Best non-smartwatch watches
Yes, the Apple Watch Edition is very nice, it does a lot of things and it does them well, from opening your garage door to, I dunno... telling the time.
But is it really the best investment possible? Afterall it'll quickly become redundant when the inevitable Apple Watch 2 comes out, and the battery certainly isn't going to last for any length of time.
All of the timepieces in this list will continue ticking a long time after the Apple Watch's lithium ion has given up the ghost, so maybe your eight grand is better spent on these fine samples?
Bell & Ross BR0194 B-Rocket Limited Edition
Do you like the square form-factor of the Apple Watch but want something that ticks? Enter the Bell and Ross BR0194 (catchy name, we know). The watch takes inspiration from the aviation industry and features Shaw Harley-Davidson's motorcycle design. It's mechanical, durable and reliable, just like a pilots watch should be. The watch is limited to just 500 pieces, so get your order in soon.
The B-Rocket is a steal at £4,800, one for each wrist, instead of the £8,000 Apple Watch Edition. Want an even pricier Bell & Ross? Check out the Aviation BR0194-CAFIBER, which is made from carbon fibre and comes in at £7,000.
£4,800 | Bell and Ross
Frederique Constant
This timepiece is almost the antithesis of the Apple Watch - it's as traditional as they come. The Constant is a slimline watch that features an 18-carrot rose-gold case and brown alligator leather strap. It features a 42-hour power reserve (that's longer than the Apple Watch's battery) and, as well as the time, shows the moon phase.
£9,220 | Selfridges
U-Boat Watch Chimera 48 Carbonio Limited Edition
Handcrafted in Italy, this robust piece has a fixed bezel, hand-finished calf leather strap and a 48mm case of carbon fibre. Its black dial tells you the date, it has an automatic movement and, as you'd expect from a company called U-Boat, it's water resistant, in this instance up to 50 metres. The material used on the face and on the back of the watch is sapphire curved glass, so despite its old-time distressed look it's as tough and scratch resistant as the most modern smartwatches. Only 199 have been made, so hurry before your heart sinks.
£8,100 | Selfridges
TAG Heuer Watch Grand Carrera Calibre 36
One for the olil-slicked wrists of petrol heads, the Grand Carrera Calibre 36 RS Caliper Automatic Chronograph is the world's first mechanical chronograph that measures and shows time to 1/10th of a second. In order to make this happen, it has a movement that oscillates at 36,000 vibrations per hour. So pretty nippy, then. Taking inspiration from the engines of GT racing cars, the dials inside the titanium case are such that the face resembles a dashboard, meaning the information is easy to read at a glance. It's also water resistant to 100 metres, just like a car isn't.
£8,200 | TAG Heuer
Breitling Watch Navitimer 1461 48mm Blacksteel Limited Edition
This self-winding chronograph matches a large case (48mm wide, 15.5mm deep) with a calendar system that requires just one correction every four years (1461 being four years in days). It features day, date and month indicators, with a moon phase aperture, while the 450-part movement is housed in a steel case with a rotating bezel, allowing pilots, and you, to activate the circular aviation slide rule. And if you do happen to be a pilot then you may not want to consider this, but it's waterproof to 30 metres. This one's limited to 1,000 pieces.
£8,120 | Breitling
Bremont Watch Jaguar Lightweight E-Type MKI
Last year Jaguar announced it was building just six new Lightweight E-types. Arriving in September 2015. This watch, then, is one of six unique timepieces being offered to buyers of those E-types. So, a tad more exclusive than the Apple Watch. Everything on here is linked in some way to the car, with straps made from the leather interior trim in the vehicle and hour and minute hands replicating the dashboard dial needles, while the aluminium used in the case which was saved from the construction of the body panels. The back features the engine number of the car its paired with.
£8,950 | Jura Watches
Jaegar Le Coultre Watch Master Compressor Diving S
This professional divers' watch is one of the very few chronographs you'll find that's water resistant to an astonishing 1,000 metres. That's only about 100 metres off the maximum depth of the Mariana Trench, the deepest part of the world's oceans. Not surprisingly, then, it's made of titanium, and has luminescent indicators, hands, bezel and digits. It also has a scale to help you manually calculate your heart rate per minute, as well as an unidirectional bezel designed for deep sea diving. Oh, and the presentation case includes an added divers' bracelet.
£8,100 | Jaegar
Breitling Watch Emergency II
Finally, if you really want to push the boat out, the priciest Apple Watch - cloaked in 18-carat yellow gold, with a classic 42mm buckle - can be yours for the entirely reasonable sum of £12,000. For about the same price you can pick up a top-of-the-range IWC chronograph, a stylish Hermes Time Pause or a 50th anniversary Omega Speedmaster, but we'd add on another 40 quid and go for the Breitling Emergency II, which is the first wristwatch with a true dual-frequency distress beacon.
Believe it or not, if you twist and yank the bottom dial, you'll alert emergency centres linked up via Cospas-Sarsat satellite systems to your whereabouts. They will then dispatch a chopper to rescue you, post haste. We suspect if you activate it because you're trapped in your garage, some pursed lips and stern words might result, but feel free to give it a try and let us know how you get on.
£12,040 | Breitling
