Today I'm going to introduce you to some luxury watches that are on my wish list. It's very much an aspirational thing to be able to afford a luxury watch. Whilst a watch doesn't define you, it can certainly communicate a message that you're serious about your appearance. Plenty to get through so let’s get into it.

Omega Seamaster 300m

The Omega Seamaster is arguable one of the most iconic dive watches of all time. This particular Seamaster is a tribute to the brands maritime legacy. Various incarnations of the Seamaster 300m have been worn by James Bond, starting with Pierce Brosnan in Goldeneye who wore the Seamaster Professional (both quartz and automatic) throughout his tenure.

Bond 25 will mark the 25th anniversary of Omega’s involvement with the James Bond franchise.

All the watches I am listing can be found through Watchfinder who are the proud sponsors of this post. All their watches have a 12-month warranty and are put through vigorous accuracy and authenticity checks.

PRICE £2,550

Breitling Navitimer 01

I could look at the dial face on this Breitling Navitimer 01 watch for hours. Quite happily. It has that energy, that look of a watch that you want to live in. If there was a Honey I shrunk the Blogger movie, I'd want to be the leading shrunken man and I'd want to run around inside this watch. The bezel has this cog-wheel texture that gives it this industrial hyper-masculine sensibility.

PRICE £5,250

Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Grande Date

I class the Jaeger watches as the haute couture of watches. What do I mean by that? I don't really know. But they have an irrepressible flair. Many brands have attempted to replicate that elongated bezel with concave striped silver chassis. To no avail. There's only room for one maestro in this division.

PRICE £6,750

IWC Big Pilots

I will be touching on a more ostentatious IWC watch later in the blog. For now feast your eyes on this Big Pilots watch. Notice the sub-dial on the 3 O'clock position that tells you when your movement is in need of some juice. Dig that.

PRICE £7,395

Bremont DH-88

My new best pals, Bremont. So kind of them to invite me to the Henley Regatta a few weeks back. You can read about my day out and a brief history on Bremont on a separate post here. There's a wonderful blurb about the history and the inspiration behind this watch on the Watchfinder site. Bremont are a very romantic brand. I'm slightly infatuated with them right now.

PRICE £7,500

Omega Speedmaster Missions

We spoke about the moon landings before. You know I'm obsessed with all that right now. We haven't been back to the moon since 1972. Do you know why? Yes money, back in the day it cost something like 4 billion USD to get on the moon. The Vietnam War kicked off and things just got shelved. But largely people just lost interest. Can you believe that?

So this Speedmaster Mission is one of a 22-piece limited edition commemorating the 40th anniversary of its legendary Moonwatch.

PRICE £7,650

Hublot Classic Fusion

We're going through the gears now. Into the 5 digit category. This Hublot Classic Fusion speaks to me. It has that aforementioned aspirational elegance. Cleaner face, deft minimalism, no pretence, no chi-chi.

PRICE £10,950

Rolex Datejust 41

Can you believe we have gotten this far without mentioning a Rolex watch yet? This has a sparse, almost supernatural feel to this watch. If those protesters camping outside Area 51 right now broke through the fences, found an orgy of alien autopsy reports and discovered this Rolex watch was delivered to earth as an offer of peace from an extra-terrestrial being; I wouldn't be a bit surprised.

PRICE £8,925

Rolex Submariner

I'm going to slide in the Submariner 5513 here surreptitiously. It really is the watch that got me into watches. Bond fans will recognise this watch from Live and Let Die. "Pure magnetism darling".

PRICE £10,950

Rolex Daytona

Confession, this is not really my style. The watch is of course beautiful, but not one I would normally gravitate towards. That said I’m a huge race fan. Love the F1, love Stock Car racing (yes I’ve seen Days of Thunder and Talladega Nights way too many times) and the Daytona 500 is the tip of the spear when it comes to NASCAR. If money was no object I'd be the proud owner of this Daytona Watch.

PRICE £12,650

IWC Portuguese Perpetual Calendar

There is something about brown alligator leather over silver bezels and dial faces. Arabic Silver to be precise. It's just a gorgeous combination, they saddle so well, it's the ornate-embodiment of class.

The moon phase dial; often times I see this on the underside of the centre pin. Here it's in the treble twenty range, to use a darts analogy. It's prouder, its confident. This IWC watch will be the real show pony in my watch drawer someday.

PRICE £17,500

Patek Philippe Grand Complications

This isn't a watch this a lifetime achievement award. I picked this Patek Philippe because you need to see what a luxury Rose Gold watch should look like. So often I'm seeing Kickstarter brands use Rose Gold to offer the verisimilitude of luxury, but this is the real deal.

