Eight watches worth the wait that represent watchmaking excellence

1/5

Most watches glow faintly in the dark. This one absorbs light during the day and releases it after dark as an intense, vivid blue glow. Beyond the spectacle is a complex calendar mechanism: A perpetual calendar that automatically accounts for months of varying lengths and inserts a leap day every four years, deviating by just one day every 577.5 years. A seven-day power reserve and a Double Moon display tracking lunar phases from both hemispheres complete the watch that’s limited to 250 pieces.

2/5

Produced deep in the Shinshu mountains of central Japan, it is the work of the Micro Artist Studio — a small, elite team of craftspeople. The hand-engraved dials’ intersecting lines evoke the movement of the Tateshina falls. Every hour marker and both hands are crafted from 14-karat white gold. Comes with an 84-hour power reserve and a platinum case.

3/5

The Japanese art of urushi lacquering requires months of work for a single object. Credor’s artisans have created a dial that is a deep blue gradient, a colour rarely seen in urushi due to the immense difficulty of achieving stable saturation. The indexes and lettering are rendered in taka maki-e, a raised lacquer technique finished with platinum powder and polished with a sea bream tooth tool, producing a subtle three-dimensional shimmer. Limited to 25 pieces.

4/5

The original Freak, launched in 2001, caused a genuine shock in watchmaking: No dial, no hands, no crown, with the entire movement rotating to tell the time. On its 25th anniversary now, Ulysse Nardin has created what it calls the most complicated time-only watch ever made. Of the watch’s 511 components, only 13 remain stationary. Four years of development and 60 hours of hand-assembly by a single watchmaker complete each piece. Limited to 50 in white gold.

5/5

Inspired by the iconic Reebok Pump trainers of the 1980s, the watch translates that signature gesture — the squeeze that inflates the shoe — into a mechanical one: Pressing the pusher at eight o'clock winds the movement and brings the watch to life. Each purchase comes accompanied by an exclusive pair of Reebok Pump shoes.