There are enough variations on time-only watches to keep things reasonably interesting, but a watch collection with only hours, minutes, and seconds in the mix can be monotonous. A collection is a lot more fun when it includes at least one piece that goes beyond the basics, including beyond the traditional high complications. The following watches have functions that are whimsical, unusual, and/or highly useful in some niche way. Most are genuine instruments related to a sport or activity, so they function as tool watches as well as conversation pieces. Here are 12 watches with unique functions that you don’t see every day.
[toc-section heading=”Hermès Cut Le Temps Suspendu”]
Hermès first introduced the Temps Suspendu concept in 2011 in an Arceau model, which won the prize that year for best men’s watch at the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève. Now it’s back in the recently launched, more unisex-targeted Cut collection, in either 42mm or 39mm (with diamonds). The movement – developed with Jean-Marc Wiederrecht of complication specialist Agenhor – creates the illusion of suspending time in order to savor the present moment. One click stops the hands (but not the movement) and another reverts the display to the current time.
[toc-section heading=”L. Leroy Vox Temporis”]
This arrow-only watch was inspired by a historic Leroy “tact watch” created in 1810, today preserved at the Patek Philippe Museum. Tact watches were meant to be read discreetly by touching the dial to feel the position of the hour hand. The Vox Temporis – Latin for “voice of time” has a single hand and a rotating dial, finished in a radial guilloché flinque pattern. The minutes are revealed on demand through its minute-repeater mechanism. This is a limited edition of 15 pieces total, in the customers’ choice of red gold, platinum or titanium.
[toc-section heading=”A. Lange & Söhne Triple Split Rattrapante Chronograph”]
The Lange Triple Split, first launched in 2018, is the world’s first and only chronograph that can measure intermediate, comparative and overall times for as long as 12 hours. Rather than using just the central chrono hand splitting into different times (the way two hands on a regular rattrapante chronograph work), the Triple Split movement employs the rattrapante functionality on the 30-minute and 12-hour counters as well as the central dial. This year, A. Lange & Söhne has introduced an edition limited to 100 pieces in 950 platinum, with a rhodié-colored dial and darker, gray auxiliary dials.
[toc-section heading=”Urwerk X Ulysse Nardin UR-Freak”]
The Urwerk x Ulysse Nardin UR-Freak is a collaboration between two of the most creative independent practitioners of contemporary watchmaking. It fuses Urwerk’s signature wandering-hour satellite concept with the Ulysse Nardin Freak’s rotating carousel escapement. The 44mm case is anthracite-gray, sandblasted titanium. It is accented by Urwerk’s emblematic electric yellow Pantone 395 C, a color that highlights the satellite pointers, minute markers and the fitted rubber strap.
[toc-section heading=”Oris ProPilot Altimeter”]
Although part of Oris’s ProPilot collection, this watch is more for hiking up mountains than for flying a plane. Its built-in altimeter scale can gauge altitude to 19,700 feet. (An altimeter measures changes in atmospheric pressure to calculate altitude). The watch is big, at 47mm, but wearable because it’s made of lightweight carbon fiber and titanium. The dial has two separate gauges—a yellow indicator hand for altitude on the outer ring and a red indicator for ambient barometric pressure on the inner ring.
[toc-section heading=”Blancpain Fifty Fathoms X Fathoms”]
This dive watch, from one of the original developers of that genre, is about as serious as it gets. Not only does it have 300-meter water resistance, a helium decompression valve for saturation diving, and a five-day power reserve thanks to three barrels; it also has a mechanical depth gauge that can measure up to 90 meters.This rare and potentially life-saving function has a maximum-depth-reached memory and a separate indication on the 0-15m scale with an exceptional +/- 30 cm precision, along with a retrograde 5-minute counter for decompression stops.
[toc-section heading=”Hublot Big Bang Unico Golf”]
This function is nothing if not niche. The golf-score tracker on this watch uses mechanical pushers to track your score per hole, as well as the cumulative stroke count and current hole number. The yellow, putter-shaped pusher at 2 o’clock records the number of strokes per hole and shows them in an aperture at 3 o’clock. An aperture at 9 o’clock displays the current hole you are playing. The window at 6 shows the total score. The watch is a whopping 45mm in diameter, but the carbon fiber case makes it light enough to not interfere with your golf swing.
[toc-section heading=”TAG Heuer Carrera Seafarer”]
This modern version of the Seafarer is inspired by TAG Heuer’s original Seafarer, launched in 1949 (back when the company was still called just “Heuer”), with the same function: to indicate the times of high and low tide at a specific location. The information is helpful to sailors to help determine optimal times to sail in or out of harbors or along tidal rivers and estuaries. The case’s “glassbox” design, with curved flange and domed crystal, is typical of vintage-inspired TAG Heuers. The dial is trimmed in “Intrepid teal,” a color inspired by the 1967 America’s Cup-winning yacht, Intrepid.
[toc-section heading=”Richard Mille RM 62-01 Tourbillon Vibrating Alarm ACJ”]
In keeping with its status as the watch brand of the rich and famous, Richard Mille created this model for those who fly private, like the customers of Airbus Corporate Jets (ACJ, the brand’s partner in the concept). It has an alarm function that vibrates, rather than rings, while on board a private jet. The manual winding tourbillon movement drives hours, minutes, oversize date, UTC (Universal Time Coordinated), am/pm indicator, function selector and power-reserve indicator. It is wound not by rotating the crown but by pressing the pusher: 12 presses will fully charge the alarm’s power reserve.
[toc-section heading=”Jaeger-LeCoultre Memovox Parking”]
The appeal of Jaeger-LeCoultre’s Memovox has endured since it was first introduced in 1950. Its mechanical alarm has become the most iconic example for this rare function, which uses a hammer and gong, with the hammers striking multiple times at very high speed. In this classic model from 1958, the time can be set both in the traditional way, or based on the number of hours that should elapse before the alarm rings — a maximum of two, the typical range for metered parking, hence the name. Elapsed hours-until-alarm are indicated by a small hand tipped with a red Jaeger-LeCoultre logo.
[toc-section heading=”Frederique Constant Classics Index Business Timer”]
This watch is all business, as the name suggests. It’s a calendar watch with a day, date and moon-phase, but also a rare weekly calendar function — classically referred to by watchmakers as a business calendar. The watch has a sporty element, with its blue dial and rakish red week pointer, indexed on the dial periphery. The 40mm case is steel, with a matching five-link bracelet. The movement inside is Swiss quartz, with a 60-month battery life.
[toc-section heading=”Rolex Yacht-Master II”]
This classic regatta countdown timer was optimized and re-released by Rolex this year. It now counts down the time remaining before the start of a regatta via two side pushers – shaped like winches, of course. In addition to displaying the hours, minutes and seconds, a countdown function now appears on a flange, and the function is programmed and operated by the side pushers. On the previous Yacht-Master, the countdown was set via the bezel.
