Audemars Piguet Grande Complication

Audemars Piguet Grande Complication for US$ 526,000 (395,000 EUR) is the most expensive timepiece by the Swiss manufacturer. Tradition, excellence, daring: it is based on these three fundamental values that Manufacture Audemars Piguet perpetuates the art of Haute Horlogerie. At each stage of its history, it has proved capable of adopting the latest avant-garde technologies and of placing them in the service of hand craftsmanship, thereby creating exceptional timepieces.

Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Grande Complication is a selfwinding watch that features perpetual calendar indicationg the day, the week, the moon phases, the month and the leap years.

It also features minute repeater, split-seconds chronograph and small seconds at 9 o'clock. 18-carat white gold case and bracelet, transparent sapphire caseback. Water-resistant to 20 metres. Limited production.

Breguet pocket watch 1907BA/12

For US$ 734,000 (540,000 EUR), Breguet 1907BA/12 is the most expensive pocket watch. Breguet is one of the oldest and most respected names in the watchmaking industry, the company being around for more than 225 years and being credited for the invention of one of the most famous watch complication, the tourbillon.

Although it's now a part of the Swatch group of companies, the Swiss watchmaker keeps coming up with all sorts of extremely special timepieces, some of them instantly becoming a collector's item, due both to their high (sometimes enormous) price tags, as well as their one-of-a-kind features.

Breguet Classique "Grande Complication" pocket-watch in 18-carat yellow gold features grand strike and tourbillon, hand-engraved and hand-wound movement with 2-way rotating crown, off-centred chapter ring, centre minute hand, silvered gold dial, hand-engraved on a rose-engine and sapphire caseback.

Breguet's Grand Complications pay tribute to the two-century-old equivalence between Breguet watchmaking and advanced mechanical science. Building a grand complication confronts watchmakers with a maze of technical difficulties that challenge not only their skills but also their powers of invention. Thinking and working in four dimensions, generations of Breguet watchmakers have demonstrated the summit of their art in repeaters, perpetual calendars and tourbillon watches. Breguet protects its latest developments in perpetual calendars with two patents.

Blancpain 1735, Grande Complication

For a price of US$ 800,000 (582,000 EUR) only 6 masterpieces merged in a single construction.

Blancpain Grande Complication 1735Blancpain's expert watchmakers devised a daunting challenge: merging their six earlier masterpieces into a single construction. For no other reason than the secret pleasure of outdoing themselves. Despite countless doubts and dead ends, talent and preservance ultimately got them there. After six years, against all odds, fulfillment was at finally hand. In homage to the year of foundation of the House of Blancpain, they called the new watch 1735. Almost magical in its intricacy, its movement's original design comprises an impressive 740 parts and components.

A truly inspired achievement, the Blancpain 1735's horological wizardry provides a rare and altogether convincing demonstration that, at least for the best watchmakers, impossibility is only relative.

The 1735 is the fruit of a year of loving labor by a single watchmaker. With its 740 individual hand-finished components, the 1735 remains the world's most complicated automatic winding wristwatch produced in a series. The platinum case measures 42 mm, the strap is croco leather. Movement is the automatic Caliber 1735, with 950 platinum rotor and a power reserve of 80 hours.

Louis Moinet Magistralis for US$ 868,000

One of a kind watch with real pieces of the Moon for US$ 868,000 (or 631,000 EUR)

Louis Moinet MagistralisSwiss watchmaker Louis Moinet has recently presented a watch with real pieces of the Moon! These pieces are from a lunar meteorite that was ejected from the Moon 2,000 years ago. The meteorite has been authenticated by the University of California. Moonstone is an extremely rare material that is even more expensive than gold and platinum combined.

The movement of Magistralis was created a hundred years ago. Designed in the Vallée de Joux, it was made in Geneva and bears the Poinçon de Genève quality hallmark. It beats at 18,000 vibrations per hour and features a (double-bladed) self-compensating balance and a flame-blued Breguet balance spring.

The case is made of 5N and 3N 18-carat rose gold. Its brand-signature design stands out especially for its crown guard (patent pending) and its chronograph button guard at 12 o’clock. The perpetual calendar function displays the day, date and month over four years.

Magistralis is an extraordinary watch representing the expert craftsmanship of the time-honoured art of Haute Horlogerie. It is one of a kind, unlike any other, and will never be repeated.

Hublot One Million $ Black Caviar Bang

Price: $1 million (727,000 EUR)

The quintessence of “invisible visibility” in a uniform range of black tones

Hublot One Million $ Black Caviar BangSwiss manufacturer of luxury watches Hublot has recently introduced one million dollar watch Black Caviar Bang. This watch's setting is very complex. The difficulty resides in the unusual lines of the Big Bang case – round but with sharp angles. The white gold, one-piece construction of the case does not reveal one grain of gold, and the diamonds, cut in mysterious ways, seem to hold together as if by magic. The only visible feature is the black and deep tones of the diamonds, shining in their harmonious alignment.

This unique piece, which houses a Tourbillon, symbolises the fusion between watchmaking and jewellery, tradition and technology, glittering and invisibility. The vibration which emanates from it gives rise to an emotion tinged with fascination.

Creating this exceptional watch demanded over 2000 hours of meticulous work, from design to final adjustment, without forgetting the research and development, programming of the machines, choice of tools, diamond cutting, optical checking of each part, and setting and casing.

The case, in 18kt white gold, is covered with 322 black diamonds (25 carats). The crystal is an AR-coated sapphire, as is the display back. The bezel, done in 18kt white gold, is covered with 179 black diamonds (6 carats). Movement is the Hublot caliber HUB Solo T, a 1 minute Tourbillon Volant, manual-wind with special black finishing. The watch has 24 jewels, beats at 21,600 bph and has a power reserve of 120 hours. The bracelet is rubber with an 18kt white gold closure covered with 30 black diamonds (3.5 carats). The watch is manufactured in limited edition of just one piece.

A B-2 Spirit fighter plane for $2.4 billion

The B-2 bomber was so costly that Congress cut its initial 1987 purchase order from 132 to 21. (A 2008 crash leaves the current number at 20.) The B-2 is hard to detect via infrared, acoustic, electromagnetic, visual or radar signals. This stealth capability makes it able to attack enemy targets with less fear of retaliation. In use since 1993, the B-2 has been deployed to both Iraq and Afghanistan.

C17A Globemaster III: $328 million

The Air Force military-transport plane is used to move troops into war zones, perform medical evacuations and conduct airdrop missions. There are 190 C17As in service; the aircraft is propelled by four turbofan engines (of the same type used on the twin-engine Boeing 757) and can drop 102 paratroopers at once. In operation since 1993, it has been used to deliver troops and humanitarian aid to Afghanistan and Iraq.