Best gift watches under $10,000

Borna Bošnjak

Continuing our buying guide for the holiday season, we bring you the best watches from our latest NOW Magazine Buying Guide under US$10,000. While some of these may be more aspirational pieces considering the higher price, make sure to check out our other guides suiting all budgets, with under $500, under $1,000 and under $5,000 guides, or the under US$50,000 guide if you’re a high-roller.

Horage Supersede Date

The Horage Supersede is the brand’s latest and greatest luxury sports watch creation, presenting as a handsome and remarkably thin piece powered by Horage’s impressive K2 micro-rotor movement, a great offering at this price. It’s a simpler and more water activity-focused piece that forgoes a GMT complication in pursuit of a fresh look, with another strength coming from the brand’s market-leading transparency about just how Swiss their products really are. Price: CHF 5,490

IWC Pilot’s Watch Automatic 41 Black Aces

IWC has long collaborated with aviation organisations, and the ceramic-cased Black Aces is the latest product of the Professional Pilot’s Watches Program, which emerged from its partnership with the U.S. Navy. The watch takes inspiration from a piece created for members of Strike Fighter Squadron 41, outfitted with a lumed dial and the squadron’s logo for ultimate after-dark legibility, powered by the calibre 32100 with 72 hours of power reserve. Price: A$10,600, US$6,800

Omega Seamaster 300 Summer Blue

With a 300-metre depth rating range within the Summer Blue line-up, the gradient becomes clearer, with the Seamaster 300’s dial finished in a fume effect, emulating sunrays fighting to reach the depths of the ocean. Travelling towards the light blue of the indices and cut-out sandwich Arabic numerals, the dial colour deepens, suggesting the looming depths that await, finishing in the rotating bezel with enamelled numerals for the timing scale. A$12,300, US$7,400

TAG Carrera Chronosprint x Porsche

Many collaborative models present strictly an aesthetic tie-in, be it colours or co-branding that signify the partnership. For the 60th anniversary of the TAG Heuer Carrera and the Porsche 911, the Carrera Chronosprint x Porsche utilises a functional tribute as well, delivered through a chronograph calibre with a twist. The chronograph hand races forward for the first 9 seconds, tributing the car’s acceleration, before eventually slowing down to regular speed. Price: A$13,300, US$9,200

Zenith Chronomaster Original

It’s no secret that vintage reissues have taken centre stage for the last couple of years. No matter how innovative a brand may be, there’s just something about putting a familiar favourite on the wrist that transports you whenever you check the time, without the hassle of vintage upkeep. Zenith know how to do it better than most, with the Chronomaster Original, a faithful recreation of the much lusted-after A386. Price: A$15,000, US$10,000