25 complicated watches since 2001

1.         A. Lange & Söhne Zeitwerk

Before the Zeitwerk, there were jumping hours. Jumping minutes? Not so much. And the few that were available were outdated and not necessarily reliable. A. Lange & Söhne tackled the problem with an unusual method, that of maximum effort. Namely, they attached a constant force device to the three discs that indicate time. Because they're as demanding when they move as when they stop, Lange handed their care to an over-the-top system that's usually dedicated to chronometry. And then they added a massive layer of symmetry goodness and created their most unique and distinctive timepiece.

2.         Franck Muller Aeternitas Mega 4

Hyper complications are all the rage, with more than one popping out every year these days, which is an oddity. Back in the first two decades of the 20th century, one came out every four or five years and each was an milestone. Because cramming a lot of complications, if not all of them, into a single movement is an incredibly complex endeavour. So when Franck Muller put tourbillon plus perpetual calendar plus an option that makes it last several centuries plus rattrapante plus a grande sonnerie plus a dozen more functions, everyone's mind blew up. Including its makers and its handful of owners.

3.         Hublot Big Bang Minute Repeater Tourbillon Carbon

Hublot is an unsung king of grand complications. Its undervalued abilities in the field can be best summed up by this carbon case minute repeater. With its cathedral chimes, it sounds like nothing else out there. Low frequencies, incredible resonance, unique tone combine with an almost unmatched sound intensity, a generally overlooked attribute of chiming pieces. Hublot demonstrated that carbon is more than perfectly apt at transmitting and naturally amplifying sound. It is in fact great at it.

4.         Jaeger-LeCoultre Hybris Mechanica Grande Sonnerie

With a notebook, a lot of time and absolute ingenuity, master watchmaker David Candaux developed nothing short of Jaeger's most incredible timepiece ever. Piling up layers of technically dedicated modules is a way to go. Jaeger made an integrated 1300-component movement only 10.5 mm-thick, back in 2009, and managed to fit in a bi-retrograde perpetual calendar, a grande sonnerie with four chimes, a tourbillon and a couple of power reserves. It's architecture was more clever, compact and efficient than most hyper complications ever made. Its hammers and chiming command system were marvels in and of themselves. 

5.         Patek Philippe Grandmaster Chime

Render unto Caesar and all of that. Patek Philippe may have lost the champion's belt of hyper complications for a while, but when they released the Grandmaster Chime, they went back to their rightful place. This two-sided, 20-complication, 47.7-mm behemoth of a watch is still in production today, and in high demand, despite (or because of) its mind-blowing price tag. Its development spawned Patek's current in-line perpetual calendar, Grande Sonnerie, alarm and who knows what's next. When other brands make hypercomplications a one-shot marvel, Patek makes it an enduring staple of its line-up. Aren't exploits that last the true measure of greatness?

6.         Chopard Full Strike

Just when you thought chiming timepieces had evolved into every possible direction, Chopard of all brands released their first minute repeater with a completely revolutionary concept. Instead of a metal gong vibrating inside the case, they developed and crafted sapphire crystal gongs that are a continuous part of the crystal. Instead of a muted sound coming from within, the L.U.C Full Strike makes sound like a speaker, with the whole crystal acting as a vibrating membrane . An endeavour of massive scale, that since then has evolved into a Sonnerie au Passage as well as a Grande Sonnerie, no less.

7.         Piaget Altiplano Ultimate Concept Tourbillon

During the late 2010s, three brands were at (innocuous, polite, very Swiss) war over who would make the slimmest mechanical timepiece of all times. Bulgari and Richard Mille called upon external suppliers to create record-breaking thinness, but there is a case to be made for the one that eventually finished third in that race, and who also claims to not have entered said race. Piaget developed the Ultimate Concept Tourbillon in-house. With their own resources, a massive team, almost a decade of work and pure grit, they outdid themselves. And then a couple of years later, they added a tourbillon in the same volume of 41.5 mm in diameter for an overall thickness of 2 mm. 

8.         Urwerk EMC

Granted, this is not the likeliest timepiece to be featured in a complication hit list. But boy, was the EMC a crazy idea. Urwerk is built on the idea of wandering hours, but every now and then, they wander off and achieve something unusual. The EMC is a mechanical timepiece that self-diagnoses its running rate and allows the user to adjust it, by hand, intuitively. Meaning that if your watch runs fast, you slow it down and the other way around if needed, until you reach perfect accuracy. All of that was achieved by the graft of an optical sensor and electronic circuit enhancing its mechanical parts. This cyborg watch was bundled with a commando-from-outer-space design, because Urwerk will be Urwerk.

9.         Ressence Type 1

Complication is supposed to be about indications but to hell with narrow definitions. Creative watchmaking would be nowhere without creative displays and they're a complication in and of themselves. Witness Ressence's Type 1. Winding and setting are operated through the caseback, eliminating the crown and giving it a clean outline. Time is displayed by discs revolving within discs, eliminating hands, dial and flange. Even though this watch is missing many of its supposedly essential parts, its intuitive approach of ergonomics and design have made the Type 1 a trailblazer and an incredible timepiece to behold. 

