Watches 2015: the best watches you can buy for over £3000

The changes to Chopard’s nostalgic Mille Miglia collection (celebrating the brand’s sponsorship of the legendary 1,000-mile Italian road race) are tiny but multitudinous, all adding up to a gorgeous new take on the driver’s watch.

£3,930; chopard.com

The Danish silverware designer does a decent line in proper mechanical watches too, it seems. This model manages to arrange the complex annual-calendar function with economy and grace.

£3,500; georgjensen.com

This is Patek’s controversial foray into the world of heritage aviator watches. No matter, as the result is a magnificent flying machine in its own right, with an exquisitely finished movement.

£31,120; patek.com

This year’s Yacht Club version of the 75-year-old classic brings a worldtimer function to the mix, presumably for the dateline-hopping sailors of the Volvo Ocean Race, which is sponsored by IWC.

£7,500; iwc.com

Unlike the IWC, this takes the decorative route with its beautiful planisphere – still functional, thanks to a rotating semicircle of tinted crystal that indicates where night is falling.

£3,895; montblanc.com

Step forward the poster boy for all things rugged: Rolex, whose latest sailing watch is surely a future classic. The case alone is a luscious combination of fade-resistant Everose gold (cast in Rolex’s in-house foundry) and scratchproof ceramic.

£16,650; rolex.com