Vacheron Constantin- King Fouad I pocket-watch

The King Fouad I pocket-watch sold for a record SFr 3,306,250, making it the most sought-after pocket-watch in this sale and the 5th most sought-after pocket-watch in the world.
This superb piece was presented as a gift in July 1929 by the colony of Swiss people living in Egypt to mark the visit to Switzerland of King Fouad I. This remarkable 18K gold timepiece features a silver dial graced with 12 complications: a split-seconds chronograph with 30-minute register, a perpetual calendar, displays of the date, day, month, leap-year and moon phase, as well as a minute repeater striking three gongs on demand, grande sonnerie striking the hours and quarters on three gongs, and petite sonnerie striking the quarter hours on three gongs. The striking mechanism possesses its own winding train distinct from that of the 46-jewel movement.

Sidetrack history regarding King Fouad I,

Born in 1920, Egypt’s last monarch, King Farouk I was a notorious glutton, kleptomaniac, skirt chaser and, to top it all off, he was extremely whimsical too. He ascended the throne at the age 18 as a wide-eyed idealist all set to always be good only to discard these ideals as time wore on. Psychologically unhinged, he could shed tears seeing a dead bird during a promenade and the very next moment he could grab a cat and smash it smack against the wall. Becoming king, Farouk immediately issued a decree outlawing red cars in his country. Simply because all of his 100-plus cars were of exactly that color… Soon after he had so much antagonized all of his onetime allies and the army that the revolutionaries did not find it at all difficult to overthrow him…

After the 32-year-old Farouk left the country never to get back again, the new regime quickly moved to auction off the king 's vast collection of trinkets and stolen treasures, including a huge collection of pornographic magazines and the world’s largest collection of post stamps. Searching the royal palaces, they found whole rooms laden with things at various times and places pilfered by the kleptomaniac monarch — empty bottles, coins, watches and untouched toothpaste tubes. And pricier things like, for example, a ceremonial sword Farouk had picked up right from the coffin of the Shah of Iran and a priceless pocket watch stolen from Winston Churchill.

At the age of 18 Farouk fell in love with the 17-year-old beauty Safinez Zulfikar and shortly after married her but not before he made her change her name. From then on Safinez was supposed to go under the official name Farida which in Arabic means “the only one”. It wasn’t long before the young king started having flings with other women though. Farouk was spending much time and effort to make his subjects believe he was an insatiable lover and convince them he certainly did! Always a glutton, the king would devour huge amounts of meat, fish, and eggs and was a real sucker for carbonated soft drinks. His gluttony for fine cuisine soon made the six-foot-tall former king dangerously obese, weighing nearly 300 pounds (136 kilos).

A great fan of night clubs and gambling, Farouk would often sit in casinos entertaining himself by spitting on passing waiters and guests and flirting with women. Those of the latter who ignored his attentions could easily wind up in one of his five palaces without their consent. Farouk was particularly partial to married women often blackmailing them to divorce their husbands. And it seems he just couldn’t care less about the feelings of his wife Farida who bore him three children during their 11 years together only to see her husband divorce her in the end. Shortly after the breakup the king, eager to win back his people’s love and respect, tied the knot with Nariman Sadeq, a 16-year-old commoner who looked so much like the woman he once craved for… After the 1952 coup Nariman followed her husband into exile in Italy but two years later she returned home and obtained a Moslem divorce.

Farouk continued to live a lavish life even in exile, and continued his obsessive accumulation of material goods squandering what had remained of his once vast fortune. In Rome he made the acquaintance of the 18-year-old aspiring actress Irma Minutolo. The two met during a beauty pageant Irma was taking part in. She never won any awards but managed to win the heart of the playboy ex-king who bought her a plush apartment and was paying for her music and singing lesions. Until Farouk’s last day Irma Minutolo remained his lover which did not prevent him looking for and finding ever new bedfellows…

Farouk died in Rome, on March 18, 1965. On the night he died, he was again eating in his favorite restaurant in the company of a new and his last girlfriend. He was only 45…

Vacheron Constantin- Kallista

Vacheron Constantin’s classic Kallista is the world’s most expensive watch, which was produced in 1886, originally Kingalid ordered it. However, the king passed away before the watch was finished, and it was bought by an unknown buyer from the US at the price of $3.5milion. Kallista is entirely diamond-studded, both on the watch body and the strap, enjoying 118 carefully selected top grade blue and white diamonds weighting 130 karats. Every stone of Kallista has its own GIA (Gemological Institute of America) certificate.The case itself was sculpted from a gold block. The latter weighted over one kilo. Today it is valued at 11 million.
And in order to produce this watch, Vacheron Constantin recruited the best engineers and took 20 months (over 6,000hours) of work. And Kallista means perfect in Greek. This is just what Vacheron Constantin wants to show to the world.
The designer of this wonder was Raymond Moretti.

