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27 amazingly complicated luxury watches for tech lovers

These intricate timepieces make the Apple Watch look like a cheap piece of junk.

Fox Van Allen
Fox Van Allen is a Los Angeles-based writer for CBS Interactive covering technology, tech lifestyle and gaming topics for GameSpot, CNET, ZDNet and TechRepublic. He has previously worked as a news and feature writer for a number of other sites, including Techlicious, Tecca, WoW Insider (Joystiq) and Blizzard Watch. In his spare time, Fox is an amateur skydiver, retro gaming and arcade enthusiast, 8-bit pixel artist, podcaster and Twitch live streamer.
Fox Van Allen
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1 of 29 Devon

Tread 1

Sure, your Apple Watch is nice. Then again ...

This arresting smart watch from Devon trades traditional watch internals for highly precise 'time belts' powered by an onboard microprocessor.

It would make an incredible statement piece in a luxury wardrobe -- if you can afford the $14,995 price tag.

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2 of 29 Devon

Devon Star Wars watch

Devon's greatest geek timepiece, however, is this Star Wars co-branded watch. Its dark-side design evokes both TIE Fighters and the helm of Darth Vader. You'll even find the Galactic Empire logo on the watch crown.

As for the price: If you have a crown of your own, you may need to sell it. This baby goes for $28,500.

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3 of 29 Jacob & Co.

Astronomia Sky

More than just a device that tells time, this 18-karat rose gold masterpiece from Jacob & Co. displays the physical 24-hour rotation of Earth along with the stars that are visible at night in the Northern Hemisphere.

The watch has 395 moving parts and a retail value of $680,000.

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4 of 29 MB&F

Horological Machine No. 6

Nicknamed the "Space Pirate," this platinum oddity from MB&F displays time in capped sapphire domes.

This limited-edition watch has 475 individual components. It costs $230,000.

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5 of 29 Hautlence

Vortex Primary

More a piece of stained-glass art than a watch, this Hautlence piece features 19 different panels made of sapphire, ruby, and blue spinel glass.

As for the fingerprint? It belongs to French soccer player Eric Cantona, who collaborated with Hautlence on the $199,500 piece.

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6 of 29 Greubel Forsey

Art Piece 1

This $2 million Gruebel Forsey timepiece is hiding a very pricey secret that can only be seen by microscope ...

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7 of 29 iW International Watch

A microsculpture hiding inside a watch

The inside of Art Piece 1 features this one-of-a-kind microsculpture of a three-mast galleon, crafted by microartist Willard Wigan.

The three-sail sculpture is so small that it can only be viewed using the 23x magnification crystal mounted to the side of the watch dial. You can learn more about this unique watch at the iW International Watch Magazine YouTube page.

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8 of 29 Urwerk

UR-CC1

This unique watch from Urwerk embraces the linear flow of time, literally. It uses a pair of horizontal lines to display the minutes (broken green) and hours (solid green) in a manner reminiscent of a computer loading bar.

Expect to pay north of $200,000 to add this watch to your collection.

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9 of 29 Richard Mille

Richard Mille 59-01 Tourbillon Yohan Blake

Designed for Olympic gold medalist Yohan "The Beast" Blake, this Richard Mille timepiece is built to reduce wind resistance and absorb the level of shocks of a top-tier athlete. The claw like mechanical movement of the watch's face, meanwhile, is meant to mimic that of Blake's hands while he runs.

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10 of 29 Urwerk

UR-110

Another curiously designed watch from Urwerk features satellite motion, displaying time solely on the right-hand side of its face.

The UR-110 looks more like a set of precision automobile gauges than a precision timepiece, right down to the oil-change indicator on the watch face. This watch is worth more than most cars, however -- it retails for approximately $100,000.

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11 of 29 Urwerk

UR-103 Phoenix

For a more refined look, this 18-karat white gold and titanium beauty combines the work of master engraver Jean-Vincent Huguenin with the satellite-based movement of the UR-110.

The result: A stunning statement piece with a value in the high five figures.

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12 of 29 Vacheron Constantin

Reference 57260

With 57 separate functions, this $5 million Vacheron Constantin timepiece is the most complicated in the world. In addition to telling time, it shows seasons, equinoxes, zodiac signs, lunar cycles and the Hebrew calendar. It even calculates expected sunrise and sunset times once the watch has been calibrated to a specific location.

