Every Level of Watch, and What Changes at Each One

10. A digital watch

One watch sold at auction for almost $14 million. Here are ten levels of watches, from $30 to the top. Number ten: a digital watch. Casio lists its classic F-ninety-one W at $29 and ninety-five cents.

The page lists a battery life of about seven years. It keeps time to within thirty seconds a month, the page says. It has a daily alarm, an hourly signal and an LED light. Its stopwatch counts to a hundredth of a second.

It weighs twenty-one grams, with a resin glass over the display. Its water resistance covers accidental splashes, the page says. At this level, a small battery runs everything, and the time shows as numbers. By our count, spread over seven years, its price is about $4 and twenty-eight cents a year.

Twenty-nine ninety-five divided by seven is about four twenty-eight. Prices differ where you live. If this helps, subscribe: every price in this video comes from makers' pages and an auction house, linked below. Number nine: an analog watch.

9. An analog watch

The Timex Weekender, thirty-eight millimeters wide, costs $77 on the maker's site. A quartz movement, powered by a battery, turns its hands. The maker says quartz movements are highly accurate. Its case is brass, with a polished finish.

It takes the same CR twenty sixteen battery as level ten. Its dial lights up with the brand's Indiglo light. Its straps slip through, so you can change them to match an outfit or a mood. The watch weighs about forty-eight grams, under a mineral crystal.

At this level, hands replace digits, and a strap change gives a new look. By our count, it costs about 2.6 times level ten's Casio. Seventy-seven divided by twenty-nine ninety-five is about 2.6. Store prices differ where you live.

8. An automatic watch

Number eight: an automatic watch. The Marlin Automatic from Timex, forty millimeters wide, is priced at $299. Inside is a twenty-one-jewel automatic movement, the maker says. Your own motion powers it as you wear the watch.

The page says the movement can store about forty hours of energy. After forty hours without motion, the page says to wind it with the crown and set the time. The case is stainless steel, under a domed acrylic crystal. It weighs about fifty-seven grams, on a classic black leather strap.

The page says acrylic can be polished to remove scuffs. The page calls acrylic a lightweight plastic with excellent impact resistance. The maker calls it an iteration of its nineteen sixties Marlin. At this level, no battery is needed: your motion keeps it running.

By our count, forty hours is about 1.7 days. Forty divided by twenty-four is about 1.7. Prices and taxes differ where you live.

7. An automatic chronograph

Number seven: an automatic chronograph. The Tissot PRX forty-two millimeter Automatic Valjoux sells for $2,150 on the maker's page. Its crystal is sapphire, and the bracelet is stainless steel. Its Valjoux calibre gives the classic three, six and nine chronograph dial layout.

The case is satin-finished steel, in a Tissot shape from nineteen seventy-eight. It is water-resistant to ten bar, or 100 meters. Its dial is a so-called reverse panda. It follows the angular PRX form, in a laid-back nineteen seventies sports style.

It weighs 184 grams, and the case is 14.5 millimeters thick. The quartz version, a forty-one millimeter PRX chronograph, is listed at $525. At this level, the watch times events on three small dials, and an automatic movement drives it. By our count, that automatic chronograph costs about 4.1 times the quartz chronograph.

2,150 divided by 525 is about 4.1. Watch prices differ where you live.

6. A hand-wound luxury watch

Number six: a hand-wound luxury watch. A classic hand-wound Grand Seiko carries a price of $5,000. Its stainless steel case is about thirty-seven millimeters wide. When fully wound, it runs for about seventy-two hours, or three days.

In normal use, it gains at most ten seconds or loses at most one second a day. The movement uses twenty-four jewels. Measured before it goes into the case, its average daily rate runs from five seconds ahead to three seconds behind. It weighs sixty-one grams, under a box-shaped sapphire crystal.

The off-white dial has a domed shape that rises gently at the center. Its hour markers are diamond-cut into a peak shape, following the original design. A see-through case back shows the movement. Now you wind it by hand, and the movement is on show.

By our count, this one costs about seventeen times the Timex automatic. 5,000 divided by 299 is about 16.7. Luxury prices differ where you live. That's halfway: five levels done, from a digital watch up to a hand-wound luxury watch.

The last five go from a sports chronograph up to a record masterpiece, with the top last.

5. A luxury sports chronograph

Number five: a luxury sports chronograph. Grand Seiko's Tentagraph is listed at $16,900. Its case uses the maker's own titanium alloy, a first for its sport collection. The page says that alloy is brighter than traditional titanium.

