If you were wondering which are the top brands in the watch-making industry, you’re in the right place!
We gathered 10 of the best and most famous luxury watch brands in the world and put them together to form this article just for you.
Watches come in many different styles and sizes, and can be worn as a functional accessory or a stylish piece of jewelry by both men and women.
Wearing an everyday watch means choosing one that is comfortable, durable and neutral, while formal watches are often more expensive but should ideally meet certain style requirements.
Every year we make sure to check and rank the most expensive watches in the world to make sure our top is always accurate! We even ranked the most expensive watch brands!
But today, we’re bringing you the best brands you can choose from, so let’s see which are the Top 10 Luxury Watch Brands in the World!
- Rolex
Rolex was founded by Hans Wilsdorf and Alfred Davis in London, England in 1905, under the name of “Wilsdorf and Davis”.
The two of them, at that time, were importing Hermann Aegler’s Swiss movements to England, and placed them into quality watch cases made by Dennison and others.
The watches were then sold to jewellers, who then put their own brands on the dial.
So you can say that they started from the bottom, and with hard work and dedication, Rolex became the largest single luxury watch brand, producing about 2,000 watches per day.
Rolex was ranked by Forbes as the 57th company on their lists of the world’s most powerful global brands, with estimated revenues of US$7.4 billion.
- TAG Heuer
TAG Heuer designs and manufactures watches, but is also known for its fashion accessories, eyewear and mobile phones manufactured under license by other companies, but carrying the Tag Heuer brand name.
The company was founded in 1860 by Edouard Heuer in St-Imier, Switzerland, and it was known back then by the name of “Uhrenmanufaktur Heuer AG”.
The name changed in 1985, when the company was bought by “TAG Group”,thus becoming the brand that we all know today, the TAG Heuer.
Edouard Heuer patented his first “chronograph” in 1882, and in 1887 he patented an “oscillating pinion”, which is still used by major watchmakers of mechanical chronographs.
In 1999, TAG Heuer accepted a bid from LVMH Moët Hennessy • Louis Vuitton of $739 million for a transfer of 50.1% of stocks.
- Omega
Omega is a Swiss luxury watchmaker based in Bienne, Switzerland.
Omega was founded by Louis Brandt at La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland in 1848. He was a 23-year-old that at that time assembled key-wound precision pocket watches from parts supplied by local craftsmen.
After his death in 1879, his two sons Louis-Paul and César took over, and troubled by irregular deliveries of questionable quality, abandoned the unsatisfactory assembly workshop system in favour of in-house manufacturing and total production control.
Two years later the company moved into a converted spinning-factory where its headquarters are still situated today.
In 1917 the Britain’s Royal Flying Corps chose Omega as its official timekeepers for its combat units, and the American army did the same in 1918.
In 2014 Omega even became the official timekeeper of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games.
- Panerai
Officine Panerai, designs, manufactures, and sells watches through authorized dealers and company-owned boutiques worldwide.
The company was founded by Giovanni Panerai in Florence, Italy in 1860, and at the time, it maintains its headquarters in Florence but manufactures watches in Neuchâtel, Switzerland.
Officine Panerai had become an official supplier to the Royal Italian Navy, supplying watches and precision instruments consisting in cases designed and manufactured by Panerai, and the movement made by Swiss manufacturers including Rolex.
These watches are famous for playing a role in assisting the frogmen of the Decima Flottiglia MAS in their operations during World War II.
- IWC
IWC, or International Watch Company, is a Swiss watch manufacturer located in Schaffhausen, Switzerland, and an active member of the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry.
In 1868, the American engineer and watchmaker Florentine Ariosto Jones founded the International Watch Company with the intention of combining the craftsmanship of the Swiss with the modern engineering technology from the U.S.
Before founding the IWC company, Florentine Ariosto Jones had been a director of E. Howard & Co., in Boston, at that time, America’s leading watchmaking company.
IWC Schaffhausen is now known for being the only major Swiss watch factory located in eastern Switzerland.
- Patek Philippe
The Swiss ultra-luxury watch manufacturer Patek Philippe was founded in 1851, and is located in Geneva and the Vallée de Joux.
The company designs and manufactures timepieces and movements including some of the most complicated mechanical watches.
It all started with a watchmaker by the name of Antoni Patek, who along with his fellow Polish assistant Franciszek Czapek, manufactured pocket watches in 1839.
The two separated in 1844, and in 1845 Patek joined with the French watchmaker Adrien Philippe, and founded Patek Philippe & Co in 1851.
Patek Philippe is notable for manufacturing its own watch components, and is considered by many experts to be one of the most prestigious mainstream watch brands.
- A. Lange & Söhne
A. Lange & Söhne is well known as being one of the best high-end watch manufacturers.
The company was founded in 1845 by Ferdinand Adolph Lange in the town of Glashütte, in the eastern state of Saxony.
After his death, his sons Emil and Richard took over, and produced quality pocket watches, the company’s very best products.
In 1948, the post-war Soviet administration expropriated the company’s property, and the brand ceased to exist, but that would only happen until 1990.
When the founder’s great-grandson, Walter Lange, together with Günter Blümlein, restored the company with the assistance of several Swiss watch manufacturers.
Today, A. Lange & Söhne continues its pursuit to craft exceptional mechanical masterpieces.
- Montblanc
Montblanc is a German manufacturer of writing instruments, watches, jewellery and leather goods.
The company was founded by three people, Claus-Johannes Voss, Alfred Nehemias, and August Eberstein in 1906, and was known as the “Simplo Filler Pen”.
Today Montblanc forms part of the Richemont group, and is owned, through Richemont, by the South African Rupert Family.
The brand has not left any stone unturned to provide the pinnacle of what currently exists and demanded by the consumer of today.
Now, Montblanc is one of the world’s leading brands of luxury writing instruments, watches, jewellery, leather goods, fragrances and eyewear.
- Breitling
Breitling is a privately owned company that manufactures and distributes chronometer watches.
The company was founded in 1884 in Saint-Imier, Bernese Jura by Léon Breitling, and is known for precision-made chronometers useful to aviators.
In 2009 Breitling developed a mechanical chronograph movement, used in the first watch produced entirely by Breitling, the “Breitling Chronomat 01”.
From 2001 to 2003 Breitling was a sponsor of Team Bentley during their Le Mans 24 Hours campaign, and in order to commemorate the event, they created the Breitling Bentley 24 Le Mans Watch.
“Breitling produces only watches, unlike other watches companies that produce and market also jewelry.”
- Hublot
Hublot was founded in 1980 by Italian Carlo Crocco, and is a Swiss enterprise which creates luxury watches.
The name “Hublot” is one of the youngest luxury watch brands, but this never stopped them to make their mark in the watch world.
Carlo Crocco designed the first Hublot, a watch that featured the first natural rubber strap in the history of watchmaking.
And that’s not all, it was the first time in when gold was combined with rubber, but the result was amazing.
Even though the timepiece failed to attract a single potential customer on the first day of its debut at the 1980 Basel Watch Fair, the watch quickly proved to be a commercial success with sales in excess of $2 million in its first year.