The 7 Best Travel Watches for When Price Is No Object
Are you looking to drop six, maybe even seven figures on a travel watch? Well, summer is in full swing, and maybe you have that idyllic European vacation planned at one of the most luxurious hotels, or are otherwise destined to zig-zag across time zones. The only thing that could make the trip better is the perfect travel companion—and we don’t mean your spouse, sibling, or best friend. You need a killer travel watch as you set sail for a day trip on a superyacht or settle into the Parisian spirit to enjoy the Olympic Games. In addition to being ultra-stylish, travel watches are super convenient as you jet-set across time zones. With their GMT and dual-time functions, you can easily keep up with local time and time back home when you need to quickly check in with the kids or the office (hopefully not too often).
But there are further complications available once you step over the six-figure mark and hit those higher numbers, and even seven figures. The Audemars Piguet we recommend is insanely expensive, as is the Bovet—so expensive that those watches in the lower six-figures start to look like….bargains? Maybe not quite. Whatever you spend, these watches truly show off the highest horological accomplishments in modern watchmaking. Below are seven of the best travel watches when money simply isn’t an object.
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Bovet Recital 28 Prowess 1
Earlier this year, Bovet launched one of its wildest watches yet: the Recital 28 Prowess 1. This watch is so good that we named it Watch of the Year in our Best of the Best issue. Bovet is no stranger to tackling travel watches, with a selection of dual-time, triple-time, and traditional world timers in its arsenal. However, with the new Recital 28 Prowess 1, the brand solves an issue that has long plagued world timers. You’re likely familiar with the typical world-time complication, which allows you to view the hour and minute in every time zone around the globe simultaneously. Yet, because there’s no universal time zone system, things get complicated when it comes to daylight savings time. Bovet met this challenge head on with the Recital 28 Prowess 1, accounting for all 24 global time zones as well as Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), American summertime (AST), European and American summertime (EAS), and European wintertime (EWT).
$735,000
Audemars Piguet Code 11.59 Perpetual Calendar Ultra-Complication Universelle (RD#4)
Audemars Piguet first introduced the Code 11.59 to its lineup in 2019 with an ambitious 13 references. A year later, the brand added ten more, and the collection has continued to grow ever since, with editions like the Code 11.59 Star Wheel in 2022. Last year, AP leveled up the Code 11.59 as part of its series of Research and Development watches, marking the first RD model outside of the brand’s iconic Royal Oak line. The Code 11.59 Perpetual Calendar Ultra-Complication Universelle (RD#4) includes an impressive 23 complications, including a grande sonnerie supersonnerie, petite sonnerie, minute repeater, perpetual calendar, split-seconds flyback chronograph, flying tourbillon and moon phase. Yet, somehow AP manages to house it all in a 42 mm case.
$1,800,000
Greubel Forsey QP a Equation
In 2015, Greubel Forsey debuted an absolutely bonkers watch with a whopping 15 complications all operated by a single crown. This dare we say “magic” crown is bi-directional and features a pusher. The result is a perpetual calendar that’s actually user friendly and easy to set up. However, the design wasn’t easy to achieve and took Greubel Forsey nearly a decade to conceive and patent. Over the years, the brand continued to make subtle stylistic updates to the model, offering different style options from a white gold case with a rhodium or anthracite dial to a red gold case and a rich chocolate dial. Of course, each version maintains the impressive functionality offering leap years; a day/night indicator; the day of the week, date, and month; hours, minutes, and seconds; and a power reserve indicator on the dial. On the bridge side, you get the equation of time with the months, seasons, solstices and equinoxes, as well as the calendar year.
$680,000
Patek Philippe Perpetual Calendar 5327
The perpetual calendar complication has long been at the core of Patek’s catalog, worn by major names like Andy Warhol and John Lennon. However, back in 2016, the brand began putting an even greater emphasis on its high-end complications and with that came the introduction of the Perpetual Calendar 5327. The ref. 5327 is powered by the 240Q, the same perpetual calendar movement that has been in Patek’s catalog since 1985, with the introduction of the ref. 3940 and later the ref. 5140 in 2006. However, the ref. 5327 offered a reimagined dial design. Most notably, it features a more modern case size coming in at 39 mm, giving it a more substantial look and feel on the wrist than its 36 and 37 mm predecessors.
$103,460
F.P. Journe Chronometre a Resonance Caliber 1520
At the turn of the 21st century, F.P. Journe revolutionized watchmaking with the Chronometre a Resonance, the first wristwatch to achieve the phenomenon of natural chronometric resonance through dual movements that synchronize themselves—via resonance—for greater accuracy. The brand retired the original Chronometre a Resonance series in 2019 after two decades of production. Then, a few months later, F.P. Journe announced a new addition would be joining the lineup in celebration of the model’s 20th anniversary. The 2020 iteration featured a few key updates, including the introduction of a new movement, the caliber 1520. While the new movement necessitated some design changes, the dial still maintains the ever so pleasing symmetry that’s come to define the Chronometre a Resonance line with two subdials offering a 24-hour display and 12-hour display.
$140,000
De Bethune DB Kind of Two Jumping GMT
In 2022, De Bethune celebrated its 20th anniversary with the introduction of a slew of new watches, including the DB Kind of Two Jumping GMT. The model marked the brand’s second foray into the realm of double-sided watches following the DB Kind of Two Tourbillon launched the year prior, which received the award for Best Tourbillon at the GPHG. With the DB Kind of Two Jumping GMT, you get one side with the jumping hour hand of the GMT function and on the other, there’s the central jumping second hand. However, the piece de resistance of this anniversary model is found under the hood. Powering the DB Kind of Two Jumping GMT is De Bethune’s 30th in-house caliber, the DB2517.
$220,000
A. Lange & Sohne Lange 1 Perpetual Calendar
When Lange introduced the Lange 1 Perpetual Calendar in 2021, it marked the first time the complication stood alone front and center as opposed to being paired with a tourbillon or chronograph. With this Lange 1 Perpetual Calendar, you get the brand’s signature oversized date window right between ten and eleven o’clock perfectly yet asymmetrically balanced with the hours and minutes register at three, leap year counter at six, and moonphase and day/night indicator between seven and eight. Around the periphery, you have the month and day of the week. Altogether, the Lange 1 Perpetual Calendar delivers a ton of information while remaining surprisingly easy to read. The latest addition comes with a sleek black dial and a platinum case.
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