It is self-winding, with about seventy-two hours of power reserve. Its normal use accuracy is plus eight to minus one second a day. Its chronograph times up to twelve hours, on three sub-dials. Water resistance is twenty bar.

It is forty-three millimeters wide and 15.6 millimeters thick. The clasp is titanium too, and the strap is rubber. The watch weighs 139 grams, with sixty jewels in the movement. Now a luxury maker adds a chronograph and a brighter titanium.

By our count, level five costs about 3.4 times level six. 16,900 divided by 5,000 is about 3.4. Sports watch prices differ where you live.

4. A hand-engraved limited edition

Number four: a hand-engraved limited edition. This Grand Seiko masterpiece, limited to fifty pieces, costs $84,000. The maker says it features exquisite hand engraving, inspired by a waterfall. Its case is platinum.

It runs on a manual-winding Spring Drive movement. Its power reserve is about eighty-four hours. The movement pairs a dual-spring barrel with a torque return system. It is forty millimeters wide and only 9.6 millimeters thick.

A power reserve indicator is part of the design. Over a month, it stays within fifteen seconds, and within one second each day. Craftspeople at the maker's Micro Artist Studio create these watches. Each case back is engraved with a serial number and the words limited edition.

Now each piece is numbered, and the dial and case are engraved by hand. By our count, its price is about five times level five. 84,000 divided by 16,900 is just under five. Limited edition prices differ where you live.

Number three: a jewelry watch.

3. A jewelry watch

The Red Lion jewelry watch from Grand Seiko is listed at $273,000. Only eight pieces are made. It is set with over 250 diamonds, with garnets on the dial. The case is eighteen-karat rose gold.

Its Spring Drive movement has a power reserve of about eight days. Three barrels arranged in a series give it that reserve, the maker says. Its accuracy stays within ten seconds a month, and within half a second a day. The case is 44.5 millimeters wide.

The dial itself is wine-red mother-of-pearl. Expert artisans finish the outside of the movement by hand. Now the watch is also jewelry, made in tiny numbers. By our count, all eight pieces at this price come to over $2 million.

Eight times 273,000 is 2,184,000. Jewelry watch prices differ where you live.

2. A watch sold at auction

Number two: a watch sold at auction. At a June twenty twenty-six auction, a Patek Philippe reference fifty oh four sold for $5.2 million. That price includes the buyer's premium, the auction house notes. The house calls the fifty oh four the brand's first serially produced perpetual calendar chronograph with split seconds.

This white gold example from 2,008 is possibly unique. Its rose dial carries an applied Breguet numeral twelve and a tachymeter scale. It is the first known example of this configuration to appear publicly, the house says. Its low estimate was $700,000.

It sold after a five-minute bidding war, the highest result ever for the model. At this level, bidders were driven by rarity, provenance and craftsmanship, the house says. By our count, 5.2 million is about nineteen times level three's price. 5.2 million divided by 273,000 is about nineteen.

Auction fees and rules differ by house and by place. Before number one, a guess: how long did the bidding take for the top watch?

1. A record masterpiece

Number one: a record masterpiece. At the same sale, an F.P.Journe Chronomètre à Résonance sold for $13.9 million. The bidding took nearly nine minutes. The house says it set a record for any independent watchmaker.

That is also a record for any twenty-first century watch in a commercial auction. The Résonance, introduced in 2,000, uses two escapements in natural resonance for better timekeeping. This early piece was one of just twenty made for founding clients. It is one of only two known in platinum and pink gold with a pink gold dial.

The house says this sale was the first time it appeared in public. The house calls it a landmark of independent watchmaking. Its estimate was in excess of $1 million. At the top, a watch becomes a collectible, and a single sale can set a record.

By our count, the Résonance's price equals about 465,000 level ten watches. 13.922 million divided by twenty-nine ninety-five is about 465,000. Auction results differ from sale to sale. So, every level: a digital watch, an analog watch, an automatic, an automatic chronograph and a hand-wound luxury watch.

Then a sports chronograph, a limited edition, a jewelry watch and two auction records. Prices, taxes and fees differ where you live. So open the makers' own pages, and see what they list for your area. Which level would you wear?

Tell us the number in the comments. Results vary, and this is information only, not financial advice. This is Wealth Filings. Next on Wealth Filings, watch how hotels treat you at every level of wealth, and what each one gets.