Watchlist: the best timepieces for over £5,000

Even with “manufacture” status, a chrono usually goes for much less than £10k. What your money gets here is the result of extreme tinkering at the firm’s new skunkworks: from microscopic components etched from silicon, to pronged, ‘elastic’ gear teeth.

£30,410; breitling.com

The cult brand that single-handedly invented the trend for oversized statement watches in the early Noughties has gone on a diet. The signature curves are still intact, but things are a lot slimmer – which will be music to the ears of any collector who’s put up with frayed French cuffs for too long.

£6,550; panerai.com

You never quite know what’s next with MB&F, which doesn’t so much craft ‘watches’ as ‘machines that tell the time’. This collaboration with interior designer Alain Silberstein brings more joy to proceedings thanks to the Frenchman’s use of primary colours and polygons.

£75,500; mbandf.com

Blancpain has switched things up with a new case in a special ceramic made for sister brand Rado. Its “plasma high-tech carburising” process borders on alchemy, activating gases at 20,000ºC to infuse the case with carbon to give an ethereal, scratch-free grey sheen. 

£8,930; blancpain.com

Why hasn’t anyone thought of this before? A watch whose mechanical movement is inspired by Meccano. It could have been naff, but Hublot’s expertise, combined with creative freedom, means it’s a formidably technical affair, that’ll tick for 10 whole days on a single wind.

£15,000; hublot.com

Globetrotters usually need an instruction book to adjust their worldtimer to wherever they’ve just landed. But here, all you need do is press the spring-mounted bezel down, turn to the relevant city, and release – the hour hand, 24-hour day/night display and date move automatically.

£10,250; iwc.com