The Collection
Casino Royale,
On Your Wrist
What makes a watch a casino chip? Scarcity. Desire. The knowledge that someone else would pay anything to have it. Each of the six watches reviewed here shares these qualities — and each has a relationship with gambling culture that ranges from the literal (a roulette wheel inside the case) to the philosophical (a watch so impossible to acquire that buying it is itself a kind of gamble).
Jacob & Co.
Casino Tourbillon
$580,000
Jacob Arabo built the Vegas Strip into 42mm of titanium.
Rolex × DiW
Daytona DiW Lucky Player
$150,000
Rolex makes the rules. DiW breaks them. The result trades for $150,000.
Richard Mille
RM 88 Tourbillon Smiley
$1,100,000
The most serious watch money can buy, wearing the most frivolous face ever put on a dial.
Hublot
Big Bang Sang Bleu
$26,000
When the casino aesthetic escapes the wrist and becomes fine art.
Patek Philippe
Nautilus 5711/1A
$120,000+
Patek cancelled it to prove they own the market. They do. You will wait.
Audemars Piguet
Royal Oak Ref. 15202
$78,000
An outrage in 1972. The benchmark by 1995. The definition of everything by now.
A Note on Methodology
Every watch in this guide has been handled by a member of our team. We do not review from press releases. We do not accept manufacturer loans in exchange for favourable coverage. Our acquisition guidance reflects real conversations with authorised dealers, specialist pre-owned dealers, and auction house representatives at Christie's, Phillips, and Sotheby's Geneva. Prices reflect market conditions at time of writing and will have shifted by the time you read this. That is the nature of the market we cover.