Every Luxury Watch Tier Explained In 7 Minutes

Added: 2026-06-03

[00:00:00]This is a Rolex, the [music] most recognized luxury watch on Earth.

[00:00:04]And your journey begins here. The Casio F91W.

[00:00:08]This watch has been worn by presidents, hip-hop legends, and according to the FBI, every Al-Qaeda operative ever captured. Osama bin Laden owned three of them. It was literally found on bomb-making instructions in Afghanistan.

[00:00:21]For $15, it's going to be A-tier because every legend has to start somewhere. But you want more. So you upgrade. The Timex Weekender, $40.

[00:00:30]>> [music] >> Timex had one mission, make an affordable watch that doesn't embarrass you.

[00:00:34]>> Brand that I have a lot of mixed feelings about. I love the fact that they have American roots. They were founded in 1854.

[00:00:41]>> The Weekender has a clean, simple dial, a fabric strap, and absolutely zero pretension. It doesn't scream luxury. It doesn't whisper it, either. It just exists, [music] quietly, reliably, like that one friend who never causes drama, but always shows up. D-tier, respectable, forgettable. But then one day you walk past [music] a watch store and something catches your eye. The $200 Seiko SKX. In 1969, Seiko dropped an atomic bomb on the Swiss watch industry when [music] they introduced the quartz movement, a battery-powered watch more accurate and affordable than anything Switzerland had ever made. The Swiss were furious. Seiko didn't care. The SKX [music] is Seiko's legendary dive watch.

[00:01:23]200 m water resistance, automatic movement, bulletproof reliability.

[00:01:29]For $200, you're getting more watch than most people will ever need. C-tier, the watch that punches way above its price [music] and knows it. If you're finding this useful, hit subscribe. We rank everything in the luxury world, so you always know exactly where you stand. But research leads to desire, and desire leads [music] to a decision. The Cartier Tank, $5,000.

[00:01:52]In 1917, Louis Cartier was looking at photographs of World War I tanks rolling into battle. And in an act of pure capitalism, he thought, "I can make a watch out of that." Princess Diana wore one. Muhammad Ali wore one. Andy Warhol wore one every single day of his life.

[00:02:09]At $5,000, your watch no longer tells people you know what time it is. It tells them you have taste.

[00:02:15]B tier, the entry point into watches [music] that actually mean something.

[00:02:19]And one day taste becomes obsession.

[00:02:21]$8,000, the Omega [music] Speedmaster.

[00:02:24]In 1965, NASA needed an official wristwatch for the [music] Apollo space program. Four brands answered the call.

[00:02:31]They were put through brutal torture tests, extreme temperatures, magnetic fields, vacuum chambers. One watch survived [music] every single test, the Omega Speedmaster. Four years later, it became the first watch worn on the moon.

[00:02:44]Neil Armstrong took one small step for man and one giant leap for Omega's marketing department. B+ tier, moon certified, history on your wrist. Quick question, which tier are you aiming for by the end of this video? Drop it below.

[00:02:59]But history isn't enough anymore. Now you want a legend, the Rolex Submariner.

[00:03:04]$15,000.

[00:03:05]There is no watch brand on Earth that has mastered the psychology of desire like Rolex. The Submariner launched in 1954 as a tool watch for divers. It cost $150.

[00:03:17]Today the same watch costs $15,000 and has a waiting list. It used to be that you were the man so you bought a Rolex. Now you buy a Rolex hoping to become the man. Rolex didn't change, the culture around it did. And that is the most expensive marketing trick ever pulled. [music] A tier, the most recognized luxury watch on Earth, and it knows exactly what it's doing. But recognition isn't enough anymore. Now you want something most people have never seen, the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak. $30,000. In 1972, Audemars Piguet was on the verge of bankruptcy.

[00:03:51]>> [music] >> In a desperate move, they called legendary designer Gerald Genta and gave him one day to design a watch that would save the company. At 11:59 p.m. Genta submitted his design, an octagonal bezel, exposed screws, integrated bracelet made entirely from steel. The watch industry laughed. Nobody wanted a steel sports watch at a luxury price.

[00:04:12]Then it became the most influential watch design of all [music] time.

[00:04:16]A plus tier. The watch that broke every rule and in rewrote them all. If you're still watching, subscribe because [music] the next two watches are where things get serious. But rule-breaking has a price and the [music] next tier costs significantly more. The Patek Philippe Nautilus, $100,000.

[00:04:33]Patek [music] Philippe has been making watches since 1839.

[00:04:36]They have a saying that has never changed, you never truly own a Patek Philippe.

[00:04:40]>> [music] >> You merely look after it for the next generation. The Nautilus has a 10-year waiting list at retail. Dealers have been known to require customers to purchase multiple other watches before they're even considered for an allocation. You don't buy a Patek, you earn the right to own one. S tier. Not an accessory, not a status symbol, a legacy. But there is one tier above S [music] and it costs $1 million. The Richard Mille RM 27, $1 million. Richard Mille makes watches the way Formula 1 makes cars, titanium, carbon fiber, materials borrowed from aerospace engineering.

[00:05:17]The RM 27 was built specifically for Rafael Nadal to wear during a Grand Slam tennis match, >> [music] >> surviving impacts of up to 5,000 G forces on his wrist.

[00:05:28]$1 million on your wrist playing tennis.

[00:05:32]That is either the peak of human achievement or the peak of human absurdity.

[00:05:36]Maybe both. When someone puts a Richard Mille on their wrist, they walk different, talk different, people treat them different. That's not arrogance.

[00:05:45]That's $1 million of physics doing job.

[00:05:48]Ask >> [music] >> Tier, the watch that doesn't care what you think because at this price nothing does.

[00:05:54]Comment your tier right now. There is one final tier, so far above everything else that it doesn't even have a name.

[00:06:01][music] The Graff Diamonds Hallucination, $55 million and 110 carats [music] of rare multi-colored diamonds, pink, blue, green, yellow >> [music] >> set into a platinum bracelet by hand.

[00:06:15]Every stone chosen individually, every [music] setting placed by a single craftsman.

[00:06:21]It took years to complete, the most expensive watch ever made. [music] And underneath all of those diamonds, underneath $55 million worth of the rarest stones on Earth, is a basic [music] quartz battery movement.

[00:06:34]The same movement that powers your $15 Casio. The most expensive watch in the world tells time exactly the same way as the cheapest one.

[00:06:43]Because this was never about telling time. God Tier, because some things exist not to be understood, but to be witnessed. [music] From 15 to $55 million, 10 watches, 10 completely different signals, >> [clears throat] >> 10 completely different tiers. Luxury has levels. This is Tier & Co.