Which of our dear readers will be able to answer the question of what is better and more prestigious: orange juice or apple? Tea or coffee? Skis or skates? Mercedes or BMW? Tag Heuer or Hublot? Agree that it is impossible to unequivocally answer any of the questions posed. By choosing something from the proposed one, you will either unwittingly offend another person who has a point of view that differs from yours, or you will not be honest enough, trying to “hook” and not offend the interlocutor. So when I typed the title of this article, “watch rating”, I thought for a long time how to make this rating of watch brands and not offend anyone's feelings. In my opinion, the main thing in this matter is the priorities and desires of the person who chooses this or that brand of watches, and the point is not even in the cost of the model and not in its popularity, but in its external and internal attractiveness for this or that buyer.

On the other hand, if watch models are in completely different price categories, then it seems that it is quite simple to rank wristwatches: the more expensive, the “cooler”. But if the prices are almost the same, then how to determine the most prestigious brand and depict the most accurate world watch rating? What criteria should be taken as a basis: the degree of promotion of the brand, the complexity of the built-in mechanisms, the “coolness” of the name of the watch brand, the high cost of the materials used, or the opinions of the “powerful ones”? In addition, watch companies themselves add problems, the number of which is growing rapidly from day to day, which complicates the task of compiling an adequate table that displays the prestige rating of watches.

Very often I heard opinions that there is some kind of hierarchical pyramid or gradation of watches, a certain rating of Swiss watches, a dozen (hundred) of the best, and so on. I hasten to assure you that the existence of such a single rating is a myth, just like the lifetime warranty for all Swiss watches. No mechanism can last for several decades without proper care, however, with proper handling of watches, everything is possible. However, today is not about that.

If you use the almighty Internet, then on the request "clock rating" you will find a huge number of tables, diagrams and lists compiled by certain people who proceeded from their own beliefs and were guided by special goals. Any watch rating cannot serve as the only correct guide for the buyer. For example, each of the watch manufacturers, as a rule, offers its own rating of watch brands, in which it occupies a certain place. Its competitor demonstrates a different rating of the best watches, where it positions itself on a completely different line. As you understand, we are not talking about any objectivity here - pure advertising! Very often in popular magazines and other periodicals you can find a very interesting rating of watches, but again, it will be aimed at a specific audience, which should definitely be taken into account. Thus, the rating of Swiss watches by a European magazine can be radically different from the list compiled, for example, by American journalists. In addition, it is worth recognizing that often the rating of the best watches or the rating of the prestige of watches, compiled by journalists, rather refers to the novelties presented in a particular year, rather than to the creation of watch brands over a long period of time.

Any watch forum is a real “battlefield”, where “battles” and disputes about which watch is considered the best do not cease for a minute. After visiting one of these forums, I came to the conclusion that no one has yet succeeded in presenting a general rating of watch prestige that would fully reflect the picture of the watch world and would correspond to the views of all watch lovers and specialists. Forum users break spears, there is a battle "not for life, but for death", but still everyone remains with his own opinion. Then a logical question arises - who to believe and whose opinion to rely on? And you need to believe in yourself and rely on your preferences, but you also need to pay attention to the point of view of watch experts.

Today I undertook to do the almost impossible - to rank watch brands based on certain observations and known facts. Perhaps, by doing so, I will incur the wrath of some visitors to our site, but in advance I ask you not to judge me strictly, as I tried to be as objective as possible. The first question in drawing up a chart that displays the rating of watch brands is what to proceed from and what criteria to rely on. Well, that's a very good question!

It would seem that everything is simple - we study the statistics, find the best-selling brand and put it in the lead. However, even this will not help the case, because in this case, the most budgetary watch models available to a wide range of buyers will come forward. Such a rating of watch brands will also show the least selling models, but let's think about why they are sold so little. Perhaps because they are surprisingly complex, incredibly good, and therefore prohibitively expensive. Or they really don't care. This, as they say, is a double-edged sword, therefore, a separate criterion of "selling" cannot be used when compiling a list reflecting the rating of watch companies.

I could draw a ranking of watch companies, based on the number of complicated models of each of the companies. The more complex watches in the manufactory's piggy bank, the more prestigious and elite the brand, but in this case, brands working in the field of fashionable fashion watches will immediately disappear from the table. Such watch companies most often focus not on an ultra-complex mechanism, replacing the magnificent mechanical "engine" with a simple quartz version, but on the external rich design of watches, the elements of which are sometimes made of very expensive materials. Agree, it also somehow dishonestly turns out.

