6 of the best sapphire watches from $6,000 to $1.3 million

Buffy Acacia

For the vast majority of watch owners, the only sapphire they encounter is the one protecting their watch dials. If you’re a Cartier owner, perhaps you’ve used the crown bearing a sapphire cabochon. Transparent plastic has been a staple of affordable quartz watches since the ‘80s, but that same sense of whimsical curiosity translates surprisingly well to the luxury side thanks to lab-grown sapphire crystal. With its hardness leading to a legendary scratch resistance, sapphire in its huge range of possible colours is both a practical and novel material for a watch case.

Aventi Pure Sapphire A11-01

Most microbrands do their best to emulate big companies, creating histories along with brick-and-mortar locations to help legitimise themselves and establish trust. Aventi actually boasts about its decentralised nature, its use of third party manufacturers, and its alternative business structure because it saves customers money. That’s why the Pure Sapphire A11-01 is one of the only sapphire cases you can buy for just four figures without turning directly to the likes of AliExpress. The shape will certainly not be to everyone’s liking, and some may question the longevity and serviceability of the tourbillon movement made by PTS Resources in Hong Kong, but the two-year warranty along with the price tag makes it too tempting to ignore. Allocations are currently paused due to high demand, but the A11-01 will definitely be back. Price: CHF 5,750 (~US$6,530)

Code41 NativeDNA Sapphire X41

For a relatively young brand, Code41 has taken plenty of bold stances. A mix of high-end Swiss connections and crowdsourced ideating has led to incredible watches that retain a hint of tradition, or forego it entirely to create something new. The NativeDNA Sapphire X41 isn’t just one of the most affordable sapphire cases on the market, but it’s a metaphor for the brand’s transparency of all the costs involved with materials, manufacturing, and profit. It’s also customisable, with the harsh angles of the skeletonised manufacture movement taking on different icy hues of blue, grey, black, or green, and various strap options including transparent rubber, racing leather, or even a titanium bracelet. Price: US$24,435

ArtyA Tiny Purity Tourbillon NanoSaphir Chameleon

ArtyA is an incredibly difficult brand to pin down, having experimented in such vast ways over the years. Lately, one of its favourite avenues of investigation has been that of lab-grown sapphire. Unlike most brands for whom any coloured sapphire is considered experimental, ArtyA has pushed the envelope even further with sapphire that changes colours depending on the light temperature, typically distinguished by natural or artificial lighting. The effect is called pleochroism, and it’s very rare in both natural stones as well as lab-grown ones. In fact, I’ve never seen a stone change colours as drastically as this before, no matter its origins. Each piece is a one-off creation, with colour changes including orange to green and green to teal. All of that is fascinating enough before you even address the Tiny Purity movement that features a 17mm tourbillon with two barrels offering a 4Hz beat rate and 72-hour power reserve. Price: US$179,000

Ulysse Nardin Royal

Ulysse Nardin has an incredible legacy, but one of its lesser-known highlights happened at the start of the previous decade. In 2010, the Ulysse Nardin Royal Blue Mystery Tourbillon was a million-dollar watch made of solid platinum set completely with baguette diamonds and sapphires. It was a bit of a cult classic as a limited edition of 99 pieces, but now the Royal has returned to Ulysse Nardin’s catalogue in two hyper-modern interpretations bearing a clear sapphire case and crown. The translucent blue and red-pink structure that holds most of the in-house calibre UN-79 is made of lab spinel, leaving the flying tourbillon front and centre for staring at. Price: US328,300

Hublot MP-15 Takashi Murakami Tourbillon Sapphire Rainbow

Hublot is by far the biggest name in sapphire watchmaking, having released countless editions of both Big Bang and Spirit of Big Bang watches in various translucent colours. While many of those watches are also some of the most affordable sapphire cased watches you can buy, especially in the used market, it’s Hublot’s Masterpiece collaboration with Takashi Murakami that truly deserves the title of best. Murakami’s subversive take on pop art is a perfect match for Hublot, highlighting the inherent silliness that comes with watches that can be more expensive than a house. Its rainbow of twinkling sapphire-set petals dance almost as much as the tourbillon in the centre of the dial’s smiling face. Price: US$374,000

Jacob & Co Bugatti Chiron Tourbillon Sapphire Crystal

If you’ve got some serious cash to burn, why not go all out? There’s traditional watchmaking, and then there’s the likes of Jacob & Co. Taking direct inspiration from the bodywork of the Bugatti Chiron, the clear case is sculpted from solid sapphire with an incredible amount of detail and fluidity. The calibre JCAM37 even has a miniature 16-cylinder engine automaton within a sapphire block, along with an angled flying tourbillon and power reserve indicator for 60 hours. It’s a limited edition of just 7 pieces in clear sapphire, with various unique pieces created in alternative colours from blues to matte yellow. Price: US$1,300,000

Time+Tide Timeless Pick: MB&F HM3 FrogX Purple

As creators of experimental and artistically minded watches, it’s hard to go past MB&F. The HM3 first came about in 2009 as a precision instrument, but Maximilian Büsser tweaked it into the HM3 Frog the following year, indulging in bulbous eyes and a grinning mouth. The FrogX celebrated its 10th anniversary as a limited edition of 10 pieces, this time in a cheerful sapphire case, like the skin of some rare Red Eyed Treefrogs. The sapphire case itself is clear, however the purple rubber gasket and the case’s method of bending light almost makes the whole thing appear purple. Although all of the pieces were sold, there is one currently available for sale on MB&F’s Certified Pre-Owned store for CHF 148,549 (~US$168,660)