You should feel some serious trepidation before pulling the trigger,if five figures is the hard cap for your next timepiece. This is, after all, the world of in-house movements, increasingly convoluted (yet lustworthy) complications, and some of horology’s heaviest hitters.
These are the five best watches for under $10,000.With that in mind, our favorite choices run the gamut: watches for divers, chronographs for drivers, slimmed-down timepieces for would-be CEOs and a few that dip toes in all waters at once.
Rolex Submariner
There is little to be written about the Rolex Submariner that hasn’t been before. The Oyster Perpetual earned its reputation through associations to Bond, Hilary and the Marianas Trench. This 40mm Oyster case iteration is machined from 904L stainless steel, a superalloy that contains more nickel and chromium in its composition — which makes for a more robust timepiece that holds its shine much longer. Powered by Rolex’s in-house 3135 calibre self-winding movement, this Sub is a certified chronometer that utilizes a Parachrom hairspring to maintain impeccable accuracy.
Panerai Luminor Marina 8 Days Acciaio
Exclusively available to North American customers, the Panerai Luminor Marina 8 Days Acciaio is a hand-wound powerhouse with up to 192 hours of power reserve. This is thanks the P.5000 calibre that beats within the hallmark 44mm cushion case. Panerai’s historic relationship with the Italian Navy is celebrated on the engraved case back, which features an attack method used by the Marina Militare, the human torpedo.
It’s rare to find an in-house, automatic, full perpetual calendar for under five figures. And yet, at Basel this year, Frederique Constant unveiled just that. To put their Slimline Perpetual Calendar into perspective, the next-most-affordable perpetual calendar timepiece comes from Montblanc, and it retails for pennies less than $13,000. Credit Frederique Constant’s dedication to delivering affordable luxury to clients and collectors more concerned with complications than marketing budgets. The all-new FC-775 calibre came together over three years of development and its ease of assembly is what manages to keep costs surprisingly low.
There are few dials as exquisite as the trademark Tri-Color chronograph of a Zenith El Primero. There is a casual elegance to this timepiece that few marques can balance. At 42mm, the case is of contemporary size without wearing large, and delivers just enough golden-era sportiness to pair perfectly with a set of stringbacks and a Nardo wheel. Of course, the El Primero’s claim to fame resides with its 36,000 vph, calibre 400 B automatic movement. Those extra oscillations (compared to the standard 28,800 vph) made the original 1969 El Primero a more accurate version of the world’s first mechanical chronograph, besting joint efforts by Heuer and Breitling.
While any watch aficionado can sing you the praises of Omega’s Moonwatch, few will raise an eyebrow for JLC’s Geophysic. And that’s a damn shame. The Geophysic is Jaeger LeCoultre’s most formidable tool watch, with roots tracing back to 1958’s International Geophysical Year, when an historic collaboration of nations led to a number of important scientific explorations. The Geophysic True Second continues this tradition of packaging a bombproof tool watch into a gentlemanly package. Its “True Second” nomenclature means this JLC employs a deadbeat seconds hand, which ticks instead of sweeps. How it does so — a spiral spring and metal whip powered by JLC’s Gyrolab balance — is infinitely mesmerizing.