Of course, when making a rating of watch manufacturers, you can take the history of a watch company as a basis. Manufacturers with centuries of experience have firmly established themselves in the modern market, who have been delighting chorology fans with their creations for more than one century. But young brands do not want to lag behind their older counterparts either, persistently developing their knowledge and gaining experience. Therefore, it is impossible to build a rating of watch brands according to the principle “the older, the more prestigious”, because such a list would be very unfair in relation to young and promising brands. Take, for example, the Maurice Lacroix company, which appeared on the world watch scene not so long ago, but has already achieved great heights in the watch industry. On account of Maurice Lacroix a large number of prestigious awards for bold design solutions and complex movements. In addition, the manufactory is considered one of the leaders in the creation of retrograde watches. But what about the young Italian brand Anonimo, which in its short history has made a huge number of useful discoveries and introduced very valuable innovative ideas and incredible developments into production? Apparently, this brand will go far!

I also do not take into account the most obvious criterion “the price of watches”, and the rating of Swiss watch brands by the cost of their models has long existed on the World Wide Web. If you are interested in the rating of expensive watches, then I advise you to read several articles on this topic on our information portal in the "Watch Magazine" section.

As you have already noticed, it is almost impossible to compile a unified rating of watch manufacturers, it is necessary to take into account a huge number of factors. In addition, each society has its own gradation of these wrist accessories: someone likes a richer watch, for another, the design itself plays a big role, and for the third, the complexity and versatility of the model. There are also unique brands of watches on the market, which seem to stand apart, and a very narrow circle of certain customers has formed around them. A good example in this case is Officine Panerai, which does not need any ratings or advertising at all. The brand has a permanent large army of real fans who do not need to explain the position of the brand in relation to its competitors. It does not always happen that the watches of one manufacturer are equally popular in different parts of the world. This is worth understanding, so I offer you a few brief reviews of the prestige of watch brands in three markets: Russian, European and American. Let's start, of course, with Russia.

After analyzing the huge amount of information that the Internet offers us, I came to the conclusion that the most appropriate option would be the Russian rating of watch brands, the positions in which are divided into several categories. This takes into account not only the rating of Swiss watches, but also the positions of models from other manufacturers that have achieved certain heights on the world stage. That is, this is a fairly general world watch rating, which took into account the popularity of the brand, the company's turnover, the size of the distribution network, as well as the number and quality of models produced per year.

The first category includes watches of the “super luxury” class, which rather wealthy citizens of our country pay attention to. The rating of expensive watches consists of the 10 most popular, in my opinion, brands on the Russian market. These brands are, let's say, the top of the pyramid and the giants of watchmaking.
1. Strict A.Lange & Sohne
2. Legendary Audemars Piguet
3. Graceful Blancpain
4. Classic Breguet
5 Ambitious Frank Muller
6. The incomparable Girard-Perregaux
7. Inventive Jaeger-LeCoultre
8. Iconic Patek Philippe
9. Unique Vacheron Constantin
10 Resourceful Richard Mille

The second category is the luxury class models, which have broken the top lines of all watch charts. Here, as many as twelve places were divided among themselves by the following brands:
1. Forever "flying" forward Breitling
2. Brilliant Cartier
3. Avant-garde Tag Heuer
4. Catchy Hublot
5. Military Officine Panerai
6. Ageless and impenetrable Rolex
7. Omega trailblazer
8. Reliable IWC
9 Creative Ulysse Nardin
10. Persistent Zenith
11. Ultra-thin Piaget
12. Majestic Monblanc

I presented all premium watches in the following table, which reflects the rating of watch brands for a given period of time. Each of the brands deserves the title of "best" in its category.
1. Attractive Longines
2. Extraordinary Maurice Lacroix
3. Ultra-precise Oris
4. Fashion Rado
5. Elegant Perrelet
6. Romantic Ebel
7. Tissot never ceases to amaze
8. Betrayed watch "music" Raymond Weil
9. Sporty Chronoswiss
10. Versatile Fortis