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13 of 29 Roger Dubuis

Excalibur Quatuor

This Roger Dubuis watch uses a system of four spring balances, working in tandem, to eliminate timekeeping micro-errors caused by the movement of your hand while wearing it.

That intense commitment to accuracy doesn't cheap, of course -- the complicated mechanisms push its value up to $1.1 million.

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14 of 29 Roger Dubuis

A $1.1 million watch, deconstructed

590 moving parts and 2,400 hours of labor go into the making of each Excalibur Quatuor.

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15 of 29 Romain Jerome

Moon Orbiter

This stunning timepiece from Romain Jerome is the ultimate collectible for astronomy fans -- it contains moon dust and pieces of the Apollo 11 craft.

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16 of 29 Rebellion Timepieces

T-1000 Time Machine

With a chassis machined from a single block of titanium, this glorious watch from Rebellion is a tribute to car racing.

You'll need to pay more than $100,000 for the privilege of putting one of these Swiss-made watches on your wrist.

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17 of 29 Hublot

MP-07

Watchmaker Hublot is known for its gorgeously complex timepieces. This stunning black-coated titanium watch, the MP-07, retails for $276,000. A diamond-encrusted version is available for $920,000 in case you really want to show off.

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18 of 29 Hublot

MP-05 LaFerrari

Created as a tribute to LaFerrari supercar, this $300,000 limited-edition luxury watch from Hublot contains 637 moving parts -- including the anodized black aluminum cylinders that slowly rotate to display the time and the remaining power in the mechanism.

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19 of 29 Harry Winston

Histoire de Tourbillon 3

This manually-wound watch from Harry Winston has 479 parts including an incredibly complicated "triple tourbillon" to reduce timekeeping errors caused by the effect of gravity on the watch.

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20 of 29 Christopher Claret

Blackjack

It's like the Nintendo Game & Watch for adults: This Christopher Claret timepiece offers a fully functioning game of Blackjack on its face.

And if that's not enough casino action for you, the reverse side of this spendy ($200,000) piece has a working roulette wheel, and its side has a working dice cage.

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21 of 29 Christopher Claret

Poker

Christopher Claret also makes the watch available in baccarat and Texas Hold 'Em poker variants.

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22 of 29 Jacob & Co.

Quenttin Tourbillon

The cylindrical components of this highly technical grade-5 titanium timepiece from Jacob & Co. are meant to evoke the gearbox of a car.

Of course, you could purchase your own fleet of cars for the price of just one of these $350,000-plus beauties.

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23 of 29 MB&F

Horological Machine No. 4

For those who don't want a flat-faced watch, there's this: MB&F's HM4 Thunderbolt.

Built with a retro World War 2 aviation aestethic, the 300-piece, limited-edition watch launched with a $158,000 price tag.

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24 of 29 Fonderie 47

Inversion Principle Timepiece

This high-end red-gold watch from Fonderie 47 has a pacifist cause. Each model incorporates the steel and serial number of a destroyed AK47 assault weapon from Africa, along with key design aspects of the gun.

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25 of 29 MB&F

Horological Machine No. 2

It is almost miraculous that the artists at MB&F assemble this unique timepiece by hand -- one of its 22-karat gold rotors has an edge measuring just 0.2mm.

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26 of 29 Bovet

Récital 18 The Shooting Star

This $300,000 timepiece from Bovet is made for the jet-set lifestyle -- the dialed globe on its face allows you to know what time it is anywhere in the world, no matter where you are.

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27 of 29 Richard Mille

RM 052 Tourbillon Skull

This $500,000 Richard Mille watch, made from grade 5 titanium, is meant to evoke the "promise of eternity."

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28 of 29 Richard Mille

Tourbillon RM 56-02 Sapphire

Two key features separate this $2 million Richard Mille timepiece from the luxury pack: a unique cable-and-pulley-based mechanism and a wealth of parts made from transparent sapphire that give the watch its see-through look.

According to watch blog Hodinkee, 1,500 hours worth of sapphire machining goes into each watch created.

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29 of 29 Hautlence

Labyrinth

This luxury "watch" from Hautlence doesn't actually tell time -- it's just a wrist-mounted ball maze game. But the mechanism that moves the ball from the ending hole back to the starting hole is so mechanically complicated that the toy retails for $12,600.

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