I love the brown sun-brushed dial face that gives it an exotic unquantifiable quality. As Patrick Bateman would say, 'something illusory'. He would also ask people to not touch the watch. I'd hire my own bouncers if I were to wear this out in Clapham.

PRICE £47,500

About Watchfinder

Watchfinder & Co, the Preowned watch specialists, have thousands of watches available from more than 50 brands. As well as the brands listed in this article you can find preowned watches from Panerai, Cartier, Montblanc and more. With close to 20,000 Excellent reviews on Trustpilot, you can shop with confidence.

Guys, did you miss me? And likewise what did I miss?

You may have caught my Instagram stories, yes I've had an incredible time in Ibiza as part of Hard Rock Hotel, more to come on that next week. PS - Did you know they're coming to Marble Arch?

Of course I was skimming the fashion news reels where and when I got signal, seeing who the movers and shakers were. I wrote down 5 things in my pocket diary, between scribbles, doodles, illustrations and plans of world domination.

Here's the top 5 rundown of fashion news that caught my eye:

MICHAEL KORS TAKES OVER VERSACE

In a deal worth over $2 billion, Michael Kors has swallowed up Versace, opening up a parent company of Capri Holdings. No talks or plans of Donatella stepping down as creative director, no announcements of anyone being shuffled or thrown overboard.

My Thoughts

Sure why not. I like Versace but I'm not a diehard fan. A little bit above my price point, which is the concern for many of the fans that this move will dilute the brand. That you'll start seeing Versace in the lower end of the luxury market where Michael Kors is firmly stationed.

Well who cares about that stuff really. So long as the quality doesn't diminish like Vivienne Westwood's garments did when she went global and outsourced her manufacturing abroad to keep up with demand.

If you like a product you like a product. If you like a product because the price tag eliminates its chance of consumption from average joe, then fair play to you. I personally wouldn't worry. When Michael Kors bought Jimmy Choo for a billion last year, the brands position in the market didn't alter one jot.

It does go to show that everyone and everything has a price. Apart from Russell Crowe in that movie about gangsters. He couldn't be bought, the one good cop in all of New York.

CHESTER BARRIE REFURB

Oh the good old boys at Chester Barrie, how I wish I could have made it. I heard the canapés were amazing. Yes every influencer and his dog put in a show at the Chester Barrie launch of their AW18, conveniently woven into the relaunch of their refurbished 19 Savile Row store.

Away with you old Dickensian wood panelling said Simon Kirby, Creative Director of Chester Barrie. (Not a direct quote). In its place some free standing glass shelves, there's fresh wooden floors and there’s even an inactive scan that the clever soles over at Menswear Style did. A game changer for retail perhaps?

My Thoughts

It looks like a more welcoming space. The new AW18 collection boasts a similar palette of deep rich colours that are synonymous with Chester Barrie. The shoulders look a little softer and although it’s not my scene, I do appreciate some brash highland tartan trousers.

NEW JAMIE OLIVER TRAINERS

Apparently the naked chef designed these especially as an anniversary gift for his wife of 18 years. Well done Jamie, way to make every man in the country feel like a schmuck for never getting his wife anything more than a bunch of flowers and subway lunch for their anniversary.

The trainers look a decent collection, colours are non-offensive making them unisex. Made locally to Jamie by a brand called Seven Feet Apart.

My Thoughts

Not a bad idea. If you want to figure out a way to never forget your wedding anniversary, launch a new product every year on that exact day. At least have it veiled as an anniversary gift, you're not telling me this isn't a vanity project and he won't be wearing these for himself as well right? We all remember that episode of the Simpsons when Homer gifts Marg a bowling ball that has Homer written down the side of it.

NEW HUBLOT STORE ON BOND STREET

Hublot has opened its flagship boutique on London’s Bond Street with CEO Ricardo Guadalupe in attendance with a plethora of Chelsea footballers and well-heeled souls.

An interesting article covered by the good guys at Watchpro have mooted that the exorbitant costs of running a branded boutique on Old Bond Street will be swallowed by Hublot's UK marketing budget.

My Thoughts

In a way this is an indictment of where we are with life on the high street currently. You can open a store on the high street but don't expect it to turn profit. Start-ups can't afford to chance there arm on bricks and mortar but watch and luxury goods companies can.

They also have some fantastic security within the store. Apparently if you attempt to man handle any of the timepieces the watch disappears behind a revolving plinth. Bit like Roger Moore in Soul of Fillet when he has a 'funny turn in a booth'.