Patek Philippe- Calibre 89

The creation of Patek Philippe Caliber 89 is a historical moment not only for the company but for the world of watches as a whole. This timepiece is the most complicated watch in the world. The watch was designed in 1989 to celebrate the 150 years anniversary of Patek Philippe. Calibre 89 is a 3-pound, 2-sided pocket watch made of gold. Inside a rather small case are fitted 1,728 interacting parts.
Caliber 89 includes 33 complications which represent features that certainly surpassed their time, making the watch more than a simple time displayer. The watch can keep the time of two different time zones as well as display the day of the week, month, year and leap-year, moon phase and even the movement of stars. There are also other interesting features like: time of sunrise and date of Easter. These are just some of the complications.
There were manufactured only 4 models of Caliber 89 and today these models are worth about 6 million dollars each. Truly a remarkable timepiece is Patek Philippe Calibre 89. Although this watch represents much more than a simple Swiss timepiece, the latter is still very difficult to create.
With its 1,728 parts the timepiece weights 1.1 kg and exhibits 24 hands. It took about five years to develop this amazing creation and about four years to manufacture it. Thus today the 18 carat gold most complicated watch in the world displays:
1. Day of the month
2. 12-hour recorder
3. Day of the week
4. Hour of second time-zone
5. Moonphases
6. Winding crown position indicator
7. Century decade and year displays
8. Leap Year Indicator
9. Power Reserve
10. Month
11. Thermometer
12. Date of Easter
13. Time of sunrise
14. Equation of time
15. Star chart
16. Sun hand
17. Time of sunset

1.	Day of the month	7.	Chronograph second hand	13.	Minutes Hands
2.	Hour Hands	8.	Seconds hand	14.	Chronograph counter
3.	12-hour recorder	9.	Moonphases	15.	Power Reserve
4.	Up-down chime	10.	Winding crown position indicator	16.	Month
5.	Day of the week	11.	Century decade and year displays	17.	Split second hand
6.	Hour of second time-zone	12.	Leap Year Indicator	18.	Thermometer

19.	sidereal time hour hand	22.	Time of sunrise	25.	Star chart
20.	Date of Easter	23.	Equation of time	26.	Sun hand
21.	sidereal time minute hand	24.	sidereal time second hand	27.	Time of sunset

Chopard’s $25 million watch

Yes, you read that right: twenty-five million dollars. This gaudy timepiece by Chopard is adorned with three heart-shaped diamonds—a 15-carat pink diamond, a 12-carat blue diamond and an 11-carat white diamond. For good measure, they threw in 163 carats of white and yellow diamonds to bring the total to 201 carats of diamonds. The result is something that looks rather like a geode that’s been turned inside out and dipped in lemon Kool-Aid. Add to that the fact that the size of the watch’s face must make telling time into a fun game of Where’s Waldo and you’ll see that Chopard has truly created a recipe for success.

Currently the most expensive watch in the world. -25millions

Vacherin Constantin’s Tour de l’Ile

Swiss watchmaker Vacheron Constantin marked its 250th anniversary in 2005 with the world’s most complicated wrist watch—the Tour de l’Ile. The watch is so complicated that it required over 10,000 hours of research to create. Its name refers to one of the historical sites of the venerable company, located next to the current Maison Vacheron Constantin on the Quai de l’Ile.

Only produced in a limited edition of seven pieces, this expensive watch is also the most complicated double-face watch. Tour de l’Ile is made with a totally original combination of horological complications (that is, features beyond the simple telling of the time of day) and astronomical indications composing a list of sixteen different points including a minute repeater, sunset time, perpetual calendar, second time zone, a tourbillion device, the equation of time and a representation of the night sky.

One of the top 10 most expensive watches in the world. -1.5millions
Limited Edition of only 7 pieces worldwide.

Titanic-DNA Tourbillon Steampunk a la Grande

The Tourbillon Steampunk echoes the A la Grande design of the Titanic-DNA collection and features a generously sized 50 mm-diameter case that reaches a full 53 mm including the screw-locked crown or the paws. The latter come in steel, ceramic or 5N pink gold depending on the model, and are applied to the entirely riveted oxidised bezel. Fashioned using 80 rivets hand-applied by the watchmaking craftsmen of the Maison Romain Jerome, the latter is inspired by the hull and the boiler room of the famous ocean liner.

The dial-free Tourbillon Steampunk proudly displays its personalised RJ 2 movement exclusively developed by Concepto and decorated in harmony with the collection signature features. The transversal cross is symbolised on this model by four bolts (including two mounted on springs), vividly evoking watertight hatches used in the marine world. The 12 o’clock Roman numeral in satin-brushed and bevelled steel makes a striking contrast with the mirror-polished finish of the mainplate and the tourbillon carriage bridge. The rear of the movement features an off-centred bidirectional oscillating weight shaped like a ship’s anchor.

Patek Philippe- The "Graves Complication" Watch

Complication" Watch
The famous Graves Complication - one of the most complicated watches ever made - was completed in 1933. In 1999 it was sold at auction for $11 million, making it the world's most expensive watch at the time.

History
The Graves Complication arose out of an informal competition between Henry Graves Jr and James Ward Packard of Ohio. These two - very rich - men each commissioned a series of ever more impressive watches from the Patek Philippe watch company during the 1920s.

The Graves Complication was the end result of this horological "arms race". It was commissioned in 1930 and completed in 1933. It was a grand complication pocket watch - one which featured more than one complication. In horological terms a "complication" is any extra feature beyond basic timekeeping functions.

This watch was at the time one of the most complicated ever built (it has since been outdone by the Calibre 89 "ultimate" watch). It included numerous complications including split-second chronograph, moon phases and even a chart of the night sky over Graves' home in New York!

Where Is It Now?
When Henry Graves died the Graves Complication went to the Time Museum in Illinois. When the museum closed in 1999 the watch was sold at auction and fetched just over $11 million. It was purchased by an anonymous bidder and has since disappeared from view, probably into a private vault somewhere.

Which is a loss to the world of horology. Hopefully it'll re-emerge one day and return to public display.

One of the top 10 most expensive watches in the world. -11millions