10.       Rolex Yacht-Master II

Agreed, it's only a countdown timepiece. A watch born for regatta that was thick and not thoroughly thought out, as witnessed by the fact that they released a cleaner, simpler, better version in 2026. But there is this : the Yacht-Master II is the most complex Rolex ever made. The world leader of watches does not do complications, or rather, they do just the one, the chronograph, and that they do with one model only. Their annual calendar? An afterthought. The double timezone? Come on ! The Yacht Master II is the watchmaking epitome of the most desired and high-selling and absolute centrepiece of the watch world. That alone makes it critical. 

11.       Grand Seiko Spring Drive 8-Day Power Reserve

Spring Drive took almost two decades to reach its full potential. For Grand Seiko, that came about with 2016 calibre 9R01, the first real evolution of their hybrid, electro-, magneto-mechanical device. Again, it may not be a complication strictly speaking, but this is a device that addresses the issue that's the very core of watchmaking : regulation with a view to accuracy. Case in point the 9R01 had an error rate of 10 seconds...per month. For the first time, the Japanese high end brand had decided to make a splash and branch out into heavier watchmaking features, namely an eight-day power reserve, hand winding for more traditional appeal and extremely fine finishings. The watch that bore the new 9R01 calibre was named SGBD001, and get used to it, Grand Seiko names are as dry as it gets. But its finishings, its structure, its craft, even though far from flashy, were the best of Japan's best.

12.       Jacob & Co. Bugatti Chiron Tourbillon

Before the Chiron, Jacob & Co.'s efforts at high watchmaking were barely noticed. Striking a partnership with Bugatti took them into a new direction, and watch creativity with it. They went literal. The case design is shaped after the car. And so are the complications. The flying tourbillon is the movement’s radiator fan and the engine block, with its famed W16 layout, is reproduced in miniature and solid sapphire, thus creating the first engine automaton. You have to admit that nobody had thought of that, with all brands going metaphorical on the watch/car likeness. Jacob & Co. did what no one else had dared to do : to match the watch to its model, lock, stock and all four barrels. 

13.       Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Concept Laptimer

There was a concerted effort throughout the 2010s to increase the performance, technical intensity and exclusivity of the sports chronograph. Audemars Piguet's contribution was developed in collaboration with F1 legend Michael Schumacher. It's called the Laptimer and it was an incredibly complex watch. Just looking at its movement and how intricate it is gives a hint of what it takes to do such a simple thing as measuring consecutive lap times. This is not a rattrapante chronograph. It's two chronos in one, working one after the other to time two events that do not run concurrently, thanks to three column wheels. Fortunately, it is much more intuitive to use as it is to describe.

14.       Girard-Perregaux Neo Tourbillon with Three Flying Bridges

Architecture is a domain many watches claim to hail from. But not many of them have been created by actual architects, who happen to also manage watch brands. There is such a connection within the Macaluso family, that used to own Girard-Perregaux, and one of the brand's historic designs, the Tourbillon Sous Trois Points d'Or. When the Macalusos and Girard-Perregaux decided to update and upgrade the century-old design, they ended up creating an architectural masterpiece that fits on the wrist. Three bridges, openworked, arched, spear-shaped beams of titanium hold the going train. Like a canopy of metal, it hovers above a rift, surrounded by very little metal and a lot of ingenuity. The Neo-Tourbillon Three Flying Bridges has the makings of a suspended bridge cast over a valley, in miniature format. 

15.       Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Concept Supersonnerie

Audemars Piguet had been making minute repeaters for decades when they decided that they would make them sound much, much better. Supersonnerie is a concept they plugged into some of their older, not very loud movements, and that completely revolutionised them. They sound incredibly louder, and vastly better. How? Supersonnerie is the most efficient application of the sounding board concept. A metal membrane is inserted under the movement, drinking all of the sound energy and giving it back with a notable difference : its frequencies are concentrated in the core part of the audible spectrum. Supersonnerie creates a sweet sport of sound quality that gave several timepieces, starting with the Royal Oak Concept, a considerable edge over its competitors.

16.       Richard Mille RM 056 Felipe Massa Saphir 

Complication does not equate with complexity...but the two often overlap. So when Richard Mille took their most elaborate movement, with flying tourbillon and rattrapante, and decided to encase it in sapphire, the watch world lost its collective mind over the RM 056 Felipe Massa Saphir. Sure, a handful of watches had attempted to use the same material as crystals to make an entire case. But the results were confidential and poor. Richard Mille made it part of the narrative of absolute peak technique that's their DNA. Thousands of hours of machining and shaping and polishing one of the hardest materials on earth, to levels of detail, curve and difficulty one can barely imagine...same goes for the invoice, somewhere in the vicinity of 3 cool millions...some fifteen years ago!

17.       DB Kind of Two

The name, being a pun on Miles' album Kind of Blue, doesn't reveal much of the incredible complexity of DeBethune's double-faced, ultimate wristwatch. It quite simply summed up all the brand was about, had done, was known for. All of its techniques, such as their 30-second tourbillon, hairspring curve, and special balance wheel. Their deadbeat second. Their articulated lugs. Their work on polished and on blued titanium. Their ability to work, on one side, a classic typeface and guilloché finishing and on the other, an out-of-this-world, space-age work on shapes and volumes. All in the same volume of an easily reversible, pebble-shaped case. 

