Let’s talk about chronographs, specifically the 5 BEST luxury chronographs according to… me. I’m going to discuss the 5 best luxury chronograph watches and why I chose them based on their history and characteristics.
The Zenith El Primero Chronograph
Coming in at number one is one that I feel is totally underappreciated considering its history and that is the Zenith El Primero. The El Primero was actually the first Swiss high-beat automatic chronograph movement.
It was really a groundbreaking movement because it was the first of its kind, although it technically wasn’t the first to market. It was Seiko who actually made the first automatic chronograph movement.
Zenith was definitely one of the first and it was a movement that is historic even to this day based on its history and based on its use by other brands. Take, for example, the Rolex Daytona and the reference 16520 that actually featured a modified El Primero movement.
At the beginning of the quartz crisis, Zenith actually demanded all of their watchmakers to completely destroy all of the equipment and schemes to ultimately build the El Primero movement, regulate it, finish it, and so on.
Zenith really thought like many brands that the future was quartz. It was almost the end of the El Primero movement as we know it today. However, it was because of the heroics of one watchmaker by the name of Charles Vermot who actually along with his brother-in-law defied the orders of Zenith the company, and literally hid all of the schemes and equipment to build the El Primero movement in an attic that you can actually visit today and has now become a museum for Zenith because of that history.
The El Primero movement is not only historic, but it’s been featured in a number of watches, one of which that I already mentioned, the Rolex Daytona, but it’s also been featured by the likes of say, for example, Daniel Roth, one of the most important independent watchmakers who really revived Breguet in the seventies and eighties.
The Zenith El Primero has a number of distinctive characteristics. However, Zenith has done a great job of really modifying and expanding the line so that you can find the model that has an El Primero movement, but in a design that really speaks to you.
For me personally, my favorite is the classic Chronomaster El Primero with the tricolored sub-dials. That is the original and the iconic model and ultimately is my personal favorite.
But what’s great is that you can get them in different variations, at different price points to suit your needs and suit your collection and suit your personal taste and style.
That gives you a variety and adaptability that just can’t be found in many other watches and especially with chronographs themselves. I love the Zenith El Primero personally, and I definitely feel it belongs on a list of top five luxury chronographs, given its history, given what it went through almost disappearing completely, and given the fact that it’s been used by other watches in this list.
In fact, it has been used in the second watch which is one of the most iconic chronographs, arguably one of the most iconic watches ever and that is the Rolex Daytona.
The Rolex Daytona Chronograph
The Rolex Daytona has a very murky history, to be fair. It’s almost technically a bit of a failure as a watch. It was originally the Cosmograph before it was the Daytona because it actually entered the space race along with the Speedmaster and other watches to be the first watch worn on the moon.
When Rolex ultimately failed at achieving that and was beat out by the Speedmaster, it became the Rolex Cosmograph Daytona as we know it, associating itself with the Daytona 500 races, which really rose to prominence in the eighties and nineties, which is when ultimately the name change occurred. Now, the Rolex Daytona comes in many variations, both vintage and in modern.
But even when you take into account its modern format, it is technically, again, a little bit of a failure when you think about it. Because it doesn’t have pump pushers and you actually have to unscrew the pushers, once you’re ready to actually time whatever it is you need to time, it’s already over. The race is done. You can’t even time what you need to. Design-wise, that’s a flaw, in my opinion, for the Rolex Daytona.
But there’s no denying its history and its pedigree makes it one of the most collectible watches for that very reason, because it has a bit of a failure of a past, and because it’s one of Rolex’s most complicated watches, there’s just not that many out there.
Collectors in masse really want to get their hands on one. Of course, there’s been a number of historic variations in precious metal, two-tone, and steel. You can really get the version that really speaks to you the most.
What’s great about the Daytona, at least the modern ones, is you have a lot of flexibility and adaptability with respect to your style and taste. That is, of course, if you can get one at retail, which, let’s be honest, none of us can. But at the end of the day, you can always purchase one on the secondary market.
Another fact that ultimately makes the Daytona collectible is that it was one of, if not the most, expensive watches ever sold at auction. The Daytona was worn by the style icon himself, Paul Newman, and that watch actually sold at auction for over $18 million back in 2017. I actually use that as a reference point for when the watch market went crazy because, after 2017, it just felt like watches weren’t really available like they used to be and prices started climbing really quite rapidly.
