes or seconds, this watch offers a new way of measuring time by dividing it into two sections representing day and night. The new interpretation of time is based on the coordinated work of two tourbillons. It's a very avant-garde approach,” said spokesman Romain Jerome.

9. Quinting Montre Mysterieuse Transparente. The watch manufactory Quinting has created the world's first wrist watch with a completely transparent mechanism. The central part of the movement consists of several sapphire plates with an anti-reflective coating, due to which the refractive index of light tends to zero, and it seems that there is no movement in the watch. Some of the plates are movable, some are fixed. Fixed plates play the role of platinum and bridges. Movable - are transparent gears. The electric motors driving these plates are hidden under the rim of the case.

10. Urwerk UR-110 Torpedo. Minutes are displayed on the scale located on the right, and the indicator is the hour module, currently passing "in orbit" between the marks "0" and "60". The number on this module shows what time it is. The arrows on the "satellites" are always parallel to each other, a special "planetary" mechanism unit is responsible for their even position. The cost is approximately $80,000.

11. Urwerk 202. There are three cubes in the case, on the four faces of which numbers are depicted. Cubes rotate around their own axis and along the dial. From each cube, in turn, an arrow is put forward, which shows the minutes. The watch face also reflects the movement of the Earth's satellite and there is an indicator of day and night. The cost is $100,000.

12Movado Tourbillon Museum Watch. Grand Prix in the nomination “the most modest expensive watch”. The tourbillon was issued in a single copy, as evidenced by the rare inscription 1/1. The minimalist dial with only one dot has been a hallmark of Movado since 1947. The cost of these watches is unknown, since they are the only ones, but there is reason to believe that the price starts from hundreds of thousands of dollars.

13. Manufacture Royale Opera. The watch case consists of 60 parts and can be folded into an accordion. When unfolded, the body creates a resonant cavity that amplifies the sound of the repeater. The mechanism consists of 319 parts. On the watch dial there are hour and minute hands made of gold. All this unique mechanical beauty is protected by three sapphire glasses, two of which are on the front side of the case, and one, hinged, on the back. Crocodile leather strap with 18k rose and gray gold buckle. Circulation - 12 copies.

14. Maurice Lacroix Masterpiece Regulateur Roue Carree. What could be stranger and more unusual than a square wheel? However, it was he who was made the central element of the new model of the master of the manufactory. Moreover, a square with teeth of an unusual shape, located at the “12 o'clock” mark, is not just an ornament or a designer's pampering. Its window with a luminescent hand is the hour indicator in the original regulator. The square wheel is driven by a trefoil at 10 o'clock. To calculate the shape and dimensions of such unusual details and gearing, Maurice Lacroix was helped by engineer Michel Vermot and specialists from the Le Locle Higher School of Engineering and Watchmaking. The series is limited to 99 pieces.

15. HM4 Thunderbolt. For those who are too lazy to turn their hand to see the time.
This absolutely fantastic watch with an aerodynamic case made of titanium and sapphire plates was invented and made a reality by the designer Maximilian Büsser, known in the Swiss watch industry as the genius of kinetic masterpieces. The indicators are made in the form of turbines, on one of them there are hours and minutes, on the other - information about the remaining power reserve. The upper and lower parts of the case are finished with transparent sapphire panels. Only 20 pieces are produced annually. The cost is $158,000.

16. Harry Winston Opus Eleven. This year Harry Winston presented the eleventh model from the Opus series. The main dial consists of many rollers and gears, on which 24 panels with half numbers are arranged in a chaotic manner, which “explode” every hour and gather into the corresponding number in the very center of the scoreboard. The back panel is made of transparent three-layer glass and exposes 566 parts of the movement on 155 jewels. The cost is from $230,000.