18.       Van Cleef & Arpels Lady Arpels Planetarium

Although they hadn't shouted from the rooftops at the time, Van Cleef & Arpels had hired the help of astronomic watch specialist Christian Van Der Klaauw to make their first fully space timepiece. Space in the poetic, planetary sense of the word. As a result, the French jeweller started a new foray into unusually complicated watchmaking, under the Poetic Astronomy monicker. Mercury, Venus, Earth and its Moon, all orbiting around the sun, at actual speed. A starry aventurine background, excellence in craft and a handful of diamonds were the icing on that space cake. 

19.       Glashütte Original Senator Cosmopolite

When dealing with world time, one can go easy and use just another hour hand, as in classic GMTs. Or one can go full thorough on the elaborate system of 36 and more timezones, their minutes offset, their use of DST or not. And most important of all, an independent minute hand ! Glashütte Original chose the latter and the Senator Cosmopolite became the most complete, easy to use and practical world-timer of its time. Taking into account all major timezones implied using a very large city indication disc, resulting in a non-shrinkable, rather large piece 44-mm in diameter. But never mind that : it still is the reference for actual world timing.

20.       MB&F Legacy Machine Sequential Chronograph

Forgive this unusual metric, but when I do not understand how a movement works, it means something in my book. I confess I cannot yet fully grasp how the two chronographs within the Legacy Machine Sequential Chronograph really work and can be put to use. It's not laziness, I tried, but somehow that one remains above my comprehension. I have an excuse though : it's incredibly complex and completely one of a kind. It's not just two chronographs within one, it's...well something much more elaborate you're going to have to loop up for yourselves, if you don't mind. The fact that it comes from such an unusual, out-of-the-box brand as MB&F is only half-surprising. But they usually outdo themselves with design. That time, it was in the shape of pure watchmaking ingenuity.

21.       Blancpain Grande Double Sonnerie

In case you'd forgotten what a powerhouse Blancpain is, they decided to remind you with the Grande Double Sonnerie. They got ahold of the queen of uber complications of the 2020's, the grande sonnerie, they doubled down on it, literally. The chiming sequence runs on four gongs, as in the classic Westminster minute repeaters, but on demand, the order in which the notes are played can be changed. This results in a second melody, unrelated to the classics of watchmaking. Throw in a skeletonized design, a flying tourbillon and a perpetual calendar and you get peak Blancpain.

22.       Breguet Classique Chronométrie 7727

Accuracy should be a given of all watches. But they're so standardised that some attempts at changing how it's approached become bona fide complications. Breguet decided that instead of being wary of magnetism, as was the trend in the 2010's, they would make it an ally. Just like on the Japanese Maglev trains, the balance wheel shaft of the ref. 7727 is suspended between magnetic fields, virtually annihilating friction where it's most damaging and critical. Introducing magnetism inside the movement required making it entirely resistant to it. And while they were at it, since the regulating organ ran frictionless, they sped it up to 10 Hz, a record-breaking frequency.

23.       Roger Dubuis RD101 Quatuor

Overkill. Over the top. Yes, these can be used to describe the Roger Dubuis Quatuor. It was indeed a massive dose of crazy in the watchmaking landscape. But there was more to the quadruple regulating organ timepiece. So first things first, it had four balance wheels, all of them uncoordinated, rolled into the same movement. The aim is to average them out to reach better chronometry. That part is achieved by no less than 5 differentials, the last of which averaging out all the others. Plus, all balance wheels were tilted at a 45-degree angle, allowing most of them to remain as close to the horizontal as possible, which is the ideal running position. But the true beauty of this watch was its sound. Four escapements, beating separately in apparent chaos, at various rhythms that, once in a blue moon and for a handful of seconds, beat as one.

24.       Vacheron Constantin 57260

It was a one-off. It was a pocket watch. It was massive, heavy and crazy. But that's just it. It was crazy to see that Vacheron had managed, at great pains, to execute the special order of that American collector, who wanted to own (and wear on a daily basis, which he does) the most complicated wearable timepiece ever made. 57 functions, 2'800 components, 98 mm in diameter and 2 pounds, all wrapped in white gold. A movement with so many interactions, so many intricacies, so many tricks and such absolute beauty, that the 57260 remains a milestone in the history of watches, no less. 

25.       Ulysse Nardin x Urwerk UR-Freak

There have been a great many Freaks. Ulysse Nardin created all kinds of iterations and variants of their rotating movement, crownless, revolutionary concept over the years. Pus their rsearch on materials, winding, balance wheels etc. There have been a great many wandering hours Urwerks, it being the flagship complication of the reference independent brand. But when the two brands joined forces, it created a completely different timepiece that summarises and encapsulates all of these concepts' greatness. The case is at the same level of advanced execution as the movement and on par with the display system. This is a splicing of DNAs, frames of mind and conceptual ingenuity so advanced that it's hard to tell where one stops and the other begins. This is, in fact, a new organism.