It’s when we saw the start of the sports watch craze and the crazy prices we see today on the secondary market. All of those factors combined make the Daytona one of the most iconic chronographs ever and it definitely needed to be featured on a list of top five luxury chronographs list.
The A. Lange & Sohne Datograph
Moving up the horological ladder, we’re going to talk about a brand that I personally am a huge fan of, and of a watch that I feel is one of, if not the very best, manual wind chronographs ever made and that is the A. Lange & Sohne Datograph.
It was actually a watch that was released in 1999. It really took the watch world by storm and in fact, it completely embarrassed the Swiss. Interesting history is that Patek Philippe launched the reference 5070 in 1998, one year prior to the Datograph. Now, that was one of the first manual wind chronographs that Patek had released in almost 40 years, and it featured a Lemania-based movement, the Lemania 2310.
Now, while that is a historic two-register chronograph movement, and it is wonderful, and it’s been used by a number of other brands historically, it isn’t an in-house movement. So technically by the standards of today’s watchmaking, it was a little bit outdated, and frankly, Patek could have done maybe a little bit better.
When the Datograph was released in 1999 with a brand new in-house movement, and with that stunning movement architecture, it really took the Swiss watch world by storm and really the entire watch industry. It had been so long since we’d seen a new manual wind chronograph movement of that caliber, and frankly, with that kind of finishing and pedigree, that really nothing competed with it until Patek released their own in-house movement over a decade later.
When you take a look at it in the landscape of those higher horology chronographs, without obviously getting into the hyper-complicated ones – the perpetual calendar chronographs and so on – I feel that the A. Lange & Sohne Datograph is one that must make a top five luxury chronograph list because of that history, because of the fact that it was really a groundbreaking watch for its time in 1999, and it truly cannot be understated just how important of a release it was.
The Omega Speedmaster Professional
Watch number four really needs no introduction. It is the watch that beat out the Daytona to space, it is the original moon watch and that is the Omega Speedmaster Professional. Now of course there have been a number of variations over the years, but the icon really is the one that went to the moon.
It all originated with the CK 2915, which was actually a racing chronograph to start with, and then became the Speedmaster Professional as we know it as Omega entered the space race to ultimately be the first watch worn on the moon, which it did achieve.
The Speedmaster is the model line that has a rich history and that has a ton of variations. What’s great about it is that you can really pick and choose the one that speaks to you the most. It also comes at a variety of price points, so you can really fit it towards your budget, whether you’re getting an automatic version or a manual wind version, whether you’re getting one in a steel case or a precious metal case, whether you’re getting a limited edition or just the standard moon watch Speedmaster Professional, I think, frankly speaking, you just can’t go wrong considering the pedigree, the history, and the iconic status of the Omega Speedmaster.
For that reason, I feel the Omega Speedmaster belongs on any list of top five luxury chronographs and that’s why I ultimately had to include it.
The Tag Heuer Monaco Chronograph
Number five on the list, I wanted to choose something that was a little quirky and different. This is really just my personal opinion, but I feel it definitely has the merits of being on a top-five luxury chronograph list.
The watch I’m talking about is the Tag Heuer Monaco. This was a watch that was made famous because it was featured in the movie “Le Mans” back in 1971 on the wrist of the man himself, Steve McQueen. I feel this is a watch that still has a very classic and contemporary design given the fact that it’s over 50 years old now at this point, and yet it’s something that’s so unique and recognizable and gets a ton of respect from watch collectors because you can really notice it from a mile away.
Now for the fans of “Breaking Bad” out there, actually, this was a watch that Jesse Pinkman gifted to Walter White. I think that’s a tidbit of history that is cool and interesting, and that does make me enjoy the Tag Heuer Monaco even more.
Again, this is one of those watches that you can get a ton of variations of, although my favorite is still the classic Steve McQueen version with that blue dial and those red racing accents. It really makes for a really fun quirky watch that at the end of the day is super recognizable, and in my opinion, belongs on a top five luxury chronograph list.
Now, of course, this is just my opinion. There are a number of other watches that didn’t make the list that definitely have merits to be on it, such as the Breitling Navitimer, even the Tudor Black Bay chronograph, which I really like, and of course, how can I not mention the iconic manual wind chronographs from Patek Philippe!