Every watch brand releases some kind of a special edition watch from time to time. These special editions are usually produced in low numbers, because
- there’s a risk of not being able to sell these kind of watches, in case the customers wouldn’t like them, and
- because a limited amount also justifies a higher price due to exclusivity.
Most of these limited editions come and go unnoticed, but there are some limited edition watches which became so popular and sought after, that some people are ready to pay up to 10x more than what the watch was originally priced at.
IWC Aquatimer Chronograph: Charles Darwin Edition
The Swiss watch brand IWC has a standard watch collection which includes the beautiful Aquatimer model since 1967. The Aquatimer is a dive watch, which currently costs about 7000 US dollars.
The standard Aquatimer has a case diameter of 44 mm, the general finishing and materials used are very high-quality, and the movement works with an outstanding accuracy of 2 seconds lost or gained per day.
Yet in 2014, almost 50 years after the Aquatimer was first launched, IWC released the Aquatimer Charles Darwin Special Edition. As the name already suggests, this special edition was made to honor the life and work of one of the most influential scientists ever.
This special edition of the Aquatimer is using bronze for its case. In fact, it was the first time for IWC to use bronze for any watch. The choice for bronze was also inspired by the historic significance of the material in shipbuilding, particularly during the era of Charles Darwin’s voyages.
Aside from bronze case, this special edition of the Aquatimer is also using a different movement, which has a higher power reserve of 68 hours and an even higher accuracy. The price of this limited edition is currently at 11 thousand dollars, which is 5 thousand dollars more than for the standard edition.
Audemars Piguet Royal Oak “Italian Edition”
One of my favorite watches ever made is the Royal Oak from Audemars Piguet. The Royal Oak was first released in 1972, which by the time of this video is more than 5 decades ago.
But in the late 1990s AP released a special edition of the Royal Oak “in tribute to Italy”. I am not sure what that meant originally, but looking back from today, I’d guess that this amazing special edition was released for the watch preferences of the Italian market of the 1990s.
This very rare Italian Special Edition of the Royal Oak was produced only 50 times. And the main difference to the standard edition of the Royal Oak is the thickness of the watch case.
The Italian edition is only 8 mm thick, whereas the standard Royal Oaks are about 10 mm thick. With the thinner case design, this special edition also has a thinner in-house movement. At the time of the release of this special edition, that movement was the thinnest full rotor movement ever made.
The last thing which is truly special about the Italian Royal Oak is its dial design. You have a militaristic dial design, which consists of the typical square pattern at the center, surrounded by 2 circles, which contain the hour markers and the minute markers.
Grand Seiko 50th Anniversary Edition
Grand Seiko is known today for producing exceptional watches made in Japan. Grand Seiko was originally founded in 1960, and to mark the 50th birthday of the company, Grand Seiko released a model known as SBGA065.
This amazingly beautiful special edition of the Grand Seiko Elegance Collection has a case diameter of 40 mm, and a thickness of 12.8 mm.
The dial has many special elements unlike the standard watches from the Elegance Collection. The pattern of the dial is called the “Blizzard finish”, the indices are made of white gold, and the sword hands are hand-finished by master craftsmen in Japan.
Furthermore, the dial has the golden Grand Seiko Lion symbol next to the date window, which is captioned by the text “50th Anniversary”. And finally, this Grand Seiko special edition watch has the Seiko logo the 12 hour, and the Grand Seiko logo at the 6 hour mark.
This watch is currently hard to get, but the price for this Grand Seiko 50th Anniversary Edition ranges between 8 to 12 thousand US dollars.
TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph 60th Anniversary
Our next special edition watch is coming from the racing world: It’s the Tag Heuer Carrera Chronograph 60th Anniversary edition.
Generally, the Carrera model of Tag Heuer is one of or maybe their most popular watch model. The Carrera was originally released in 1963, and it was known for representing the spirit of speed and simplicity. At the end of the day, when you are blasting down the road in a racing car at full speed, you really just want to know the time as readable as possible when you spend 500 ms to look at your wrist.
Unlike the current standard versions of the TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph, the 60th anniversary edition goes back to the roots and eliminates every design element which is not immediately necessary for reading time.
This special edition has a vintage looking dial design, yet it is modern in some aspects. The silver dial has a reflective sunburst effect, the sub-dials or colored as the known and popular panda-dials, which provide a striking contrast to the silver background.
This 60th Anniversary edition of the Carrera Chronograph has a case diameter of 39 mm, and it powered by the in-house movement called Calibre Heuer 02, which has a good accuracy of -3 to +5 seconds per day. You can still get this special edition watch for roughly 8 thousand US dollars directly from the Tag Heuer website
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