Our pick of the latest watches

There's some fierce ambition going on at TAG Heuer. To demonstrate its prowess as a maker of scarily complex stuff, the company has been coming up with extreme models for years now, all prefaced by the name ‘Mikro', as in the Mikrotimer and Mikrograph. The latest in this line-up of cutting-edge chronographs is the MikrotourbillonS, which includes not one but two tourbillons. Hence the rather big ‘S'.

Invented 200 years ago, a tourbillon essentially makes sure that gravity doesn't upset the timekeeping in a mechanical watch. While not strictly necessary in a wristwatch, which is constantly on the move, it certainly helped fob watches that might have stayed static next to an old hanky in a suit pocket for many hours. With the MikrotourbillonS, TAG Heuer has fitted one to the main watch - the part that tells the current time - as well as a separate tourbillon just for the chronograph element.

It's all part of TAG's goal to produce the most accurate mechanical chronographs ever made. Which is why it's working with COSC, the very important Swiss body that certifies watches as chronometers, to create a new global standard. It's also part of a grand plan to create an unbeatable test bed for tech that'll trickle down to ‘normal' models.

But make no mistake: with a price tag of £175,000 and a case that's made in part from rose gold, this is no normal watch. It's built to order, and they're taking orders now, with the first pieces due on some very wealthy wrists right now.

...we might end up with something like this. Lightweight, low-friction and surgically accurate, it's Cartier's new ID2.

Like any carmaker dreaming up a concept car to show off new ideas, Cartier has devised the ID2 to do a very similar job. Its goal is to make mechanical watches more efficient by using the same sort of methods as Colin Chapman once did: lower weight, reduced friction by replacing traditional metal parts with things like fibreglass springs, and better aero (or, actually, none - the movement's sealed in a vacuum). So, sort of like a racing car, the idea is to enable it to run more accurately for longer.

With gold prices staying solid and perhaps rising, this £18k SpidoSpeed Gold could be a wise investment right now. Its 44x46mm, 18-carat rose-gold case has 32 components, and only 100 will be made.

Breitling for Bentley, the most successful car/watch combo ever, continues with this tribute to ‘Bentley Boy' Woolf Barnato, who took overall Le Mans wins in 1928, 1929 and 1930.

Back in 1953, Rolex offered the first easy-to-use two-time-zone watch, the GMT. Now, nearly 60 years later, it's unveiled the Sky-Dweller - setting the secondary time zone is simply a matter of rotating the bezel.

When it comes to genuine watches for aviators, few can boast the heritage of IWC. The Mk XVII is the latest in a tradition dating back to the Thirties of creating ultra-legible timepieces for actual pilots.

Bulgari will grab a chunk of the sport/dress watch market with the automatic Octo. It looks a bit macho, though the dial has been kept clean by showing only the time and date. Which is pretty much all you need.

Established German brand Mühle-Glashütte's UK debut range includes this limited edition for the Fulda Challenge, a decathlon involving SUVs and snowmobiles crossing 1,500km of the Canadian Arctic Circle.

Grimoldi's Lunar 1969 Wild Sea ticks all the boxes: it's a massive 45mm across, it contains an ETA auto movement, it's waterproof to 500m thanks to double O-rings, it's Italian and - unbelievably - costs under £1k.