Wristwatches of the "fashion" category attract many customers, first of all, with their original design. Well, at a relatively low price, of course. Among the companies working in the fashion direction, there are undeniable leaders. I included them in the following rating of watch brands:
1. Charming Chanel
2. Chic Ice Link
3. Bright Louis Viutton
4. Serious Anne Klein
5. Desirable Dolce & Gabbana
6. Stylish Pierre Cardin
7. Intelligent Calvin Klein
8. Expressive Dior
9 Functional Hugo Boss
10. Fantastic Versace

Approximately such a picture we can observe in the modern watch market in Russia. However, in order to avoid harsh criticism from our esteemed readers, I will once again explain that this rating of watch companies was compiled taking into account some of my personal observations, so it is partly subjective. If you have a different point of view or have made your reasonable rating, then please contact the administration of our site, and we will be happy to hear your opinion. We are interested in everyone's point of view!

As for the prestige of watches in the European market, I decided to be guided by one of the most famous European magazines - Business Montres, which presented its rating of Swiss watch brands last year. According to the publication, when compiling the rating, not only the popularity of brands, turnover, distribution network, but also the creativity of the team of masters, growth potential, management efficiency and the target group of customers were taken into account.

This list includes the following Swiss manufacturers:
1 Rolex
2. Cartier (the only manufacturer on the list with French roots)
3. Patek Philippe (known in Europe as a symbol of the highest quality)
4. Tag Heuer
5. Omega
6. Chopard
7 Frank Muller
8. Breitling (this brand is respected in Europe for its professionalism, accuracy and reliability)
9 Audemars Piguet
10. IWC

It seems to me that everything is logical. The incomparable Rolex, as always, is “ahead of the rest”. However, the American market set priorities somewhat differently.

The well-known New York organization Luxury Institute, engaged in research in the luxury industry, conducted a large-scale survey among respondents whose annual family income is above average to compile its rating. Simply put, they polled very wealthy fans of watchmaking art. All watch brands were subjected to the strictest selection, and first of all, American journalists took into account the quality level of watches and the originality of design. In addition, the respondents shared their personal experience of owning models from past collections of watch brands.

The result is a very interesting picture. The Rolex company, which is loved with all their hearts in Europe, was not even included in the top five by picky Americans. Apparently, the Blancpain brand, which in turn was not included in the top ten European brands, is to the liking of Americans, as well as Russian buyers. So many people, so many opinions - you can't please everyone! In general, see for yourself:
1. Blancpain
2. Vacheron Constantin (by the way, this brand, according to the rating of Europeans, is only on the 24th place, which is also very surprising. But individual Italians, who know a lot about beauty, consider Vacheron Constantin to be a real watch ideal, and in the ranking of Italy this brand is on the first place.)
3. Breguet (in Europe, this brand has 12th place)
4. Chopard
5. Hublot (according to European data - 25th place)
6. IWC
7 Rolex
8. Van Cleef & Arpels (all Hollywood stars cherish the diamond models of this brand)
9. Harry Winston (the jewelry and watch brand still conquered American millionaires with its Opuses)
10 Frank Muller

If we consider the rating of watch manufacturers over the past ten years, it becomes clear that the overall picture has changed little by now. Old, experienced giants of the watch industry do not want to “retire” and give up their leading positions to newcomers, but time will tell. Perhaps in the near future we will admire the complex, creative and super-functional models of young brands that are now gathering strength and experience to come to the fore. Whatever it was, but the art of creating watches today is at the peak of its development. Therefore, “stopping time” will not work, because the watch industry will never allow this.

As for such issues as the rating of men's watches and the rating of women's watches, nothing concrete can be said here. I will only note one thing: according to some statistical sources, among the most expensive watches in the circle of beautiful ladies, the models of the Rolex and Montblanc brands are the most popular. Although these data are very relative, it makes no sense to make a separate rating of women's watches or a rating of men's watches.
So where did we end up? As it turned out, there is no consensus on which watch should be considered the most prestigious, and could not be. We are all people with our own unique characteristics and unique preferences, so during your next trip to a watch boutique, be guided by your heart, it will not deceive. And, of course, financial means! Although in the circle of watch lovers it is not customary to save on objects of their admiration, since it is believed that expensive watches not only create time, but show how dear it is to their owner. In addition, it is difficult to disagree that expensive watches are a great way to make a good investment. You can study very detailed information regarding all the above watch brands on the pages of our information portal. Happy shopping and see you soon!

Natalie