5 Luxury Smartwatches Even More Expensive Than You Thought

Smartwatches have been around for a long time, and prices have been dropping as cheap smartwatch brands enter the marketplace. That said, a high-end smartwatch is still an expensive piece of technology for most people, with the Apple Watch Series 11 selling for hundreds of dollars. But what happens when a luxury-focused brand jumps into the smartwatch market.

There are a number of luxury watch brands for people to choose from, but only a few of them have dedicated smartwatch models of their timepieces. When a major luxury brand steps into the smartwatch space, you can expect that their timepieces will cost the average person an arm and a leg. Adding smart features to an iconic timepiece comes at a premium, with some brands creating entirely new watches with their own custom OS.

We've scoured the internet to see what high-end luxury brands are doing in the smartwatch space. The following are a number of watches that we've found to not only be expensive, but far more expensive than you might have imagined. These are timepieces for tech enthusiasts that want to be on the cutting edge of classic style and modern features.

I know Montblanc from its very fancy high-end fountain pens. My father still has the Meisterstück fountain pen that he bought ages ago and used only for signing business documents. When I found out that Montblanc got into the watch business, I knew that the company was going to come out with something stylish and expensive.

The Montblanc Summit 3 Smartwatch is a luxury watch that costs over $1,000, making it one of the most affordable timepieces featured in this list. This Montblanc smartwatch isn't using its own software, instead taking advantage of Wear OS from Google. Wear OS allows for a more minimalist look, and users don't need to learn a new OS if they are thinking about upgrading from another Android smartwatch.

While you can find a new Google Pixel watch for less than half of what the Montblanc Summit 3 will cost you, you will miss out on the distinct Montblanc style aesthetics that mimic a classic analog watch. If you love having a smartwatch and all the features that come along with it but want something a little more luxurious, Montblanc might be a brand to check out.

Breitling is a brand long renowned for making high-quality timepieces, being around since 1884. Even its more basic watches often sell for thousands, making them once-in-a-lifetime purchases for many people. So, when Breitling got into the smartwatch space with the Breitling Professional Exospace B55, it did things a little differently than most.

Beyond the nearly $9,000 price point, the Professional Exospace B55 isn't your typical smartwatch. Breitling considers this timepiece a connected watch, meaning that it features traditional watch parts and precision, with two slim rectangular screens. One just above the arms, and the other a slightly larger screen just below. When not being used to alert you about calls, messages, or emails from your smartphone, the screens serve as time and date displays.

The heavy lifting is being done by the app, allowing you to control the watch's features from it and not having you swipe around and dig through menus on the watch face itself. This also helps the watch keep the distinctive look, which according to the brand is designed and tailored for pilots and yachtsmen. It's a classic look that is still a watch, and not a smartwatch face trying to imitate one.

Garmin might not be a brand that pops into your head when you are thinking of luxury timepieces, but with the Garmin Marq Athlete coming in at nearly $3,000, the company is firmly in the luxury space. The Marq Athlete is a serious and high-end smartwatch machined with over 130 layers of carbon fiber, and the domed sapphire lens helps to highlight the AMOLED touch display.

Sure, the included leather hybrid strap might not sound or feel very luxury-coded when compared to its competitors, but the focus of the Marq Athlete is to merge the luxury world with the sports world in one timepiece. Instead of having a dedicated watch you put on for sports and one for casual affairs, the Garmin Marq is trying to kill two birds with one stone.

And since you are dealing with Garmin, you will also be getting solid GPS capabilities thanks to the included SatIQ technology. This allows for multi-band GPS, giving users high-quality positioning in any environment. Monitoring and GPS features include ClimbPro ascent planning, TopoActive maps, morning reports, and more, making the Garmin Marq a decent offering even at the incredible price.

Tag Heuer is well-known for its high-end timepieces. From its Monaco Evergraph that sells for nearly $25,000, the brand is known for expensive watches that regularly sell for thousands. Tag Heuer has a couple of smartwatches that are far more expensive than your average smartwatch, but the most interesting is probably the Tag Heuer Connected Calibre E5 Golf Edition.

This smartwatch is tailored for the golf enthusiast, providing a very clean, sleek, and lightweight design that won't get in the way during your backswing. At nearly $2,550, the Calibre E5 is expensive, but several golf aficionados seem to really enjoy it. They point to the built-in Golf app being one of the best available.

Others take issue with the Tag Heuer Connected line, suggesting that aside from the Tag Heuer faces, the series is nothing but an overpriced smartwatch. But these voices seem to be in the minority as reviews on the Calibre E5 Golf Edition are quite positive, really highlighting the design, build, and interface.

Vertu is one of the more interesting brands on this list. The company is most well-known for creating luxury smartphones, its most affordable being the Metavertu Calfskin that retails for $1,599. So, Vertu moving into the smartwatch space makes a lot of sense, especially if it can pair its high-end phones with matching high-end smartwatches.

Its Fusion Black Diamond Smartwatch retails for $2,380. One of the neat functions you get with the Vertu Fusion is the ability to quickly change the watch faces by rotating the watch crown. But aside from that, the Vertu Fusion Black Diamond feels behind the times in terms of its smartwatch capabilities. 

The OS looks sluggish and very similar to some cheap smartwatches. Moreover, the chip powering the watch is labeled as high-performance, but no details are given on the OS being used. What's worse is that Vertu has been called out in the past for marketing statements, overblown capabilities, and quality issues from tech YouTube channels like MKBHD and JerryRigEverything. The Fusion Black Diamond might be a decent smartwatch, but it's far more expensive than what it offers. 

When highlighting smartwatches for this feature, we looked to the Reddit community of watch enthusiasts. These smartwatches are luxury devices that will cost you far more than your typical smartwatch from Apple or Samsung. While the price might be astronomical, it doesn't mean the featured smartwatches aren't worth the investment for certain people.

We also researched professional reviews and opinions from well-known tech YouTube channels who have written and created content on the smartwatches featured, and specifically highlighted the cost when compared to a standard smartwatch.