There are several luxury watch brands to choose from, but only a few offer dedicated smartwatch models. When a major luxury brand enters the smartwatch space, one can expect its watches to cost the average person an arm and a leg. Adding smart features to an iconic watch comes at a cost, with some brands creating entirely new watches with their own custom operating system.
We scoured the internet to see what high-end luxury brands are doing in the smartwatch space. Here are several watches that we found to be not only expensive, but way more expensive than you might have imagined. These are watches for tech enthusiasts who want to be at the forefront of classic style and modern functionality.
The Montblanc Summit 3 smartwatch
I know Montblanc for its very chic, high-end fountain pens. My father still has the Meisterstück fountain pen he bought a long time ago and uses only to sign business documents. When I found out that Montblanc was getting into the watch business, I knew the company would come up with something elegant and expensive.
The Montblanc Summit 3 smartwatch is a luxury watch that costs over $1,000, making it one of the most affordable watches on this list. This Montblanc smartwatch doesn’t use its own software; instead, it runs Google’s Wear OS. Wear OS offers a more minimalist look, and users don’t need to learn a new operating system when upgrading from another Android smartwatch.
While you can find a new Google Pixel Watch for less than half of what the Montblanc Summit 3 will cost you, you’ll miss out on the distinct Montblanc style aesthetic that mimics a classic analog watch. If you love having a smartwatch and all the features that come with it but want something a little more luxurious, Montblanc might be a brand to check out.
Breitling Professional Exospace B55
Breitling is a brand renowned since 1884 for manufacturing high-quality watches. Even its most basic watches often sell for thousands of dollars, making them once-in-a-lifetime purchases for many people. So when Breitling entered the smartwatch business with the Breitling Professional Exospace B55, it did things a little differently than most others.
Beyond the nearly $9,000 price tag, the Professional Exospace B55 isn’t your typical smartwatch. Breitling considers this timepiece a smartwatch, meaning it retains traditional watch parts and precision while featuring two thin rectangular screens—one just above the arms, and the other a slightly larger screen just below. When not used to alert you to calls, messages, or emails from your smartphone, the screens serve as a time and date display.
The bulk of the work is done by the app, allowing you to control the watch’s features from there without having to swipe and navigate menus on the watch face itself. This also allows the watch to maintain its distinctive look, which, according to the brand, is designed and tailored for pilots and boaters. It’s a classic look that’s still a watch, not a smartwatch face trying to emulate one.
Garmin Marq Athlete
Garmin may not be a brand that comes to mind when you think of luxury watches, but with the Garmin Marq Athlete costing almost $3,000, the company is firmly entrenched in the luxury sector. The Marq Athlete is a serious, premium smartwatch machined from over 130 layers of carbon fiber, with a domed sapphire lens that highlights the AMOLED touchscreen.
Sure, the included leather hybrid strap might not look as luxurious as its competitors’, but the goal of the Marq Athlete is to merge the worlds of luxury and sports into one watch. Instead of having one watch dedicated to sports and another for casual affairs, the Garmin Marq tries to kill two birds with one stone.
And since you’re dealing with Garmin, you’ll also benefit from solid GPS capabilities thanks to the included SatIQ technology. This enables multi-band GPS, providing users with high-quality positioning in any environment. Monitoring and GPS features include ClimbPro climb planning, TopoActive maps, morning reports, and more, making the Garmin Marq a decent deal even at an incredible price.
Tag Heuer Connected Caliber E5 Golf Edition
Tag Heuer is well known for its high-end timepieces. Since its Monaco Evergraph sold for nearly $25,000, the brand has become known for its expensive watches that regularly sell for thousands of dollars. Tag Heuer offers a few smartwatches that are much more expensive than your average smartwatch, but probably the most interesting is the Tag Heuer Connected Caliber E5 Golf Edition.
This smartwatch is designed for golf enthusiasts, offering a sleek, lightweight design that won’t hinder your backswing. At nearly $2,550, the Caliber E5 is expensive, but many golf aficionados seem to really like it. They point out that the built-in Golf app is one of the best available.
Others take issue with the Tag Heuer Connected line, suggesting that aside from the Tag Heuer faces, the series is nothing more than an overpriced smartwatch. But these voices seem to be in the minority, as reviews of the Caliber E5 Golf Edition are mostly positive, highlighting the design, build, and interface.
Vertu Fusion Black Diamond Smartwatch
Vertu is one of the more interesting brands on this list. The company is best known for creating luxury smartphones, the most affordable of which is the Metavertu calfskin, which retails for $1,599. So Vertu moving into the smartwatch space makes a lot of sense, especially if it can pair its high-end phones with corresponding high-end smartwatches.
Its Fusion Black Diamond smartwatch costs $2,380. One of the cool features of the Vertu Fusion is the ability to quickly change watch faces by rotating the watch crown. But other than that, the Vertu Fusion Black Diamond feels behind in terms of smartwatch capabilities.
The operating system feels slow and resembles some budget smartwatches. Additionally, the chip that powers the watch is described as high-performance, but no details are provided on the operating system it uses. What’s worse is that Vertu has been called out in the past by tech YouTube channels like MKBHD and JerryRigEverything for marketing claims, exaggerated capabilities, and quality issues. The Fusion Black Diamond may be a decent smartwatch, but it’s a lot more expensive than what it offers.
Methodology
When selecting smartwatches for this feature, we turned to the Reddit community of watch enthusiasts. These smartwatches are luxury devices that will cost you a lot more than your typical smartwatch from Apple or Samsung. Even though the prices may be astronomical, that doesn’t mean the featured smartwatches aren’t worth the investment for some people.
We also reviewed professional reviews and opinions from well-known tech YouTube channels that have covered the featured smartwatches, and we specifically highlighted the cost relative to a standard smartwatch.
