Thursday, August 05, 2004

The Most Expensive Watch In The World

So that last post got me thinking; what is the most expensive watch in the world? There is some debate on this subject. According to tyler-adam.com:
There is a company in Switzerland by the name of Chopard that exhibited, not too long ago, what is supposed to be the most expensive watch in the world. Here is what it contains. First there are three heart-shaped diamonds. The Pink Heart Diamond weighs 15 carats. The Blue Heart Diamond weighs 12 carats. And the White Heart Diamond weighs 11 carats.

Now then...for many of us this would be sufficient. After all...thirty eight carats of fancy cut and fancy color...that's not bad. Right? Wrong! These three colorful heart shapes are set in a bracelet encrusted with more white and yellow fancy shaped diamonds which make up little flowers in design. Total weight of these little doo-dads..163 carats. We are now talking over 200 carats of diamonds in white and fancy colors.
And how much does this little bauble run? TWENTY-FIVE MILLION DOLLARS according to tyler-adams. I tried to find information on the Chopard website about this one-of-a-kind piece, but alas, it was so hard to navigate that I just gave up. I did, however, find this picture and all the specs for this gaudy, ugly-ass watch on the Chopard Forum Discussion Board:




Now then, back to the controversy. According to an article in The Observer, UK News:
The most expensive watch in the world was the Ulysse Nardin 'Genghis Khan' Westminster Tourbillon, which will set the wearer back £400,000. It has tiny, movable, hand-carved Genghis Khan figures on a black onyx dial and a four-gong timing mechanism. Just 30 will be made in the next five years.
It's not as expensive as the rumored Chopard, but it is apparently available for public purchase, which the Chopard is not.

However, according to The Purists the 1979 Vacheron & Constantin Kallista is the most expensive watch in the world at five million dollars. Hmmm... still not as expensive as the Chopard, though. And the controversy continues!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

As to the value of this gaudy, ostentatious watch, the stated figure of 25 million dollars is apparently a bit low. According to the Chopard Forum Discussion Board, this watch is valued at 42,024,380.00 Swiss Francs, which translates to 33,032,801.00 American Dollars. It is said to be worth more outside of Switzerland. In Europe, it is reported to be worth 29,216,540.00 Euros. This tranlsates to a whopping 35,681,868.00 American Dollars. Damn. All of that just to tell time. If Chopard chooses to sell this watch, I predict it will bring over 50 million American Dollars, just because some super rich ditz with more money than sense will want to be able to say he or she owns the most expensive of something. Hell, I cannot even afford a watch that costs more than thirty dollars, much less a Chopard. I guess the dollar store or K-Mart will have to do.